Blind Nil in Spades

How a blind Nil works

A normal Nil bid is a promise to take no tricks, made after you have looked at your hand and judged that it can duck everything. A blind Nil is the same promise made without looking. When the bidding reaches you, you leave your cards face down on the table and say "blind Nil"; only then do you pick them up. Because you are betting on an unseen hand, the stake is doubled.

Everything else about the hand is unchanged. The blind Nil bidder follows suit when they can, spades must be broken before they are led, and the partner bids a number from their own hand and is scored on their own tricks. If the blind Nil fails, the tricks the bidder took are bags for the team, exactly as with a normal Nil.

Scoring: plus or minus 200

The standard figure is 200 points for a made blind Nil and −200 for a failed one, double the ±100 of an ordinary Nil. Suppose your team is 150 behind. You bid blind Nil and your partner bids 4. If you take no tricks and your partner takes 4, the hand scores 200 + 40 = 240 and you are suddenly ahead. If you are forced to take one trick, the hand scores −200 + 40 = −160, and that trick is a bag. The ordinary point values are on the Spades scoring page.

That swing is the whole point. A team far behind cannot catch up at 10 points a trick, so the rules give it one high-variance option. It is also why most tables only allow the bid to the team that is behind: available to everyone, blind Nil would be bid on every hand by whoever felt lucky.

When it is allowed

The commonest restriction is that a partnership may bid blind Nil only when it is behind by 100 points or more. You will also meet tables that:

• allow it whenever the team is behind by any amount;
• allow it at any score, as a pure gamble;
• do not allow it at all.

None of these versions is more correct than another. If you are joining a table, ask; if you are hosting, the 100-points-behind rule is the one most players will expect.

The two-card exchange

At many tables, once the blind Nil has been declared and both partners have picked up their hands, the bidder passes two cards face down to their partner and the partner passes two back. The bidder uses the exchange to unload the cards most likely to win a trick, typically Aces, high spades and Kings in short suits, and the partner sends back low cards. The exchange is usually simultaneous and always happens before any card is led; the exact timing is one more detail that differs from table to table.

Some tables play blind Nil with no exchange at all. Without it the bid depends entirely on the deal, and a single Ace is usually enough to sink it, so expect the bid to be rarer and the stakes to be felt more keenly where no cards are passed.

Playing and covering a blind Nil

Once the cards are in hand, a blind Nil is played like any Nil: follow with the highest card that still loses, throw dangerous side-suit cards when you are void, and lead your lowest cards and your short suits. The partner's job is the same as covering a normal Nil, only more urgent, because a set costs 200 rather than 100: play high early, lead Aces and Kings so the bidder can dump under them, and win any trick the bidder might otherwise take. An extra trick costs the partner at most one bag; a set blind Nil costs 200. The Nil bid guide covers the play in detail, including how the opponents will try to set it.

Blind Nil on CardCouch

CardCouch does not play blind Nil. When it is your turn to bid you choose a number from 1 to 13 or Nil, and you always see your cards first; a made Nil is always worth 100 and a failed one −100. There is no card passing between partners. The free online game is a good place to learn how a Nil is played and covered before you try a blind one at a table that allows it.

Frequently asked questions

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