Overview:
- Estimated achievement difficulty:3/10
- Offline: 11 [200]
- Online: 1 [10]
- Approximate amount of time to 200: 5-6 Hours
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: Multiple games
- Missable achievements: None
- Does difficulty affect achievements: No
- Unobtainable/glitched achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed:No

Introduction

Welcome to the roadmap to 200 for Hardwood Spades. Spades is a trick taking card game, that dates back to 1930's USA. Hardwood Spades is this game digitalised, and has a few different rule and game variations. For a brief guide of how to play the game, see this achievement description. All achievements are pretty straightforward, the difficult ones you can boost easily with partners.

Step 1 - Multiplayer
I would suggest starting off by finding a boosting partner. Use the boosting thread found here or create or join a Session to find a partner. With two of you you can easily get a 25 win streak (and other streak/win based achievements) done. With a 200 point maximum and the game set to partners, your opponent (who is trying to lose) always bids to shoot the moon and fails. This grants you the win. Repeat 25 times for 5 achievements worth 80

If you can find a group of 4, you can (relatively) easily boost "To The Moon" and "To The Moon and Back", the two hardest achievements in the game for an additional 60

Step 2 - Single player and mop up
If you managed to get all the above achievements you will only need the last 5 achievements. Start off by going for Blinds and Nil Blinds, and once they are out the way try to take every trick for "Spades Prankster". Now just continue playing until you have played 100 games, and you are done with this game.

Conclusion

As with the other two "Hardwood" games, Hearts and Backgammon, this was released back in 2005, and shows with the lack of depth and imagination in the game. However it is a relatively easy 200 if you can find some boosting partners, and something different to pass the time.

[XBA would like to thank Corrupt. for this Roadmap]

Hardwood Spades Achievement Guide

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There are 12 achievements with a total of 200 points

  • Win a total of 10 games. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    Spades is a game of cards traditionally played with 4 people, who are in two teams of two and sit across the table from each other. Through minor rule changes spades can be played with two or three players, as well as four singles. This guide will focus on the traditional form of spades. Also, all in game selections can be done with the and.

    Spades, as stated, has four people who sit in the form of a cross, with partners sitting across from each other. All fifty two cards are then dealt out, thirteen to each player. Teams then bid on how many tricks (also known as books) they believe they will win. A trick is the four cards thrown in a turn (will be explained later). While in person, players bid as a team, Hardwood Spades has players bid individually, but puts the partners’ scores together. So if one partner accidentally misses his bid, his partner can make it up for him.

    You can also make special bids known as "The Moon" (see "To the Moon") and "Nil" (see "Nil Annihilator"). However not all games have the option to make these special bids. This is something that is elected in the options when creating a game.

    One player starts out by throwing a card down. Traditional spades has the player holding the two of clubs as the lead, but Hardwood Spades has it rotate in a clockwise fashion. The player may throw down any card he likes, as long as it’s not a spade (until spades are broken for that player). The next player going clockwise then must throw a card of the same suit. After all four people have thrown a card, the player who threw the highest card (with Ace being the best) wins the trick.

    Now if a person does not have any of the lead suit, he has the option of throwing a spade instead, this is called “cutting”. Spades are the boss suit, this means that they are the best and can only be beaten by a higher spade. Once a player “cuts” with a spade the suit is now “broken” for him and they now have the option of leading with a spade if they so choose. The hand goes on for all thirteen tricks which will empty all of the players hands.

    Once the hand is over the tricks are counted and teams get ten points for each trick that they take. The goal is to get as many tricks as was bid and this is where the strategy comes in because you only get points up to the amount of tricks that you bid. For example, if you bid five tricks, and take five tricks, you get credit for the five that you bid on (fifty points). If you bid five tricks and take ten, you still only get credit for the five that you bid. So there is a down side to taking more than you bid, because you’re taking tricks that you don’t get any points for and will actually cost you points. If you take a trick that you did not bid on it is called a “bag”. Once a team collects ten bags they go back one hundred points.

    There is an even bigger downside to taking fewer tricks than you bid on. If you bid five tricks but only take four, then you actually lose fifty points. Aside from working hard to make your own bid, it is also important to try and set your opponents.

    Play continues until a set score is reached, such as two hundred, five hundred, one thousand, etc. Also, if a team does so badly that they reach the negative equivalent of the set score, the game ends and the team with the highest score wins.

    For this achievement, all you need to do is win ten games. This can be done in single player or online matches. As with all of the other achievements, when going for them online, they can be achieved in either ranked or player matches.

  • Win 10 consecutive games. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    Following the above rules of the game, you need to win ten games in a row. This can either be done legitimately or through boosting.

    If you are looking to boost for this achievement, an easy way is to find a friend and start a player match. When you come into the room you can move the cursor around until you find the seat you would like to sit in. Choose to sit to the left or right of your friend so that you are on different teams. Once both of you have sat down, the host of the room can choose to start the game with the other seats empty which will then be filled by the computer.

