Spades Card Classic

Sadly, for the second time in about 12 months, I’m deleting this app, and will no longer be able to enjoy this incredibly unique and entertaining version of spades (everyone for themselves instead of 2vs2). The reason is because of the absolutely insufferable way that they do the ads. Between cards, dice, puzzles, and board games, I’ve got about 10 different options whenever I want to play a random game. I’ve never paid anything for my games. So I have to listen to ads in every one of them. However, in every other instance, they are tolerable and follow the same pattern. 90% are ads that can be skipped after 5-7 seconds. Then you get the occasional 30 second un-skippable one. Fine. But with this app, you get the long un-skippable ads at least 2/3 of the time. The worst part is that with almost any other game, this would be tolerable since the length of time it takes to complete a hand, round, or whatever constitutes one session, is usually at least 5 minutes, often more. But the time it takes to play a single hand in this game (yes, I timed it) is almost exactly one minute. Meaning that the ratio of playing time to ad time is approximately 2-1. No other game has less than a 5-1 ratio, and some (like backgammon) are upwards of 20-1. I really don’t know how ads work in these apps, but I don’t care. The fact that every other app I’ve ever had, has an exponentially better play time to ad time ratio, means that this is completely unacceptable. Maybe I’ll try again in another year.

My bot partner has trumped my ace with a spade multiple times. This was the last straw. I deleted the app right after this happened. Human players would never do that during normal game play. No other spades game app does this!!! Also, cards are not dealt randomly. My partner and I are outbid and outscored almost every round. It is not a difference of 10 points, either. It is a difference of 20-40 points every round. After we have two successful nil bids, we are still behind by 50 points! Usually, when we bid nil, our opponents will get great cards and total 90 or 100, which is a glaring example because when they bid nil, my partner and I don’t get great cards and usually only score 60-70. I only have two options to try to win, set my opponent or sandbag to penalize them. Also, bots do not adapt. They are predictable every single round. Humans play different when they are covering a nil bid. No human player would ever lead out with a 2 or 3 unless they knew their partner had exhausted that suit. I have been burned several times and other reviews have mentioned the same issue. Plus, saving spades and facecards to the very end instead of using them to make your bid is backwards but that’s what my bot partner does and I actually have to work to prevent extra books. I often lead out with spades to try to exhaust them. I am done.

My opinions only ! Don’t track me down and sue me !!! Nice interface and no annoying real people. Ad after each hand but it’s short. As others mentioned AI has some issues. It will frequently pass an opportunity to stick your opponents in partners who have bid Nil, even when the trick isn’t necessary to making your own bid. The AI also often over plays or over trumps you on last play of a trick when the trick is already yours and they had other cards to play. AI could use a “Champion” level. Any decent player will eventually win every game against Pro in singles or partners. The other two levels are extraordinarily easy to beat and would only be interesting to a novice. Oh, to the commenter who thinks sandbagging is confusing or broken, sorry, the sandbagging penalty works perfectly. You ( or you and your partner in doubles ) hit ten sandbags ( unbid points ) and you go down 100. To track it, just watch your single digit points. When it reaches zero ( for having reached 10 sandbags ) you’re penalized. A nice improvement would be an option to go down if you miss your bid. Some people play spades that way. But otherwise, nice. Had really been looking for a decent version without mandatory real people.