500

500 is Australia's national card game, sitting neatly between Euchre and Bridge. You bid for the right to name trump, pick up a three-card kitty to improve your hand, then try to win the tricks you promised. A game takes about 40 minutes.

What You Need

• Players: 4 in two partnerships is the standard game.
• Deck: 43 cards - A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 in hearts and diamonds, A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 in clubs and spades, plus one joker. Make it from a standard deck by removing the black 4s, all 3s, and all 2s.
• Extras: Pen and paper for scoring.

Key Terms

• Trick: One round where every player plays a single card. The best card wins all of them.
• Trump: The suit that beats all other suits, chosen by whoever wins the bidding.
• Kitty: Three cards dealt face down. The winning bidder takes them into hand.
• Contract: Your bid - the trump suit and the number of tricks you promise to win.
• Bowers: As in Euchre, the jack of trump (right bower) is the top trump and the jack of the same colour (left bower) is the second.
• Joker (the bird): The highest trump of all. In a no-trump contract its holder names its suit when they play it.
• Misère: A contract to win no tricks at all.

Setup

1. Sit so partners are opposite each other.
2. Deal 10 cards to each player and 3 to the kitty, traditionally in this pattern: 3 each, 1 to the kitty, 4 each, 1 to the kitty, 3 each, 1 to the kitty.
3. Leave the kitty face down in the middle.

How to Play

Bidding

1. Starting to the dealer's left, each player either bids or passes. Once you pass you are out of the auction.
2. A bid names a number of tricks (6 to 10) and a trump suit, or no trump. Suits rank from lowest to highest: spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts, no trump.
3. Each bid must be worth more than the last. Use the table below - six spades is the cheapest bid at 40 points and ten no trump the dearest at 520.
4. Misère - a promise to win no tricks at all - is worth 250 and ranks between 7 no trump and 8 spades. Open misère, played with your hand face up on the table, is worth 500 and ranks near the top.
5. The highest bidder takes the kitty into their hand, then discards any 3 cards face down.

Trick play

1. The winning bidder leads the first trick.
2. Everyone must follow suit if they can, otherwise they may play anything.
3. The highest trump wins, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played. The winner leads next.
4. Remember the left bower counts as trump, not as its printed suit.

Scoring & Winning

• Contract made: score the bid's value, from 40 for six spades up to 520 for ten no trump.
• Contract failed: lose the bid's value. Scores can and do go negative.
• Defenders: score 10 points for every trick they win, whether the contract succeeds or not.
• Misère: 250 points made, 500 for open misère, lost if you take a single trick.
• The first partnership to reach 500 points wins immediately, so a big bid can end the game in one hand. Falling to -500 loses.

Example

Your partnership bids 8 hearts. You take the kitty, discard three cards, and then win 8 tricks - scoring 300. Had you won only 7, you would have lost 300 instead.

Variations

• Six players: uses a special 63-card deck with 11s, 12s, and red 13s, played in two partnerships of three with alternating seats.
• Three players: each plays for themselves with a 33-card deck.
• No-trump joker: some groups make the joker the only trump in a no-trump contract; others let its holder simply name any suit.

Tips for New Players

• Count the joker and both bowers when you value your hand. A bid of six needs roughly four likely tricks in your own hand plus the kitty's help.
• The kitty is worth about one extra trick, so bid slightly beyond what your hand shows.
• Defenders score 10 a trick, so keep taking tricks even when the contract is clearly going to succeed.