500 (Five Hundred)
The classic bidding game of Australia and New Zealand, also played across the US: win the auction, take the kitty, name trump and make your contract with the Joker and the two bowers on your side. Play the four-player partnership game with an AI partner, or three-player cutthroat where everyone plays for themselves. First to 500 wins.
Two ways to play
- 4 Player Partnership: you and Jim, sitting opposite, against Sam and Tina. Partners share one score. The pack has 43 cards: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 in hearts and diamonds, A down to 5 in clubs and spades, plus one Joker.
- 3 Player Cutthroat: you against Sam and Tina, each with your own score. The pack has 33 cards, 7s up in every suit plus the Joker. Whoever wins the auction plays alone and the other two team up against them for that hand.
The deal
Everyone gets 10 cards and 3 go face down as the kitty. The deal passes to the left after every hand.
The auction
Starting left of the dealer, each player bids or passes. A bid names a number of tricks from 6 to 10 and a trump suit or No Trumps, and every bid must outrank the last. Once you pass you are out of the auction. It ends when everyone else has passed; if all players pass, the hand is thrown in and redealt.
- Within the same number of tricks the order is Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, No Trumps.
- Misere is a bid to lose every trick. It ranks above the Sevens and below the Eights, and can only be called once someone has bid Seven.
- Open Misere is the same, but your hand is laid face up after the first trick. It ranks between Ten Diamonds and Ten Hearts and can be bid at any time.
Bid values
| Tricks | Spades | Clubs | Diamonds | Hearts | No Trumps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 40 | 60 | 80 | 100 | 120 |
| 7 | 140 | 160 | 180 | 200 | 220 |
| 8 | 240 | 260 | 280 | 300 | 320 |
| 9 | 340 | 360 | 380 | 400 | 420 |
| 10 | 440 | 460 | 480 | 500 | 520 |
Misere is worth 250 and Open Misere 500.
The kitty
The winning bidder picks up the three kitty cards, then puts back any three cards face down and leads the first trick. In a partnership Misere, the bidder's partner sits the hand out.
Trumps, bowers and the Joker
- With a trump suit, the order from the top is: the Joker, the Jack of trumps (right bower), the other Jack of the same colour (left bower), then A K Q 10 9 and down. The left bower counts as a trump, not as its printed suit.
- In No Trumps and Misere the bidder may give the Joker a suit, where it becomes the highest card of that suit. Left without a suit it wins any trick, but it can only be played when you cannot follow the suit led, and can only be led once all four suits have been led (or when it is your last card).
The play
Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads the next trick. To play, tap a card and press Play, or tap the selected card again.
Scoring
- Make your bid and you score its value. Fail and you lose the same amount.
- Slam: win all 10 tricks on a bid worth less than 250 and you score 250 instead.
- The defenders score 10 for every trick they take, except against Misere, where they score nothing.
- Misere is made by taking no tricks at all.
Winning
A side wins by reaching 500 on a hand in which it made its own bid; the defenders' 10-a-trick points alone never win the game. A side that falls to minus 500 goes out backwards and loses.
Tips
- Count the Joker and both bowers before you bid a suit: with all three you hold the top of the trump suit.
- The kitty is worth about a trick to a long trump hand, so bid with it in mind.
- As the bidder, lead trumps early to pull them out of the defenders' hands.
- In the partnership game, when your partner is already winning the trick, play low.
- Only try Misere with no Joker, few high cards and no empty suits.