How to Play Five Hundred

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Five Hundred is a trick-taking card game for four players in two partnerships. It sits between Euchre and Bridge in complexity: the bidding gives it genuine strategic depth, while the relatively short hand length keeps the pace brisk and sociable. The joker, a permanent fixture in the deck, adds a wild-card element that can swing a hand dramatically.

The game is especially popular in Australia and New Zealand, where it has been a household staple for generations, though it is played across the English-speaking world wherever people want something more engaging than Whist but less demanding than Bridge. It plays well at kitchen tables, in card clubs, and at family gatherings.

A little history

Five Hundred was commercially promoted in the United States around 1904 and its rules were codified and widely distributed at that time, making it one of the earlier card games to be formally published as a ruleset rather than passed on purely by word of mouth. Its origins are otherwise unclear: it drew on existing trick-taking traditions, and some scholars link its mechanics to Euchre and earlier European games, but the precise line of descent is not firmly documented. The game spread rapidly to Australia and New Zealand in the early twentieth century, where it took particularly strong root and developed several regional variations that persist today.

Setting up

1. Form two partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
2. Prepare the deck: remove all cards below the ten from a standard 52-card deck and add the joker. You will have 43 cards total.
3. Choose the first dealer by any agreed method, such as cutting for highest card. The deal rotates clockwise after each hand.
4. The dealer shuffles and the player to the right cuts.
5. Deal 10 cards to each player in batches of three, two, three, two (or any consistent pattern), placing 3 cards face down in the centre as the kitty after the first round of dealing.
6. Players sort their hands. The kitty is not touched until the bidding is complete.

How to play

1. BIDDING: Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player in turn either makes a bid or passes. A bid states a number of tricks (6 to 10) and a trump suit or No Trumps, for example '6 Spades' or '8 No Trumps'.
2. Each subsequent bid must outrank the previous one. Bids are ranked first by the number of tricks, then within the same number by suit: Spades (lowest), Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, No Trumps (highest). So '7 Clubs' beats '6 No Trumps', and '7 Hearts' beats '7 Diamonds'.
3. Once three players have passed in succession, the last bid stands. That player is the declarer; their partner is the dummy in the sense that both play together as a team, though unlike Bridge both partners hold and play their own cards.
4. MISERE: A player may bid Misere (also called Open Misere), which outranks 7 No Trumps but falls below 8 of any suit. The bidder undertakes to win no tricks at all, playing without a partner for that hand. Open Misere, where the bidder's hand is exposed after the first trick, outranks a closed Misere bid.
5. THE KITTY: The declarer picks up the 3 kitty cards and adds them to their hand, then discards any 3 cards face down. The discarded cards count as tricks won by the declarer's side at the end of the hand.
6. TRUMP ORDER: In a suit contract, the joker is the highest trump, always. The jack of the trump suit (Right Bower) is second highest. The jack of the suit of the same colour as trumps (Left Bower) is the third highest trump and is treated as a trump suit card, not as a card of its natural suit. All remaining trumps follow in normal rank (A, K, Q, 10).
7. In No Trumps, the joker has no trump power. The holder of the joker may play it at any time but must first name a suit for it. If the joker is led, the leader names the suit it represents; other players must follow that suit if they can. The joker always wins the trick in which it is played, except: if the holder has declared it as a suit they have no cards in, the holder may be challenged and must show their hand.
8. THE PLAY: The declarer leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if they can. If they cannot follow suit they may play any card, including a trump. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. Tricks are stacked face down in front of one partner of each side.
9. In a Misere contract there are no trumps. The Misere bidder plays alone; their partner takes no part and holds their cards without showing them.
10. SCORING: After all 10 tricks are played, count tricks won by each side.
11. If the declarer's side wins at least as many tricks as they bid, they score the value of their bid from the scoring table. If they win more tricks than bid, they score the bid value only (extra tricks above the bid score nothing, unless the total reaches 250 points in one hand, which is rare and credited in full).
12. Bid values: 6 of a suit = 40 (Spades), 60 (Clubs), 80 (Diamonds), 100 (Hearts), 120 (No Trumps); 7 of a suit = 140/160/180/200/220; 8 = 240/260/280/300/320; 9 = 340/360/380/400/420; 10 = 440/460/480/500/520. Misere = 250; Open Misere = 500.
13. If the declarer's side fails to make their bid, they lose the value of their bid (the score goes negative if they are below zero).
14. The opposing side scores 10 points for each trick they win regardless of the outcome of the declarer's bid.