    Now take turns to lose on purpose, set the game to two hundred points and then take turns bidding all on all thirteen tricks. Bidding on all thirteen tricks is known as “Going for the moon” and will come up in later achievements. There is a special bonus given with the moon, if all thirteen tricks are bid instead of them being worth one hundred and thirty points (ten times thirteen), the hand is worth two hundred points. So the player who bid the moon and then loses on purpose (known as “throwing off”), will receive minus two hundred points, which is an automatic loss.

    Do this ten times in a row for the achievement.

  • Complete a game without taking any bags. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

    (1)  

    As was mentioned in the initial rules of the game (please see "Bidder Beginner"), a bag is any trick that you take that was not bid. So all you need to do is complete a game while ensuring not to take any.

  • Take all the point cards in a hand. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    This is the first of the two moon achievements. As was mentioned in “Jack of Spades”, betting the moon means betting thirteen tricks. If you actually take all thirteen it is known as “Shooting the Moon”. This achievement is best done with three friends, so start a game and set the goal for the highest amount of points possible (1550). Whichever team has the Ace of Spades bets the moon as it is the only card impossible to beat. Next you all need to discuss all of the cards that you have in your hand, making sure that the team that bet the moon will be able to shoot it. A very thorough (although very time consuming) way is to have one player get a piece of paper and write down the hands of all four players. Now lay out the thirteen tricks and decide which combination it will take for that team to take all thirteen. Then all you need to do is play the game using the method written down.

    The reason for setting the game to the highest amount of points possible is because it is rather hard to actually shoot the moon and if you are able to shoot it once, you are already half-way to shooting it again which is needed for another achievement. So since you are already halfway there, you want as many chances as possible to get a second shot at it.

  • Complete 10 games in Xbox Live play.

    For this achievement you only need to complete ten games on Xbox Live, you do not need to win them. The easiest way is to select Quick Match and then choose if you would like Ranked or Player. Usually, Ranked Matches will be harder due to the face that more skilled opponents play Ranked and Player matches tend to be filled with casual gamers. Use this to determine which is best for you however if you plan on boosting then play Player Matches because you have the ability to invite friends into your room, which is not available in Ranked matches.

    After entering a room and before you sit down it is common courtesy to ask over the headset if the host is waiting for anyone. Many times a group of four people will start playing together and will keep making new games to play together once their old one is finished. Due to the nature of the game and its heavy reliance on your partner, once players find someone they like they will probably play more games together. If four people are playing together and you come in unannounced, that means one of their players gets kicked out of the game. This will make for unhappy people. So to avoid this, just pop in the room and ask if they are waiting for anyone. If they say no, feel free to sit wherever you like and wait for more players to join.

    Play the game as normal, complete it and then repeat until the achievement unlocks.

  • Complete 5 blind nils. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    Please see "Nil Annihilator" for more information.

  • Complete 100 nils. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

    (1)  

    Going Nil is a strategy that can be used when playing. Some rooms do not have the option to go Nil as it is one of the options that can set at the beginning of the match.

    Normally the object of spades is to take as many tricks as possible but going Nil means purposly throwing off and getting no tricks at all. This is however, much harder than it seems. The opposing team will purposely lead with low cards to set your Nil. When a player goes Nil it is their partner’s job to make sure the Nil does not fail. This means playing the highest cards they can, even if it means wasting them so that their partner does not get set.

    It is best to bet Nil when you have a hand full of low cards, ones that you know will not take tricks. Another option to set before the game begins is the ability to trade cards if Nil is bet. This means if you go Nil, you have the option to trade one or two cards with your partner. This makes Nil much easier because your partner can give you his lowest cards while you can give him of your highest.

    Through the course of the game, if a team gets too far behind they will be given the option to bet Nil without being able to see their cards first, otherwise know as Nil “Blind”. This can be very advantageous to a struggling team because going Blind Nil means it is worth twice the normal score for Nil (can be worth up to two hundred points, the same as shooting the moon). However this also means that failing Nil will make you lose twice the normal amount of points. Going blind is a risk because you have an equal chance of having a hand full of low cards, as you do of having a hand full of high face cards.

    Successfully complete one hundred standard Nils for the achievement.

  • Take a total of 500 tricks. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    For an explanation of tricks, please see "Bidder Beginner". Basically a trick is the four cards that are thrown down in a turn. Be the player who throws down the highest card to take the trick. Simply repeat this five hundred times.

  • Complete two moon shots in a single game. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

    (7)  

    Please see "To the Moon" for more information.

  • Win a total of 25 games. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

      

    Use the tactics from “Bidder Beginner” or “Jack of Spades” depending on if you would like to do this legitimately or through boosting and simply win twenty five games.

  • Win 25 consecutive games. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

    (5)  

    This is the same as "King of Spades" but instead of twenty five games overall, you must win twenty five in a row. This is very hard to do legitimately so your best bet is to boost with a friend.

  • Play a total of 100 games. Earn this in Single Player or Xbox Live play.

    (1)  

    Simply complete one hundred games, it does not matter if you win or lose just that you finish the game.

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