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. The basic rules of the game follow the standard partnership format. This document assumes a basic understanding of how Duplicate Spades is played. See for details on the game itself.

For the immediate future, separate lobbies will be dedicated to playing Duplicate Spades Tournament. The host of a Duplicate Spades has a custom tool to assist in running the tournament, tracking and reporting the results. A Duplicate Spades tournament cannot be implemented without this tool, because it takes advantage of new functions introduced into the Lobby.
All table assignements are done by the host. Players do NOT pick which table, because if you are familiar with Duplicate Spades, the format requires a very strict and consistant table assignment.

When you first entered a lobby that has a Duplicate Spades Tournament active or when you are in a lobby where a Duplicate Spades Tournament starts, you will notice two things that are different from a regular tournament lobby.

• The lobby is set to chat with no tables showing by default.
• You will see a Tournament tool bar at the bottom.
  

  You will see a Join button as well as the name of the Tournament you are joining (in this case, "My Duplicate Spades Tournmanent").

Clicking on the Join will give you three options. Single In After clicking on this, you should see a dialog response verifying that a Request to join this tournament has been sent to the host. Your tool bar at the bottom will confirm you are entered ass a single. Join with Partner Clicking on this will allow you to choose your partner and submit. NOTE that Your partner must be in the lobby! A message will be sent to your partner to confirm. If they approve, a message will be sent to the host and you will receive a response. If they reject, you will get a message. Cancel As expected, this simply closes the dialog with no action.

Before the tournament begins, you can leave a tournament by clicking on the red x at the top right corner of the Blue Box.
When you do this, it will ask for confirmation.

• First thing - Watch the lobby for updates!
• As mentioned at the beginning, players do not choose tables, they are assigned automatically
• Tables will automatically open for you to play. Continue to play to the end.
• The host will assign teams to the next round when all teams finish the current round.
  East-West players will rotate throughout the tournament.
• There are no byes.
  • This means unmatched players cannot play in the current tournament.
  • Duplicate Spades is based on the same players competing against each other, and is not progressive.
  • Each hand/round is unique in card distributions and requires the partners to compete equally against other players on how well they handle the same cards