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Spades

Games
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A trick-taking card game in which spades are permanently trump and partnerships bid on expected tricks.

Detailed Definition
Spades is a partnership card game in which players bid before play and use the spade suit as universal trump. Success depends on communication, memory, calculated promises, and the management of a shared hand. In poetry, spades can evoke labor, burial, excavation, or the sharp certainty of an announced intention. Its combination of contract and improvisation suits poems about trust, broken agreements, and the work required to make another person’s strategy intelligible.
Example
Example in poetry:
A poem can use spades as an image of digging, burial, labor, or revelation; The high value of the ace of spades can suggest a commanding secret or unavoidable fate; A poet might contrast the dark suit of spades with images of soil and newly planted seeds; “I turn the spades and find the earth already counted” joins the game to mortality
Additional Notes
Spades is a partnership trick-taking game in which players bid on the number of tricks they expect to win. Spades are always trump, meaning they outrank cards in other suits when legally played. Important related terms include bid, trick, partner, nil, and overtrick.
Also Known As
Trumps Honors Tricks
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