500 Card Game Rules: How to Play 500

These 500 card game rules explain the classic four player partnership game, a cousin of euchre and bridge that is a family favorite in Australia, New Zealand and parts of the US. You bid for the right to name trumps, try to win at least the number of tricks you bid with your partner, and race to 500 points. Once you know the joker and the two bowers, the rest falls into place quickly.

Quick rules

• Four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite.
• Use a 43-card deck: A down to 5 in every suit, the red 4s, and one joker.
• Deal 10 cards each and 3 face down to the kitty.
• Bid a number of tricks (6 to 10) and a trump suit or no trumps. The highest bid wins.
• The winning bidder takes the kitty, discards 3, and leads the first trick.
• Make your bid to score its value from the table. Miss it and you lose that value. Opponents score 10 per trick they win.
• First team to 500 wins. A team at minus 500 loses.

What you need

• A standard deck plus one joker. For four players remove the 2s, 3s and black 4s, leaving 43 cards.
• Paper and pencil, or the scorekeeper below.

Card ranking

In the trump suit, from highest to lowest: joker, right bower (jack of trumps), left bower (the other jack of the same color), then A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 (and the 4 in red suits). The left bower counts as a trump, not as a card of its own suit. In the other suits the order is A, K, Q, J, 10 and down.

With no trumps, the joker is the only trump. If the joker is led, its holder names a suit and everyone must follow that suit if they can.

Setup

1. Draw cards to choose the first dealer. Deal passes to the left after each hand.
2. Deal clockwise in batches: 3 to each player, 1 to the kitty, 4 to each player, 1 to the kitty, 3 to each player, 1 to the kitty.
3. Each player has 10 cards and the kitty holds 3 face down.

How to play

1. Bidding

1. Starting left of the dealer, each player bids or passes. A bid names a number of tricks from 6 to 10 and a suit or no trumps, for example "seven hearts".
2. Each bid must be worth more than the previous bid on the scoring table below.
3. Once you pass you cannot bid again in that hand. Bidding continues until three players have passed.
4. If everyone passes at the start, throw in the cards and the next player deals.
5. Misere: a bid to lose every trick, playing alone with no trumps while your partner lays their cards down and sits out. It can only be bid after someone has bid seven. Open misere is the same, but your cards are laid face up on the table after the first trick. It can be bid at any time and usually ranks above ten diamonds and below ten hearts, though some tables rank it differently, so agree first.

2. The kitty

The winning bidder picks up the 3 kitty cards without showing them, then discards any 3 cards face down. Discarded cards play no further part.

3. Playing tricks

1. The bidder leads the first card. Everyone else must follow the led suit if they can. Remember the left bower belongs to the trump suit.
2. If you cannot follow suit you may play any card, including a trump.
3. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played.
4. The trick winner leads the next trick. Play all 10 tricks.

Scoring

This is the standard Avondale scoring table, used by nearly all players today.

Misere scores 250 and open misere scores 500.

• Bidders make the contract: score the bid value. Extra tricks earn nothing, except that winning all 10 tricks on a bid worth less than 250 scores 250 instead.
• Bidders fail: subtract the bid value from their score.
• Opponents: score 10 points for each trick they win, whether or not the bid is made. In misere, the opponents score 10 for each trick the bidder is forced to win.

How to win

The first team to reach 500 points wins. Under most rules you can only cross 500 by making a bid, so a defending team stops at 490 from trick points alone. A team that falls to minus 500 loses the game.

500 card game rules for 2, 3, 5 and 6 players

• 3 players: each plays alone with a 33-card deck (A to 7 in every suit plus the joker). Deal 10 each and 3 to the kitty.
• 2 players: use the 33-card deck, deal 10 each, 3 to the kitty, and leave 10 cards out face down as a dummy hand nobody plays. Each player plays alone.
• 5 players: use the full 52-card deck plus the joker, 53 cards in all. The bidder picks a partner by naming a card.
• 6 players: a 63-card deck with three teams of two.

Sources differ on small details of these versions, so treat them as starting points.

Variations

• Inkle: some groups allow a first round bid of six as an "inkle", a signal to your partner that cannot win the auction.
• Joker in no trumps: some rules forbid naming a suit for the joker that you have already shown you lack.
• Original scoring: older rule books used a different table based on multiplying by trick count. The Avondale table above is now the standard.

Tips and strategy

• Count your sure tricks: the joker and bowers are almost certain winners. Add your partner's likely help before going above seven.
• Bid in the suit where you hold a bower or the joker, even if it is not your longest suit.
• When you win the kitty, discard to create a void in a side suit so you can trump in.
• Lead trumps early as the bidder to pull the defenders' trumps.

Common mistakes

• Playing the left bower as part of its printed suit.
• Forgetting that opponents score 10 per trick even when the bid is made.
• Bidding misere before anyone has bid seven.

If you enjoy trick taking games, try euchre, which shares the bowers, spades, bridge or pinochle. Browse more card games for adults.