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How To Play CardsThe PackA complete set of cards is called a pack, though the old-fashioned term deck is still used in America. The pack in commonest use contains 52 cards, divided into four groups of 13 each. The four groups are called suits and their 13 members ranks. |
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Suits Each suit is distinguished by a symbol. The four suits are:  spades,  clubs,  hearts and  diamonds.The suits are all basically of equal status, none being higher or better than another, except as rules of a particular game may specify. In Five Hundred the order of suits (from highest to lowest) is hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades. |
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Ranks Each suit contains 13 ranks as follows: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. In the vast majority of games, the Ace is promoted to top position. (Elsewhere 10 is represented as the letter T for simplicity.) |
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Alternative Packs The suit symbols described above are French in origin. There are also German, Swiss, Italian and Spanish suit systems. Many games are played with shorter packs, which can be reproduced by rejecting certain ranks from the 52-card pack. |
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The Joker Most modern packs contain one or more odd cards called Jokers. Not all games require them, and in those that do they are used in different ways. In Five Hundred, the Joker is the Best Bower, being the highest card of the pack. |
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Tricks The commonest way in which cards are played is in the form of tricks. A trick occurs when everybody in turn plays a card face up to the table and the one who plays the best card captures all the others, which she then places in a squared-up pile face down on the table before her. In some games the object is to win tricks, in others it is to avoid winning them, and in some it is to capture certain scoring cards contained in them. In Five Hundred the object is to win at least as many tricks as you or your partner have bid, or to win enough tricks to ensure your opponents fail to make their bid. Normal rules of trick playing are as follows. One player, the leader, starts by leading any card she likes. Everybody else must then follow suit if they can, ie. play a card of the same suit as the one led. Whoever plays the highest-ranking card of that suit wins the trick. She thereby earns the privilege of leading to the next trick, and thus deciding which suit to play next. A player who is void of the suit led (has no cards of it) cannot win the trick, and will have to play a card of some other suit instead. This is generally called discarding, though the correct term is renouncing, as the player who cannot follow renounces all hope of winning the trick. A player who can follow suit but fails to do so is said to revoke, an action which usually incurs some sort of penalty. |
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Trumps At the start of play it may, in some games, be agreed that a particular suit should become the trump suit. The word is a corruption of 'triumph', and denotes that the agreed suit is superior to the other three, which are called plain or side suits. If the leader to a trick starts with a plain suit anyone who is unable to follow suit may win the trick by playing a trump, which beats all cards of the suit led regardless of rank. This is called trumping or ruffing. If several players cannot follow and decide to ruff instead of renouncing, then the trick is won by the highest trump played. Note that the Two of trumps beats the Ace of any other suit. If a trump is led, by definition nobody can ruff, and anyone unable to follow suit can only renounce. |
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Special Rules The trick rules outlined above are widespread enough to be described as 'normal'. You may encounter games which have other rules. In some games there are comparatively 'relaxed' rules whereby a player is not obliged to follow suit but may follow, trump or renounce as she pleases. Others apply 'strict' rules. In Five Hundred, the normal trick-taking rules apply, though the ranking of cards changes slightly in the trump suit. | |
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