500 rules
What it is
500 is a four-player partnership trick-taking game with a proper auction, a three-card kitty for the winning bidder, and a joker that outranks everything. It is Australia's national card game, and it sits somewhere between Euchre and Bridge — the bowers and the joker come from Euchre, the bidding and the contract come from Bridge. 500 is not yet dealing on jpgames.app. It has a design lock and a reserved place in the catalogue, but no table you can sit at. This page describes the game we intend to build: the four-player partnership Australian form.
The deck
Forty-three cards, and the asymmetry is deliberate — it is part of what 500 is.
| Suit | Cards | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Hearts, Diamonds — the long suits | 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A | 11 each |
| Spades, Clubs — the short suits | 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A | 10 each |
| The Joker | one, always the highest trump | 1 |
Red suits have an extra low card. That is not a mistake to be tidied up; it is how the deck has always been.
Once trump is named, the trump suit reorders and grows, exactly as in Euchre but with the joker on top:
| Trump rank | Card |
|---|---|
| Highest | the Joker |
| then | Jack of trump — the right bower |
| then | other Jack of the same colour — the left bower |
| then | A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 of trump |
The other suits rank plainly, Ace high. In a no-trump contract the Joker is the only trump there is: it wins any trick it is played on, and its holder names a suit when leading it.
The deal
Ten cards to each of the four players, and three face down to the kitty in the middle. Nobody sees the kitty until the auction is over.
Bidding
Starting to the dealer's left, each player passes or bids higher. A bid names a number of tricks and a trump suit, and its value comes from a fixed chart:
| Tricks | ♠ | ♣ | ♦ | ♥ | No trump |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
Spades are lowest and no-trump highest; every step across or down is worth 20 more.
Misère — a promise to take no tricks at all, played alone with your partner sitting out — becomes available once somebody has bid 7 or higher. It is worth 250. Open misère, where you also lay your hand face up after the first lead, is worth 520 and ranks alongside 10 no-trump.
The auction ends when three players pass after a bid. If all four pass, the hand is thrown in and redealt.
The winning bidder takes the three kitty cards into their hand, giving them thirteen, then discards any three face down. Those discards count as tricks won by their side.
Play
The bidder leads to the first trick. Follow suit if you can; otherwise play anything, including trump. Highest trump takes the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. Ten tricks in a hand.
In a misère contract the bidder's partner sits the hand out entirely.
Scoring
| Outcome | Bidding team | Defenders |
|---|---|---|
| Contract made | the bid's value | 10 per trick they took |
| Contract set | minus the bid's value | 10 per trick they took |
| Misère made | +250 | nothing |
| Misère set | −250 | nothing |
| Open misère made | +520 | nothing |
| Open misère set | −520 | nothing |
Making more tricks than you bid does not earn more, with one exception: taking all ten on a contract worth less than 250 scores 250 instead.
Defenders collect ten points a trick whatever happens, so a defending team quietly accumulates points across hands they never win.
Ending the game
First team to +500 wins. If both teams cross 500 on the same hand, the bidding team takes it.
A team that falls to −500 loses immediately — going "out the back door". That floor is intended to be a table setting, on by default.
Variants we implement
Nothing yet — 500 is not built. When it ships it will be the four-player partnership Australian game described above, with the 43-card deck, the kitty, and misère and open misère in the bidding.
Where we differ from the common rules
These are the decisions already locked for the build, not descriptions of something you can play today.
- The three-player American game is not planned for the first release. It uses a 33-card deck and a slightly different bidding chart, and it is a follow-up rather than part of the first build.
- No stick-the-dealer. An all-pass auction throws the hand in and redeals.
- No five- or six-handed 500.
- No contract bonuses beyond the ten-trick slam described above.
500 is not dealing yet — the 500 page is a coming-soon notice rather than a table. If you want to be playing something in the same family in the meantime, Euchre shares the bowers and the joker's ancestry, and Bid Euchre shares the auction.
For the full game, including the three-player American variant, see 500 on Wikipedia.
Common questions
Can I play 500 on jpgames.app?
Not yet. It has a design lock and a reserved place in the catalogue, but it has not been built and there is no table to sit at.
How many cards are in a 500 deck?
Forty-three. Hearts and diamonds run 4 up to Ace, spades and clubs run 5 up to Ace, and there is one joker. The red suits are deliberately one card longer than the black.
What is the joker in 500?
The highest trump in the game, above both bowers. In a no-trump contract it is the only trump there is, and its holder names a suit when leading it.
What is misère in 500?
A contract to take no tricks at all, played alone with your partner sitting out. It is worth 250, or 520 for open misère, where you also play with your hand face up.
How do you win at 500?
Your partnership reaches +500 points. A team that drops to −500 loses on the spot.