Although Five Hundred is now the national card game of Australia, it was in fact invented in the USA, and promoted by the US Playing Card Company, who copyrighted the rules in 1904. The game is called 500 because the first team (or player) to reach a total score of at least 500 points wins. It is an extension of Euchre, in which the following elements have been added:
7. The Rule Of Five Hundred
From the outset, special expanded decks with extra pip cards were made to allow the game to be played by six people. Arnetta Lee reports that she purchased a 61 card deck of "BIJOU" playing-cards made by the US Playing Card Co. Cincinnati, U.S.A, including a joker and 11-spot and 12-spot cards in all suits, and bearing a patent from June 30, 1896. She was advised by the US Playing-card Museum that the 61-card deck was first patented in 1881. The rules leaflets in these early packs envisage a version of 500 played without the joker: two players use 24 cards - 10 each with a two card kitty for each player; three use 32 cards with a 2-card kitty; 4 use 44 cards with a 4-card kitty; 5 use 52 cards with a 2-card kitty, and 6 use 60 cards and there is no kitty. Use of the joker as highest trump is given as an option. In 1897 13's were added to the red suits to make a 63-card pack, and the game was regularised to have a 3-card kitty in all cases.
500 is still played in North America as well, but the standard American rules are rather different from the Australian game. Also included on this page are two specific American variations from St Paul, Minnesota, contributed by Ben Butzer, and from Youngstown, Ohio, contributed by Carol Bott. Yet another version of 500 is played in French Canada.
As far as I know, there is no official and universally accepted set of rules for Australian 500. There are four major areas of dispute that I know of: the play of the joker, the bidding process, Misere and the scoring by contractor's opponents. There are several other variations which will occasionally be encountered. If you are starting a serious game with unfamiliar players, it would be advisable to discuss and agree on your interpretation these rules in advance, to avoid arguments during the game.
There are two partnerships of three players, with partners sitting alternately. A special pack of 63 cards is used, having 11's and 12's of all suits and 13's of the red suits, ranking above the 10 and below the pictures. I have been told that in Australia it is normal to use this pack for 500 (leaving out the extra cards), even when the game is played by fewer than six people. The rules are as in the four player game. In a Misere or Open Misere, both partners of the contractor put down their cards and take no part in the play.
The two player game is played with the standard 43 card deck as used for 4 players. Each player is dealt a hand of ten cards, plus five separate piles of two cards on the table, each pile consisting of a face down card with a face up card on top of it.
The bidding is as in normal 500, except that Open Misere can not be played. In practice, No Trump and Misere contracts are rarely bid. There is no rule that a 7 call must be made before you call Misere. (In Barry Rigal's version, Misere calls are not allowed at all).
Irrespective of whether or not the contractors make their contract, the opponents score 10 points for each trick taken. In the three- and five-handed games, each individual opponent scores 10 points for each trick taken. In a Nullo, all the opponents of the contractor score 10 points for each trick taken by the contractor.
The game is won by the first player (or team) to reach 500 points or more. A game can be won by an opponent of the contractor by means of the 10 points scored for each trick taken. If the contractor and an opponent reach 500 or more in the same deal the contractor wins. In the three or five player game if two opponents of the contractor reach 500 in the same deal but the contractor does not, the first opponent who reached 500 wins (considering the opponents' tricks to be scored as they are taken). A player or team who reaches minus 500 points or worse loses the game.
"Grand Nullo" (or "Granola") is a team variation of Nullo. For bidding purposes it is worth 510 points. So it beats a ten heart bid, but is beaten by a ten no-trump bid. Grand Nullo can only be bid if the bidder's partner had opened with Nullo. In Grand Nullo, the bid winner picks up the middle, adds it to his hand and discards any five of his 15 cards. The bidder's partner (the original Nullo bidder) then picks up the five discards, adds them to his hand, and discards any five cards. The Granola bidder leads to the first trick. The bidders win if neither of them takes a trick. If either of them wins a trick they lose and their opponents score ten points for each trick taken by the bidders.
