500 on PlayingCards.io

Place bids, win tricks, and race your opponents to 500!

500 Rules

• 500 is a game for four players, divided into two teams, with partners sitting across from each other.
• A 500 deck contains one joker, removes all of the 2's and 3's, and a 4 of each color.
• The player to the left of the dealer bids first.
• 500 is a bidding game and trick taking game. A bid is a guess of how many tricks will be won by the bidding player. A trick is simply a winning round.
• All of the tricks earned by a team count toward the bid.

Set-up

• Each player is dealt ten cards, dealt in groups as follows: three cards to each player, then four cards, followed by three cards.
• Between each group of dealing, a single card is placed face down near the middle, this is called the Kitty.
• After the deal, players take turns making bids. The player who makes the highest bid gets to use the Kitty to swap out any undesired cards in their hand. The left over cards are discarded.
• The minimum bid is six, and subsequent players must either place a higher bid or pass.
• Bidding players also declare a trump suit. For example, a player bids "6 in diamond", meaning if they win the bid then the trump suit is diamond.
• The player who wins the Kitty plays first.

Playing the Game

• The first player places any card in the middle, following players must play in the same suit, if possible.
• If a player cannot play in-suit, then they may play any card.
• After each player plays one card, the trick is complete. There will be ten tricks possible for every hand.
• The player who plays the highest ranking card wins the trick and begins the next round.
• Players keep track of their tricks by placing them in front of their hand, for all others to see.
• When all ten tricks have been assigned, teams score their hands.
• After scoring, reshuffle the cards and deal again. Repeat until one team wins.

Scoring

• In 500, teams can win or lose points.
• For the team that wins the bid; they must win at least as many tricks as bid.
• If the team does not meet their bid, then the same points that could have been won, are subtracted from the team's score.
• If the bidding team earns more tricks than their bid, those overtricks are not counted for scoring.
• For the team that does not win the bid: 10 points are earned for every trick.

Alternative Bids

• Players can make their bids by declaring "no trump" suit.
• Players can attempt to lose every trick, this is called Misère. If a player bids Misère then their teammate sits out of the hand. If the player who bids Misère wins any tricks, then they subtract 250 points from their team's score.

Winning

• The first team to lead by 500 combined points wins.
• Be aware that teams can have negative scores, meaning that a team can win with less than 500 points.