Spades (5-Suited)

Deal sixteen cards to each player, leaving the extra three in the center to be picked up by the player holding the low club.

The minimum team bid is five, the blind bid is now Blind Seven.

Two cards are exchanged if one player goes naught, four for double naught, and, of course, the player who picked up three cards drops three.

The minimum team bid for a score to be doubled is twelve instead of ten.

Optional rule: Stars are Sub-Trump

Treat stars as a trump suit, but less powerful than spades. To be explicit: If no spade is played on a trick the highest star played wins, otherwise the highest card played of the suit led wins.

Note that stars and spades are separate suits. Leading the Ace of Stars will win a trick unless someone is void and plays a spade, and leading a spade doesn’t compel a spade-less player to play a star.