500 or Five Hundred is a trick-taking game developed in the United States from euchre.Peter Arnold, The Book of Card Games, , p. 122–126 Euchre was extended to a 10 card game with bidding and a misère contract similar to Russian preference, although preference or prefens was not published in the US until Holye 1909. It also derived in a four-player game played in partnerships like whist which is the most popular modern form, although with special packs it can be played by up to six players.
It arose in America before 1900 and was promoted by the US Playing Card Company, who copyrighted and marketed a deck with a set of rules in 1904.Charles Henry Goren, Ely Culbertson, Goren's Hoyle Encyclopedia of Games, 1961, p. 210 The US Playing Card Company released the improved Avondale scoring table to remove bidding irregularities in 1906. 500 is a social card game and was highly popular in the United States until around 1920 when first auction bridge and then contract bridge drove it from favour.David Parlett, Oxford Dictionary of Card Games, , p. 108 It continues to be popular in Ohio and Pennsylvania, where it has been taught through six generations community-wide, and in other countries: Australia, New Zealand, Canada (especially Ontario and Quebec) and Shetland. Despite its American origin, 500 is considered to be popular in Australia.Five Hundred at www.pagat.com. Retrieved 8 Jan 2019
Setup Of the many variants to 500, the standard deck contains 43 playing cards: a joker is included (sometimes two, in which case the black joker beats the red one), and the 2s, 3s, and two 4s are removed. Either the two black 4s are removed, or the 4 of spades and 4 of diamonds are removed, in which case the 4 that matches the trump colour is also considered trump, so that there are always 13 trump cards (14 when using two jokers). Cards are dealt to each of the four players and three (four with two jokers) are dealt face down on the table to form the kitty (also known as the widow, the blind or the hole card). Alternatively, a 45-card deck can be used (46 with two jokers), in which case the 4s are not removed. Each player still receives a hand of 10 cards, but the kitty is increased to five cards (six with two jokers).
Players play in pairs, usually opposite each other. Traditionally, a bundle of three cards is dealt to each player, one to the kitty, a bundle of four to each player, one to the kitty, a bundle of three to each player, one to the kitty or with a 45-card deck: the deal is performed by dealing three cards to each player, then placing three cards in the kitty, four cards each and two to the kitty, and then three. In some versions, if a player does not receive a face card this is considered a misdeal and a redeal may be required.
As in euchre, in non-trump suits, the order of cards from highest to lowest is ace, king, queen, (jack), 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, (4). In the trump suit, the order is (from the highest): joker, the jack of trumps, the jack of the same color, ace, king, queen, 10, 9,..., 5, (4). For instance if diamonds are trumps then the order in diamonds is following (from the highest): joker, , , A, K, Q, 10, 9,..., 4. The jack of the trump suit is called right bower. The jack of the suit of the same colour as the trump suit is called left bower and is considered part of the trump suit. The joker is sometimes known as best bower in reference to the trump jacks.
Bower is an Anglicization of the German Bauer, a word meaning farmer, peasant, or pawn.
Bidding
After the deal, players call in turn, electing either to bid or to pass. A bid indicates the combined number of tricks the bidder believes they and their partner will take and the suit that will be trump for that hand, or that there will be no trump suit. For instance, a bid of "seven spades" (7) indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with spades being the trump suit, whereas a bid of "seven no-trump" (7NT) indicates that the player intends to win seven or more tricks with no trump suit (in which case the only trump card is the joker).
Auction commences at the level of 6. A player may elect not to bid, or to "pass". Bidding proceeds clockwise around the table, with each player passing or making a higher-scoring bid. A player who passes cannot subsequently make a bid in that hand.
A player who has bid may only bid again in that hand if there has been an intervening bid by another player. However, in some variations a player who has bid and not passed may always bid again in that hand.
The order of seniority of suits in bidding (from lowest to highest, as reflected in the scores below) is as follows: , , , , no trump. Therefore, for example, a player who bids 7 may be outbid by a subsequent bidding player on 7 or 7, but not seven spades. A "no-trump" bid beats any suited bid of the same number. Eventually, all but one player passes and the bid is decided.
In American play, there is only one round of bidding, with each player getting one chance, in turn, to either bid or pass. Moreover, in American play, a bid of six is called an "inkle". A player who bids "inkle spades" is typically indicating to their partner that they have some spades but not enough to bid seven. In most versions, one cannot win auction with an inkle. If auction doesn't reach the level of 7, cards are reshuffled. Only the first two players may inkle.
If nobody makes a bid, there are multiple variations. Most commonly, the hand is declared dead and a reshuffle and redeal is made. This can be repeated only twice, after which the deal passes to the next player. Alternatively, the game is played where no bids mean the round is played as no-trump, and scoring is ten points per trick. Other variations include that the deal passes to the next player (no reshuffle); or that if no one else makes a bid, the dealer is required to make a bid.
