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 (similar to the goal at the end of each level). N-Mark Spade Panels also appear with every 80,000 points gained, 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 . They are slightly different minigames in which the Stars are replaced by Super Leaves, which give 7 extra lives if lined up correctly.

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

Upon clearing a, the remaining panels will turn into , where only one picture can be lined up, making it impossible to lose. Earning a minimal amount of lives at previous panels will result in a mushroom picture, while higher amounts will yield a random picture.

If Mario or Luigi clears a, or fails at any of the other ones, then all Panels will revert to Spade Panels, restarting the process.