How To Play Five Hundred - Australia's National Card Game

If you are looking for a new card game to try, why not take a cue from Australia? Five Hundred is their national card game. If you are fond of trick-taking games like contract whist, you want something a little more in-depth but are not quite ready to jump feet-first into the world of bridge, Five Hundred could be exactly what you have been looking for.

Background and set-up

Despite being almost entirely associated with Australia today, 500 was first copyrighted by the US Playing Card Company in 1904. There, it gradually fell out of fashion as the nation became obsessed with bridge in the 1920s. However, by this time, it had spread to Australia, where it remains the most popular card game to this day.

Five Hundred is so called because it is a race to 500 points to be declared winner. The game is a variation of Euchre with the following differences:

• Players are dealt 10 cards instead of five
• Trump is chosen by the player who contracts for the highest number of tricks
• The pack is adjusted such that all cards are dealt to players with three left for the kitty
• Additional packs of cards can be used to accommodate large groups of players

The most common set up is for four players, with teams of pairs sitting opposite one another, similar to bridge. In this case, a 43-card deck is used. This is achieved by removing twos, threes and black fours from a standard deck, and adding a joker. This is known as the bird as Australian decks of cards typically have a Kookaburra depicted on the joker cards.

When there is a trump suit, the highest value card is the joker, then the jack, then the jack of the same color, then the rest in the usual order. The jack of trumps is known as the right bower and the jack of the same color is the left bower. So the order goes J, RB, LB, A, K, Q, 10, 9, etc.

Assuming four players, 10 cards are dealt to each and three are dealt face down to the kitty. Then it is time for the bidding to commence.

Placing your bids

Players take turns to bid. The bid is for how many tricks the player and his partner will win in the forthcoming hand. The bidder also states the suit that will be trumps or can state “no trumps” in which case, the bird is the only trump. A few more words about bidding:

• Players can pass instead of bidding. If all four pass, the cards are thrown in and redealt.
• Once bidding has started, subsequent bids must be a higher number or the same number with a higher scoring suit (see scoring table below).
• Bidding continues until three passes bring it back to the highest bidder, who is declared the contractor.

Playing a hand of Five Hundred

The Contractor picks up the three cards from the kitty and discards three face-down. The discarded cards can include one or more of the kitty cards. The contractor then leads the first trick. Other players must follow with the same suit if they can. Otherwise, they can either play a trump or discard a card of some other suit.

The winner of the trick leads the next trick until all ten tricks are played. Then it is time to score the game according to the following table:

If the contractors win their contract amount or more, they score according to the table. If they fail to meet their contract, they score negative the value of the contract according to the table. The non-contractors score 10 points for each trick won.

The game is won when a team reaches 500 points.

Variations including social casino play

Games like Euchre and bridge are conceptually very similar to Five Hundred. There are also regional variations that have no subtraction and differing uses of the kitty for faster gameplay. The question everyone always asks is whether you can play Five Hundred alongside the Australian Internet Pokies, blackjack and other classics as an online casino game.

The answer is yes and no. You won’t see standard Five Hundred being played in regular online casinos, but developers like Evolution are always working on new ideas, so never say never. There are also versions of Euchre that can be found on popular social casino platforms.

*Photos by Unsplash – Vikas Makwana and Erik Lucatero

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