Spade Panel

Spade Panels, also known as Spade Bonus Panel Minigames or ♠ Panels are small panels on overworld maps in Super Mario Bros. 3 which can be used to earn extra lives for Mario or Luigi. Once they enter one, the player can play a minigame similar to a slot game where the player must match three of the same panels to win extra 1-Ups. There are Mushroom, Flower, and Star panels. If even one of these were aligned wrong, the player would not get anything. However, if the player gets a Mushroom matched up correctly, they would gain 2 extra lives. If the player gets a Fire Flower matched up correctly, they would get 3 extra lives. If the player gets a Star matched up correctly, they would gain 5 extra lives. This is similar to the panel card gained at the end of each level. N-Mark Spade Panels also appear, and they allow Mario or Luigi to play a card game where they must match two images with two mistakes allowed.

In the Game Boy Advance version (Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3), if a Spade Panel is matched up correctly, the remaining Spade Panels will change to Heart Panels. They are slightly different minigames in which the Stars are replaced by Super Leaves and would gain 7 extra lives if lined up correctly.

If Mario succeeds at clearing a Heart Panel, then all the remaining Heart Panels will become Club Panels, and the Super Leaves will change to "3" icons, which reward 10 lives when lined up correctly.

Upon clearing a Club Panel, the remaining panels will turn into Diamond Panels, where only one possible picture can be lined up, making it impossible to lose a 1 life. Earning a minimal amount of lives at previous panels will result in a Mushroom picture, while higher amounts will yield a random number-UP lives.

If Mario or Luigi clears a Diamond Panel, or fails at any of the other ones, then all Panels will revert to Spade Panels and continue forever.