500 (card Game) - Score Keeping For 500

Score Keeping For 500

The goal is for the team who wins the bid to take at least as many tricks as they bid. If the high bid is "eight hearts," then the team wins the hand if they take 8, 9, or all 10 tricks and are awarded points according to the table below. There are no bonuses for overtricks (tricks over the number bid). If they do not make their bid, the same number of points is subtracted from their score. Whether or not the bid winning team achieves its bid, the opposing team receives 10 points for each trick they take. A team wins the game by scoring at least 500 points. A team whose score dips to -500 points or below loses the game. This is also known as going "out the back door" or "out backwards."

Variations in score keeping

• 6-trick bids are considered inkles, raising the minimum bid to 7-Spades.
• If a team bids 8-Spades or less, but takes all 10 tricks, they can receive 250 points; known as a "slam".
• A team wins the game by scoring at least 500 points through winning bids, which means that any team surpassing 500 points solely with tricks has not yet won the game.
• The game can be played with the removal of the trick points, thus only winning bids score points.
• If both teams pass 500 points on the same hand, the bidding team wins even if they have fewer points.
• A team whose score dips below -500 points loses the game only if the other team is not in the negative.
• In an unrestricted bidding game, there are no limitations on which hands can be called when, such as only allowing a Nullo call after a bid of 7 has already been made. Instead, each subsequent player need only be able to outbid the current highest bid (or pass).
• Split the colors In this scoring variation Nullo outbids 7 black, but not 7 red; Open Nullo outbids 8 black, but not 8 red; Hi/Lo outbids 9 black, but not 9 red; and Double Nullo outbids 10 black, but not 10 red (shown in table below).
• Perfect variant. Scoring for each family of tricks is reduced by 20 points (see table below), causing 10 No Trump (the highest bid) to be worth exactly 500 points.