500
BGG rank
BGG #4,908
BGG rating
7.1

500

1904

Rules assistance for 500

Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.

  • 2–6 players
  • 30 min
  • 8+
  • Complexity 2.1/5

For 2 players

Rules assistant for 500

What would you like to know?

Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.

500 is a board game released in 1904 for 2–6 players, 30 minutes per game, and ages 8 and up. Its main mechanics are Team-Based Game, Trick-taking, and Predictive Bid.

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About the game

Five Hundred (500) is a simple trick taking card game that uses a standard deck of playing cards. Each player is dealt ten cards, and bids to take 6-10 tricks with the help of cards in the kitty. With 4 or 6, it's usually played in partnerships. Two or three players use a 33 card deck with all 2-6's removed plus a Joker added. Four players use a 43 card deck: remove 2s, 3s, and black fours (leaving the 4 of Hearts, 4 of Diamonds) and a Joker added. Five players use a 53 card deck with only a Joker added. Six players need a special deck of 63 cards with 11's, and 12's in each suit and a 13 of Diamonds, a 13 of Hearts, and a Joker. The variant most popular in French Canada is four players (in partnerships) with a 46-card deck (removing all 2s and 3s, and adding two Jokers, a black-and-white one and a coloured one). Decreasing card strength is white joker, colour joker, first and second "edges" (the trump jack and the matching colour jack), ace, king, queen, 10 down to 4. Decreasing bidding strength is hearts-diamonds-clubs-spades. A special hand is "nulot", in which a player tries not to take any tricks; his partner sits out the hand.

Categories

Publishers

  • (Unknown)
  • John Waddington Ltd.
  • (Public Domain)
  • The United States Playing Card Company
  • Orient Line

Questions and answers

500 supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.