500 (BID) Official Team Rules ============================= OBJECT: To reach a score of 500 before your opponents. PLAYERS: Four, two playing as partners. The partners must sit across from each other. DECK: One 43-card pack which includes A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 of each suit, 4 , 4 , and the Joker. RANKS: The Joker is the highest card in the deck. If a trump suit is named, then the trump suit is next in rank, ranking J of trump suit, J of the same color suit, followed by A, K, Q, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 (and 4 if trump is red) of the trump suit. All other suits follow standard ranking from Ace down to 5 or 4. For example, if hearts are trump, then the ranking of trump is the Joker, J , J , A , K , Q , 10 , 9 , 8 , 7 , 6 , 5 , 4 . If no trump suit is named, then the highest card in each suit is the Ace and continues down to 5 or 4. However, the Joker still outranks any other card. DEALING: The dealer deals a set of three cards face down to each player, followed by a set of three in the center for a widow. The dealer then deals a set of four cards to each player, followed by a set of three cards. Everyone should have ten cards and the widow should contain three. BIDDING: Bidding begins with the eldest hand (player to the left of the dealer). Each player has the option to bid or pass. The schedule of bidding is listed below. If a bid is made, it must be of higher value than any previous bids made. Each player has one opportunity to bid, with the dealer having the opportunity to make the final bid. If no one bids, then the hand is thrown in and the dealer must redeal. 6 7 8 9 10  Spades 40 140 240 340 440  Clubs 60 160 260 360 460  Diamonds 80 180 280 380 480  Hearts 100 200 300 400 500 - No Trump 120 220 320 420 520 If a player bids nullo, then he or she is trying to lose every trick. A bid of nullo is worth 250, falling bewteen 8 spades and 8 clubs. A bid of double nullo is worth 500, as is a bid of bar nullo. There is no trump suit in nullo. A bid of double nullo may ONLY be made if his or her partner bid nullo. PLAYING: The suit of the highest bid is named trump. The highest bidder takes the cards in the widow. This player must then discard any three cards. The bidder then leads the first card. All players must play the suit which is led if they have it. If a player does not have a card of the led suit, then he or she may play any card. The highest ranking card of the led suit wins the trick unless a card of the trump suit has been thrown. In this case, the highest trump card wins the trick. (In the case of no trump, this is only applicable to the Joker.) If the Joker is led when there is no trump, then the person leading the Joker names the suit which he or she wants played. If a bid of nullo was made, then the bidder's partner does not play the hand; only the bidder and the opposing team play their cards. If a bid of double nullo was made, then BOTH the bidder and his or her partner play the hand, both trying to LOSE every trick. If a bid of bar nullo was made, then the bidder's partner does not play the hand, as in nullo. However, the bidder MAY NOT take the widow; he or she must play with the cards dealt to him or her. The hand is over when all ten tricks have been won. SCORING: The bidding team must earn the number of tricks which they bid, with the named suit being trump. If this is accomplished, then their bid is added to their score. If they fail to do so, then their bid is deducted from their score. If the bidding team takes all ten tricks, then they score either 250 or the amount of their bid, whichever is larger. The opposing team earns 10 points for each trick they take. If a player bids nullo, double nullo, or bar nullo, the object is to lose every trick. If this is accomplished, then the bidding team receives 250 points and the defending team receives no score for the hand. However, if the bidding team takes at least one trick, then the bidding team loses 250 points and the defending team receives 10 points for each trick that they LOST (or 10 points for each trick that the bidding team won). WINNING: The first bidding team to reach 500 wins the game. A team wins by exceeding 500 only when taking a bid for that hand, i.e. a team cannot win by exceeding 500 when playing defense. If, however, a team reaches -1,000 during a game, the opposing team automatically wins. IRREGS: MISDEAL: If a "misdeal" occurs, then the hand is nullified and the dealer must redeal the hand. ù not everyone receives exactly ten (10) cards, and there are not exactly three (3) cards in the widow ù the person to the right of the dealer was not given the opportunity to cut the deck ù a card is turned face up during the deal RENEGING: If a player unintentionally fails to play the led suit when able but acknowledges the error before the card is led for the next trick, then he may retract the card and replace it with the correct one. A renege cannot occur when leading a card, playing the led suit, or playing another suit when out of the led suit. Once a card is played, it CANNOT be retracted except for a renege or when playing more than one card. PLAYING OUT OF TURN: If a player plays a card before the person to his right plays, then the card must remain on the table except for a renege, in which case the correct card must be played immediately. PLAYING MULTIPLE CARDS: If a player unintentionally plays more than one card in a given turn, then he may retract the unintentional card(s), but must leave one (1) card remaining on the table, unless a renege has occurred. OPTIONS: An alternate way of playing is with a five-card widow. In this case, a 45-card deck is used implementing all of the fours. After the second round of dealing, two additional cards are dealt to the widow. Bidding then usually begins at 7 spades, disallowing any 6 bids. The original game states that the first team to reach 500 is the winner, regardless whether they accomplished this on offense or defense. In case both teams exceed 500 during the same hand, the bidder wins. However, to promote bidding, it is recommended that the only way to win the game is to bid during the final hand. If a team exceeds 500 without bidding, the game continues until a BIDDING team reaches 500. To promote bidding but yet prevent long, drawn-out games, a team must bid to win. However, if a team reaches 750 points, they win, and if they reach -750, they lose. Some players also limit the number of hands in a game to prevent 25-hand games. Some players allow misdeals. If a player is dealt no face cards, aces, or trump, then he or she can throw the hand in and call for a misdeal. To make misdeals less common, a rule can be implemented that anyone EXCEPT for the bidder can call for a misdeal. Some players disallow the nullo bid, or only allow bids of single nullo for 250 points.