GRUNT SPADES

Grunt Spades · Living History

The table was already there.

One game. Many tables. Years of brotherhood. This is the record of the places, people, and hands that turned an Army tradition into Grunt Spades.

Download the historyRead the doctrine
Army friends gathered around a table at a Washington, D.C. reunion
Washington, D.C. · The Army gave us the game.

The origin

The Army gave us the game. The table kept us connected.

Grunt Spades did not begin as a product idea. It began as a military-born way to compete, laugh, argue, teach, and reconnect.

Long before the manuals, official decks, kits, or leagues, the doctrine was already in the hand—both Jokers, the Ace and Deuce of Spades, and somebody across the table ready to fight for every book.

Florida · Lakeside house

The doctrine was already in the hand.

Outside, the 3rd Infantry Division flag marked the roots. Inside, the real hand showed the game. Together, they show where the brotherhood and the doctrine met.

Friends displaying a 3rd Infantry Division flag beside a Florida lake
A Grunt Spades hand showing both Jokers, the Ace and Deuce of Spades, and remaining cards
Veterans playing Spades around a dining-room table during the Charlotte trip
Charlotte · Friends back around the table
Joyleen, Pridgen's daughter, celebrates a win during the Charlotte reunion.

Charlotte trip

A table becomes a reunion.

The cards bring us back to the table. The people give us a reason to come back. A hand begins as competition and ends as another entry in the unit history.

Reunion moments · 2019–2020

The same friends, around another table.

In Colorado, we played LRC and Spades, then gathered before a steak dinner in Georgetown. After a weekend in D.C., the reunion carried on around a backyard table.

Friends gathered around a backyard table after a weekend in Washington, D.C.
After the D.C. weekend · May 2019
Friends gathered around a table playing LRC in Colorado
Colorado · Playing LRC together
Friends gathered around a table in Georgetown, Colorado, before steak dinner
Georgetown, Colorado · Before steak dinner

Florida · Circa 2023

The tournament was a bust. The day was not.

The planned tournament fell apart, so four people cobbled together a game around a barrel table. They played for hours, laughed, and made the day worth remembering.

Improvise. Adapt. Play. The table saved the mission.
Four people playing Spades around a barrel table in Florida
An angled action view of the improvised Florida Spades game
A wider view of the four-player Florida Spades game
The Scotch and Scissors shop and barber-pole setting in Washington, D.C.
The improvised Spades game underway at Scotch and Scissors
Porter, JP, and Dr. Hudson laughing together at Scotch and Scissors in Washington, D.C.

Scotch & Scissors · Washington, D.C. · July 2024

The tournament was canceled. The game was not.

At Scotch & Scissors, two men from the bar joined in, the barber rotated into the lineup, and two local brothers came out. A backup game became a small reunion—and another chapter in the living history.

The distance between tables

The men scattered. The table did not.

Ohio. Pennsylvania. Arkansas. D.C. Colorado. Florida. Miles apart. Still brothers.

Years after the Army, a reunion call still sounded like the old day room: football trash talk, bad jokes, hearing aids, family updates, and one simple request—find the photographs of us playing cards.

“Good talking to you. Love you guys.”

The mission now

The history is real. Now we build the system.

Preservethe military-born version of Spades.
Standardizethe rules, training, and competition.
Reconnectveterans, families, and communities.
Deployofficial decks, doctrine, kits, and Charter Tables.
Print the full historyReport to the table