Duplicate Spades is a format of Spades created by Joe Andrews, a frequent contributor to SafeHarborGames, and is targeted at the medium to advanced player. Duplicate Spades is a tournament-based game only.
Once you have a basic understanding of Duplicates Spades, see this page for information on how Duplicate Spades is implemented on SafeHarborGames.

In Duplicate Spades, for each round/hand, every table gets the same deal, and correspondingly, each position gets the same hand at every table. The goal is how well a team plays the hand they are dealt, not how well they play against their opponents.

Teams are ranked with all other teams sitting in the same seats. There are three differences to scoring in Duplicate Spades vs. classic Spades scoring:

• Teams receive bonus scores by setting their opponents. The team scores whatever part your opponents failed to make. For example, if your opponents’ bid nil and the cover bid is 4, if the nil is set, your team gets 100 points and the opponent’s team gets 0.
• If the cover bid is set, your team receives 10 x bid points. If both are set, your team receives 140 points while the opponent gets 0. The extra points will help your team in the ranking of teams in that round.
• A point is deducted for every bag that a team gets. (each Bag == -1 point)

Tables	Bonuses	Tables	Bonuses
Up to 3	5,2,0,0	8	20,17,14,11
4 to 5	9.6.3.1	9	23,20,17,14
6	12,9,6,3	10	25,22,19,16,13
7	17,14,11,9	11+	30,26,23,20,17

At the end of each hand, the north/south teams are ranked and scored separately from the east/west teams, thereby eliminating the "luck of the deal". One round TRADITIONALLY consists of one hand (see Variants). The teams receive points from the computer for the top four scores from the round. The Hoster tool keeps track of the teams' points and at the end of the tourney, the team that accumulates the most points wins. Unlike in an end game where a negative score gets no points, in duplicates a team with a negative score can get points provided that they rank in the top 4 places of that round.

At the start of the next round the scores are reset to 0-0 and your team and a different set of opponents will square off. The computer will list a seating chart for that round. N/S remains at the same table while E/W moves over 1 table. Each round is timed.

• Multiple hands per round.
  Ranks are determined each round, by the TOTAL of all hands played during that round.