500 (card game)
Five Hundred is a trick-taking game, similar to Euchre, for two to six players although usually, and most enjoyably, played with four. It was originally invented in the United States by the United States Playing Card Company in the early 1900s but now mostly played in Australia and New Zealand. The object of the game is to be the first player to score five hundred, hence the name.
Like many card games there are several rule variations but the most popular version (four-player with standard rules) is described here.
The game is played with a deck of 43 cards with all twos, threes, and black fours being removed from the deck, and a joker being added. Players play in pairs, usually diagonally opposite each other. To begin a hand, 10 cards are dealt to each player, and the remaining three cards (known variously as the "kitty," the "blind" or the "widow") are placed in the centre of the table. Traditionally, the deal is performed by dealing three cards to each player, then placing a card in the kitty, four cards each and one to the kitty, and then three and one to the kitty.
After the deal, players bid in turn. A bid indicates that the player has agreed, if no higher bids are made, that they will attempt to win a certain number of tricks and that a certain suit will be trump for this hand. For instance, a bid of "six spades" indicates that the player wants to attempt to win six or more tricks with spades being the trump suit. In American play, a bid of six is called an "inkle." A player who bids "inkle spades" is indicating to their partner that they have some spades, but not enough to bid seven. Only the first two players may inkle. The player may elect not to bid, called "passing". Bidding proceeds clockwise around the table, and each subsequent bid must be a higher-scoring bid (see the scoring table below) or the player must pass. A player who passes cannot subsequently make a bid in this hand. Eventually, all but one player will pass and the bid is decided. In American play, there is only one round of bidding. The player making the successful bid then collects the kitty. This player then sorts through his hand and discards the least-useful three cards (possibly including cards picked up from the kitty), and places them face down, the discarded cards playing no further part in the hand.
Ten tricks are then played. The person who won the previous trick (or, for the first trick, the person who made the successful bid) places a card, face up, into the centre of the table. Each player, clockwise, in turn, must also put down a card. If they have cards of the same suit, they must put down one of those, otherwise they can put down any card they choose. After all players, the person with the highest card (card order is discussed below) wins the trick. This fact is recorded, and the player who won the trick then starts the next trick.
Determining who has played the highest card is a little complex. The joker is always the highest card, and adopts the identity of the trump suit for that round (so, if the joker is the card led, all players must play a card of the trump suit if they have one, and if the player holds the joker and no other cards of the trump suit, and the trump suit is led by another player the joker must be played). The next highest card is the Jack of the trump suit (the right bower), then followed by the Jack of the other suit of the same color (the left bower, which for this hand becomes a member of the trump suit just like the joker), then the Ace, King, Queen, 10, and the spot cards of descending order in the trump suit. If a suit other than the trump suit was led, the trump suit cards remain highest as described (but can only be played if the player has no cards in the suit that was led), then cards of the led suit (in conventional Ace, King, Queen, Jack (unless the Jack of that suit is a bower for this hand), 10 ... order). Cards of suits other than the led suit or the trump suit can obviously never win a trick.
After all 10 tricks have been played, the number of tricks won by each pairing is tallied up. If the pairing of the player that made the successful bid makes their bid, they are awarded points according to the table below. If they do not, that number of points is subtracted from their score. The other pairing is awarded 10 points for each trick it won. A team wins by scoring 500 points by bidding and making the target—any scoring by the 10-points-per-trick rule that puts it over 490 points is immediately rounded down to 490 again. A team whose score dips below -500 points loses the game.
There are two sorts of special bids. No trumps means that the joker is the only trump card (there are no bowers when playing no trumps). When the joker is played, its suit may be nominated. However, it may only be played as the first or last card in the suit—playing a card of a particular suit, then the joker (and calling it that suit), then another card of that suit, is not permitted. No trumps is more difficult to play successfully than conventional hands.
Misère is a variation of no trumps that can only be bid once a bid of seven has been made by another player. In misère, the player's partner drops out of the hand, their cards left face down on the table and unplayed. The remaining player must lose every trick. The joker remains the high card. "Open misère", which can only be bid after an eight-trick bid, is identical, except that after the first trick is played the bidding player must place all their remaining cards on the table and play out the hand with the other players knowing the bidder's cards. (This variation is known as "nullo" in the American midwest and plains, where the game was extremely popular in the early 20th century, and where it is still somewhat popular.)
The scoring table is as follows:
| Spades | Clubs | Diamonds | Hearts | No Trumps | |
| 6 tricks | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 | 120 |
| 7 tricks | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | 220 |
| 8 tricks | 240 | 260 | 280 | 300 | 320 |
| 9 tricks | 340 | 360 | 380 | 400 | 420 |
| 10 tricks | 440 | 460 | 480 | 500 | 520 |
Misère: 250 Open Misère:500
If a team wins all 10 tricks and the bid scores less than 250 (or did not bid) the team gets 250 points, unless the round was misère.
If nobody makes a bid, there are two variations. Most commonly, the hand is declared dead and a reshuffle and redeal is made, but some games are played where no bids mean the round is played as no trumps, and scoring is 10 points per trick.
Misère and open misère rules are subject to some variation, as experienced players find them much easier to achieve than similarly-scored conventional hands. One variation involves standard misère being banned, open misère's score being reduced to 230 points, and new type of misere hand, "super open misère", worth 430 points, is introduced, where after the first trick is played, the opposing team not only sees the bidder's cards but plays them in an attempt to force them to win a trick (and thus lose the hand).
Variations in the number of players requires a variation in the number of cards in the pack. Six-player 500 requires a special 63-card pack (with 11, 12 and red 13-spot cards).
Five hundred is largely a social game, and has not attracted the deep tactical analysis of bridge. Tactics often revolve around using various means to indicate to one's partner information about the hand one possesses, including agreements to make certain bids depending on whether one possesses specific cards (rather than on what the player believes they can realistically win), and surreptitious signals (by the tone of voice, exact words used to indicate bids, and so on).