The player making the successful bid then collects the kitty. This player sorts through their hand and discards the least-useful three (or five in the case of a 45-card deck) cards (possibly including cards picked up from the kitty), and places them face down; the discarded cards playing no further part in the hand.
Misère and open misère Misère and open misère are two special contracts in 500. A Misère (also called Nullo (sometimes pronounced Nello) or similarly) bid means the bidding player is trying to not win any tricks. If playing with a partner, the partner folds their cards and does not participate in the round. Misère is the French word meaning "extreme poverty". Misère is worth 250 pts. and is usually placed between 8 and 8 in bidding. It can be bid when auction reaches the level 7.
Open Misère is the same as misère except the player playing this bid must reveal all of their cards to their opponents after the first trick. Also called Lay Down Misère. It is usually worth 500 and placed between 10 and 10. May be bid at any time even as the first bid.
Value and precedence of open misère can vary. It can, for instance, also be worth 330 and placed between 8NT and 9.
Non-standard bids
J5 is a special version of no-trump where a jack replaces the ace as the highest card of its respective suit, keeping the rules in line with a suited game. The joker remains the only trump card, and the normal agreed-upon rules of its use still apply. In a J5 game there is no lower bower (e.g., the jack of diamonds is not considered a heart and so on). Other cards follow their typical hierarchy. Blind Misère is the same as misère except the bid must be called before the player views their cards. Double nullo is an American variant in which both players of the bidding team play and must not win any tricks. This is also called Grand nullo, which is often corrupted to Granola. Double nullo may be called by one partner even if the other partner passes. In this instance the player who calls nullo draws in their partner and both must play and not take any tricks. The person who calls double nullo picks up the kitty and gives the five cards they want to discard to their partner. Their partner then must take those five cards and pick the ones they want to keep and discard the rest. Grand nullo is sometimes played as a different bid from Double nullo, in which case it is identical to normal nullo except for the bidder does not get access to the kitty. Shields Double is a variant of Double nullo where one partner of the bidding team plays their hand open (after the initial trick). Patastrophe is an Open Misère where both partners on the bidding team play, with both calling partners playing their hand open (after the first trick). Patastrophe is worth 1000 points. The Wilkinson version of Misère is agreed to before the outset of the game, and is bid as such: 'closed misère' can be bid any time (even as a first bid) but is played open, and 'open misère' may also be bid likewise but is played open and without the kitty. Hi/Lo or 5 and 5 bid means one player intends to win 5 tricks and lose 5 tricks in the hand. The game is typically worth 350 points, and therefore outbids a 9 or 9 bid, but not a 9 or 9. The game play is similar to a No-trump game in that the Joker is the only trump card and may only be used if the player cannot otherwise follow suit. When a Hi/Lo call is made the bidder's partner folds their cards and does not participate in the hand. This is also called Even Stevens in Australia. Ralphing is when a person that bids gets set by more than 3 tricks (that is a person wins the bid with 9 but only takes 6, or bids Nullo and takes 3 or more tricks). In the event that a person is Ralphed, they are not allowed to bid in the next hand. The name comes from a person that would repeatedly over-bid and lose dreadfully each time. The rule was instituted so others would be allowed to win bids. Slam: John McLeod claims there exists a variation in which the declarer, after picking up the kitty, may call for a slam hand. The partner of the player who calls for a slam passes a single card to their partner then folds their hand and does not play. The contractor who called for the slam hand must discard until they have only 10 cards remaining before starting play. The contractor must then win all ten tricks. It is worth 500 if there are trumps and 520 in no trump.
Play
The game focuses on tricks. The lead starts with the player who won the bidding. Players must follow suit if they can (this includes the left bower or any other card that is considered a trump, if trump is led). If a player no longer has any cards of the suit that is led, they may play any card in their hand. After all four players have played a card, the highest trump takes the trick. If no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins the trick. The winner of the trick leads on the next trick. Once all ten tricks have been played, the hand is scored. The player to the left of the previous dealer deals for the next hand, so that the deal moves clockwise around the table.
Joker The joker is always the highest card. If there are trumps, the joker is the highest trump. In no trumps (including misère) the joker can be played only when the player cannot follow suit. When leading the joker, a player can nominate it into a suit. Other players need to follow the nominated suit. The joker can be led at any time and nominated to any suit even if the player holds cards in the suit.
Variations
There are variations of the rules concerning the size of deck, use of the joker, bidding after pass etc.
Bidding after pass Some play that it is allowed to bid after pass if someone hereafter changes the suit of their bid.
Raising own bid by the winner