Black Spades XL Fest Spades Tournament 2026

The Black Spades is coming to XL Fest in Chicago with a free spades tournament for the people! This tournament will be one day only - Friday, August 21st at 5:30pm in Harper Court. The bracket will consist of 28 teams. The winning team will take home a guaranteed prize of $100!

Requirements:

  • Must be at least 13 years old
  • Completed Black Spades profile with phone number
  • Live in the United States

Register for the Tournament!

REGISTER

Rules

- Trumps: Hi Joker, Lo Joker, 2 of Spades, 2 of Diamonds, Ace of Spades
- Game Point: 250pts (all qualifiers) / 350pts (final game)
- Time: 30 mins/game  (Highest score at time wins. Doesn't apply for finals.)

- Dealer (First Jack deals. The first jack dealt to a player becomes the dealer)
- Board: 4 books (Minimum bid per hand is 4 books)
- First Hand Open (The first hand bids itself)
- Bid Order (The previous hand winner bids last)
- Spades Lead (Spades can be played at any time (No breaking spades)
- First Hand Board (Must get 4 books in the first hand or lose the game)

- Big Blinds: 6 and 7 (Must be down -100. Blind 6 = 120/-120, Blind 7 = 140/-140)
- Bags: 1 point. (Get 10 bags and get -100 points)
- Reneg: -3 books (Must call book. Call wrong, forfeit 3 books!)
- Boston! (13 books in first hand wins!  Also, bid 13, make 13, and win.)
- 10 for 2! (Bid 10, Make 10, get 200pts)
- Misdeals (1. No spades (Call before play starts)  2. Bad deal, next dealer.)
- 2 Set Rule (Get set twice in one game and lose the game.) 

- Tie Game (Play an extra hand. Highest score wins.)
- No Cross Talk (No team communication after bids are placed.)
- All bids lock (No changing bids after being written.)
- All cards stick (No picking up cards once played.)
- Played Card (a card is played when it's not in the player's grasp when it hits the table)
- Dealing (1 flip or 1 French cut allowed per game. If repeated, it is a misdeal.)
- Book Collection (One teammate must collect all books.)
- No 4-4, 5-4, 5-5 bids (-25 points for both teams)

- Disputes (All disputes will be handled by Cj of Black Spades.)