Play 500
This site will show you how to play 500 with 3 other people (2 teams of 2) and 1 pack of cards.
Contents
Steps
- Find 3 other people to play with you. Choose 2 teams of 2. Sit opposite your partner.
- Sort out the cards - Take out all the 2's, 3's You must have one joker.
- Deal the cards - Give 3 cards to the person sitting to the right of the dealer and then 3 cards to the other people until you're back to the dealer. Put 3 cards in the middle of the table. Then repeat with 2 cards(put 2 cards in the middle (After this, no cards go in the middle)and then with 3 and once more with 2.Each player should have 10 cards with 5 in the middle.
- Start by bidding. This is slightly complicated. In 500 there are 4 suits of cards. The hearts are worth the most followed by diamonds then clubs and finally spades. The person to the right of the dealer begins. An example of a bid is '7 spades' or '7 diamonds'. This means that the player thinks he or she can win 7 tricks (during the play whoever puts down the highest card wins the 'trick'). If the player does not have good enough cards then they say pass [They can also *indicate* Indicating is saying you have an okay hand in a certain suit and could potentially help out your parter]. The next player has his or her bid. This player must bid higher than the first person [Or pass, no one can indicate, after the first *real* bid is placed. For example if the 1st player bid '7 diamonds' the 2nd player must bid '7 hearts' or 8 anything. And so it continues around the table[If no one wants to bid at all, the cards are redealt]. They take the pot (the 5 cards in the middle of the table). (Read tips)
- The person who has the pot must then put 5 cards back out again. They can be the same cards or they might not be.
- The person who has just had the pot throws out a starting card. Usually this is an Ace(A) of an off suit (the suits which are not trump) or the joker or a very low card.
- The person to the right of that plays next. He or she must throw out a card of the same suit. If the player does not have one of the same suit he or she can throw out another suit [but this suit has no value what-so-ever, you must follow suit to have a chance @ the trick].
<br.
- Play continues until there are 4 cards in the middle of the table.
- Know that the card that is the winning card is either (in this order, so if there wasn't a then b and finally c) a) the joker, b)the highest trump card on the table c) the highest card of the suit that was led. The person who threw out the winning card takes the pile (called a trick) and leads the next card. (Read Tips)
- Play continues like this until all the cards are gone. Count up how many tricks the person who won the bid (the person who was holding the pot) and his or hers partner has together. If there is equal or greater over the amount that they bid (example: They bid 7 diamonds and they have 8 tricks) then they win the amount of points for the trick bid( eg: 7 diamonds). If they didn't win the amount of tricks they lose that amount. (Read Tips)
- Continue until a team reaches 500 (they win)
Tips
- No trump is when there are no trump and each card is just taken as what it says. Normally you only play this when you have the joker.
- Remember it is also possible to end a hand with negative points.
- The suit that was the last bid (i.e the suit that the person who has the pot chose) is now called 'trump'. Trump is now the highest suit in the game. The other suits now have no order.
- When bidding, remember that the values below determine the power, the higher the power, the better the bid. The best bid wins the pot.
- (for step 4.)
- The order of the trump suit goes like so (from highest to lowest and for example diamonds is trump): diamonds bower (a bower is a jack of the trump suit and of the other suit that is the same colour as the trump. e.g diamonds is trump so the hearts jack will be a bower as well. The trump bower is called 'the right bower' and the other bower 'the left bower' Joker, Right bower, Left bower,A,K,Q,10,9,8,7,6,5,4.
- Tricks Spades Clubs Diamonds Hearts No Trump *Six 40 60 80 100 120
- (for step 9)
- The order of the non trump suit goes like so (from highest to lowest): A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4.
- The joker is the highest card. It defeats all other cards no matter what suit.
- The person sitting opposite you is your partner. You work together. So for example you won the bid and are trying to win tricks any tricks your partner wins are yours as well.
- Seven 140 160 180 200 220
- Eight 240 260 280 300 320
- Ten 440 460 480 500 520
- Nine 340 360 380 400 420
- (for step 10)
SCORING
Related Articles
- Play 500 with a Ball