Winning and scoring

The first partnership to reach exactly or more than 500 points wins the game. If both sides reach 500 in the same hand, the declaring side wins. A side can also lose immediately if their score drops to minus 500 or lower, which is called going out the back door. If neither side has reached 500 after an agreed number of hands, the higher score wins, though most players prefer to play to the 500 threshold outright.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns the joker in No Trumps. The standard ruling is that the joker may be played on any trick but must be assigned a suit by its holder before the trick is settled; if the named suit is one the holder demonstrably still holds, other players may object and the joker is treated as a losing card in that trick. Another frequent argument arises over the Left Bower: players sometimes forget it has changed suit entirely for the hand and try to follow suit with it when another suit is led. The Left Bower is a trump for all purposes, including the obligation to follow suit and to trump in.

Revoke (failure to follow suit when able) is a serious error. The standard penalty is that the offending side may not score any points for that hand, and the non-offending side scores what they would have scored had play proceeded correctly. If the revoke is not discovered until after the hand is over, the same penalty applies. Misere contracts are void if the declarer commits a revoke; the bid is lost and the points deducted. Partners may not communicate about their hands during play; any comment beyond 'no trumps' or 'your lead' is considered a breach of etiquette and, in competitive play, may incur a penalty.

How to win more often

• Count your certain tricks before bidding. In a suit contract, count the joker, your Bowers, and your solid high trumps, then add established side-suit winners. Bid what you can reliably make, not what you could make on a good day.
• Control the trump suit early. Draw trumps from the opponents when you have the top cards; leaving enemy trumps out is how contracts fail. If you hold only four trumps including both Bowers, lead them promptly.
• Use the kitty to fix weaknesses, not to add winners you do not need. Discard your singleton losers and void yourself in a side suit so you can ruff in when that suit is led against you.
• The opposition should signal count, not strength. When defending, a high-low sequence in a suit tells partner you hold exactly two cards in that suit; this helps partner decide when it is safe to lead through the declarer.
• Do not bid Misere lightly. You need to be confident you can lose every single trick; even one small trump or a bare ace in a short suit can sink you. Misere is most reliable when you hold long, low cards in several suits and no dangerous high cards.

Variations

Three-Player Five Hundred

Played with the same 43-card deck but with no partnerships. Each player bids and plays for themselves. The kitty goes to the highest bidder as normal; the other two players co-operate informally to defeat the contract but each scores their own 10 points per trick won. First to 500 wins; first to minus 500 is eliminated if desired.

Six-Player Five Hundred

Uses a 63-card deck, adding cards from 2 upward as needed to make the count work, and forms three partnerships of two. The bidding, play, and scoring follow standard rules. This version extends the game considerably and is popular in Australia where larger family groups play together.

Nullo

Some groups add a Nullo bid, which functions like Misere but with a trump suit declared. The bidder names a suit as trumps and undertakes to win no tricks, playing with their partner as normal. Nullo typically ranks between 7 No Trumps and 8 Spades. It is a regional variation and should be agreed before play begins.

No Kitty

A simplified variant sometimes used for teaching: the 3 kitty cards are simply turned face up for all to see after the bidding, and the declarer adds them to their score pile without choosing which to discard. This removes a key element of hand management but makes the game accessible to younger or newer players.

Five Hundred: frequently asked questions