For example, 341 rounded to the nearest hundred is 300. That is because 341 is closer in value to 300 than to 400. When rounding off to the nearest dollar, $1.89 becomes $2.00, because $1.89 is closer to $2.00 than to $1.00
Rounding fractions works exactly the same way as rounding whole numbers. The only difference is that instead of rounding to tens, hundreds, thousands, and so on, you round to tenths, hundredths, thousandths, and so on.
A Constitution agreed upon by the delegates of the people of New Jersey, in Convention, begun at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey, in New Brunswick, on the twelfth day of June, and continued to the tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and forty-seven.
9. The right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate; but the Legislature may authorize the trial of civil causes by a jury of six persons. The Legislature may provide that in any civil cause a verdict may be rendered by not less than five-sixths of the jury. The Legislature may authorize the trial of the issue of mental incompetency without a jury.
(c) There shall then be appointed one member, to serve as an independent member, who shall have been for the preceding five years a resident of this State, but who shall not during that period have held public or party office in this State.
(d) Vacancies in the membership of the commission occurring prior to the certification by the commission of Congressional districts or during any period in which the districts established by the commission may be or are under challenge in court shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made within five days of their occurrence. In the case of a vacancy in the membership of the independent member, if the other members of the commission are unable to fill that vacancy within that five-day period, they shall transmit certification of such inability within three days of the expiration of the period to the Supreme Court, which shall select the person to fill the vacancy within five days of receipt of that certification.
3. On or before the third Tuesday of each year ending in two, or within three months after receipt in each decade by the appropriate State officer of the official statement by the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, issued pursuant to federal law, regarding the number of members of the House of Representatives apportioned to this State for that decade, whichever is later, the commission shall certify the establishment of the Congressional districts to the Secretary of State. The commission shall certify the establishment of districts pursuant to a majority vote of the full authorized membership of the commission convened in open public meeting, of which meeting there shall be at least 24 hours' public notice. Any vote by the commission upon a proposal to certify the establishment of a Congressional district plan shall be taken by roll call and shall be recorded, and the vote of any member in favor of any Congressional district plan shall nullify any vote which that member shall previously have cast during the life of the commission in favor of a different Congressional district plan. If the commission is unable to certify the establishment of districts by the time required due to the inability of a plan to achieve seven votes, the two district plans receiving the greatest number of votes, but not fewer than five votes, shall be submitted to the Supreme Court, which shall select and certify whichever of the two plans so submitted conforms most closely to the requirements of the Constitution and laws of the United States.
3. The General Assembly shall be composed of eighty members. Each Senate district to which only one senator is apportioned shall constitute an Assembly district. Each of the remaining Senate districts shall be divided into Assembly districts equal in number to the number of senators apportioned to the Senate district. The Assembly districts shall be composed of contiguous territory, as nearly compact and equal in the number of their inhabitants as possible, and in no event shall each such district contain less than eighty per cent nor more than one hundred twenty per cent of one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State as reported in the last preceding decennial census of the United States. Unless necessary to meet the foregoing requirements, no county or municipality shall be divided among Assembly districts unless it shall contain more than one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State, and no county or municipality shall be divided among a number of Assembly districts larger than one plus the whole number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants in the county or municipality by one-fortieth of the total number of inhabitants of the State.
1. After the next and every subsequent decennial census of the United States, the Senate districts and Assembly districts shall be established, and the senators and members of the General Assembly shall be apportioned among them, by an Apportionment Commission consisting of ten members, five to be appointed by the chairman of the State committee of each of the two political parties whose candidates for Governor receive the largest number of votes at the most recent gubernatorial election. Each State chairman, in making such appointments, shall give due consideration to the representation of the various geographical areas of the State. Appointments to the Commission shall be made on or before November 15 of the year in which such census is taken and shall be certified by the Secretary of State on or before December 1 of that year. The Commission, by a majority of the whole number of its members, shall certify the establishment of Senate and Assembly districts and the apportionment of senators and members of the General Assembly to the Secretary of State within one month of the receipt by the Governor of the official decennial census of the United States for New Jersey, or on or before February 1 of the year following the year in which the census is taken, whichever date is later.
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