These rejected cards are to be laid face downwards on the table, and may not be inspected by any one. The bidder, before playing, takes the "widow" into his own hand, and then discards any three cards out of the thirteen. When the bidding, if any, is completed, the player who bid the highest,-thenceforward known as "the bidder,"-has the first lead. If no player bids, the cards are played No-trumps, and in this case the "widow" remains unappropriated, the eldest hand has the first lead, and each player scores 10 points for each trick that he may make. With this exception, the bidding and overbidding continue, until every one is content. A player who has once "passed" cannot subsequently bid. Each successive player, in the usual Bridge order, may either overbid, or may also pass. The eldest hand is not bound to bid, but may pass. At the same time, he must either name a trump suit or declare No-trumps. The eldest hand has the first right to declare how many tricks (not fewer than six) he will contract to win. The remaining three cards are laid face downwards on the table, and constitute the "widow." After which come the 7, &c., upwards to the king.Īfter shuffling and cutting, the dealer distributes three rounds of three cards each to the three players, followed by one round of one card each. In cutting for deal, the Joker is the lowest card, and an ace the next higher. The Joker remains the master card of the pack if it is led, the leader names the suit which he elects it to represent, and the other players must follow suit accordingly. When there are no trumps, all the cards, except the Joker, rank as in Whist or Bridge. The knaves of the latter two suits take their ordinary Whist and Bridge rank, between the queen and the 10. The trump suit thus consists of ten cards the plain suit of the same colour consists of seven only the other two plain suits consist of eight each. When there are trumps, the Joker is the master trump then follows the knave of trumps (the "Right Bower") then the other knave of the same colour (the "Left Bower") after which come the ace, king, queen, ten, nine, eight, seven of trumps, in descending order. Those who are not Euchre-players must begin by familiarising themselves with the functions of the Joker, and with the peculiar rank and attributes of the Right and Left Bower. The pack used is the piquet pack of thirty-two cards (cards below the seven being omitted) plus the Joker-thirty-three cards in all. In the following description, the typical form of the game is assumed, in which three players take part, each being opposed to both the others. It appears to many people to contain all the merits of Auction Bridge without the patent defects of the latter-the interminable length of the rubber, the undefined limits of loss, and the supersession of skill by "bluff." It does, indeed, borrow its elements from sundry older games: Euchre, Loo, Nap, and Auction Bridge: but by combining these elements into a new and harmonious whole, it achieves a sum total that produces the effect of novelty without taxing our brains to assimilate unfamiliar and bizarre ideas. "Five Hundred" has been characterised as a "patchwork" or "mosaic" game but such expressions do not do it justice, as tending to create the impression that it is a thing of shreds picked up here and there, and indifferently joined together. It is primarily and specifically a game for three players and this is one of its greatest merits, for good three-handed games are rare. This is a game largely played in the United States and in Canada, but not so well known in this country as it deserves to be, though one variety of it has been played in London clubs.
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