500 Rummy Card Game Rules

Use a standard 52-card deck. For five or more players, use two decks. Deal seven cards to each player and place the rest face down as a draw pile. Turn the top card face up next to the pile to start the discard pile.

The goal is to be the first player to reach 500 points. Each round, players try to get rid of their cards by laying down scoring combinations. When someone runs out of cards, any cards still in the other players' hands count as negative points.

A combination is a set of at least 3 cards placed on the table, and there are two types:

• Three or four cards of the same rank. For example ♥️A ♠️A ♦️A
• Three or more cards of the same suit in numerical order. For example ♣️3 ♣️4 ♣️5

Play begins with the player to the left of the dealer. That player draws a card from the draw pile, lays down any valid combinations they have, and ends their turn by discarding one card face up onto the discard pile. Play then passes to the next player.

On your turn, you must draw a card from either the draw pile or the discard pile. If you draw from the discard pile, you can take just the top card, or, if you have already laid down a combination, you may take the entire pile.

It pays to keep track of what's in the discard pile. If a player takes the whole pile but cannot immediately lay down a valid combination, they receive a 50-point penalty.

After drawing, you can lay down any valid combinations you have. You may lay down as many as you like, and you are not required to lay any. Players can also add cards to each other's combinations, but only after they have laid down at least one combination of their own.

Example: If player 1 has laid down ♥️A ♠️A ♦️A, player 2 can, on their turn, add ♣️A to that combination. At the end of the round, player 1 scores points for ♥️A ♠️A ♦️A, and player 2 scores for ♣️A.

If you cannot play all your cards as combinations, end your turn by discarding one card face up onto the discard pile. If you still have cards in hand, play passes to the next player, who begins by drawing a card.

When a player runs out of cards, the round ends and points are counted:

• The player who went out first gets a 50-point bonus.
• Cards ranked 2 through 9 are worth 5 points each.
• 10, J, Q, and K are worth 10 points each.
• An Ace used as 1 in a sequence (such as A-2-3) counts as 5 points.
• An Ace used in a three- or four-of-a-kind, or left in hand, counts as 15 points.
• Cards left in hand are scored at face value, but as negative points.

Example: A player who has laid down ♦️7 ♦️8 ♦️9 ♦️10 and ♣️J ♦️J ♥️J, added ♥️A to another player's combination, and has ♠️3 left in hand scores 25 + 30 + 15 - 5 = 65 points.

Record the scores and let the next player deal. Play continues until someone reaches 500 points or more.

These rules describe 500 Rummy as played in the Nordics: seven cards each, melds laid on the table, and the first player to reach 500 points wins. It is a different game from Five Hundred, the Australian trick-taking game.