Spades

Spades or  (four-colour suit) is one of the four suits of playing cards in the standard  French deck. It is a black heart turned upside down with a stalk at its base and symbolises the medieval weapons, the pike or halberd.

In French the suit of Spades is known as the Pique and in German as the Pik. It corresponds to the suit of Leaves (Laub, Grün, Schippen or, in Bavaria, Gras) in the German suited playing cards. In Switzerland, the suit is known as Schuufle ("shovel") and in many German regions, e.g. the Rhineland as Schüppe/Schippe ("shovel").

In Bridge, Spades rank as the highest suit. In Skat and similar games it is the second-highest suit.