Backpackers in Australia
Reviving my long-forgotten Interesting Australian Factoids category…
- 39% of backpackers had casual sex with someone they had first met that day or night
- Over half of backpackers come from Europe
- ..or more precisely, for some countries:
- 21% UK
- 9% Germany
- 9% USA
- 6% Japan
- 6% Korea
- Canadian backpackers on average spend the most ($7350), with Kiwis being tight-arses ($2374)
Five Hundred, the Great Australian Game
Five Hundred (500) is one of the great card games. Invented in the United States in 1904, it was quite popular until replaced by bridge by 1920. Australia, along with New Zealand and French Canada are the few places where it is still played. Wikipedia alleges that it is the most popular card game in Australia, but I would find that hard to believe. Although sprung from the loins of Uncle Sam, 500 can truly be considered the Great Australian Game. Mostly because we’re really the only people who still play it, one hundred years on. Perhaps more philosophically, 500 is Australian because it appeals to our sense of “fair go”, and that if you work hard enough you can win.
The most popular form of 500 is played between four people, one pair against the other. The value of cards follows the normal ordering, but 500 also has “trump” suits. Suits can only be played according to the leading card’s suit, however should a player not have the suit that was led, they could play any card from the trump suit, and it would be higher than the non-trump suit card. Thus, a three of diamonds would defeat an ace of hearts if diamonds was trumps. The jack of the trump suit and the other suit of the same colour also gain super-powers when playing trumps. A round can also be played as “no-ies” (no-trumps), in which suit plays no regard.
At the beginning of a round, each player makes a bid as to the number of tricks they expect the partnership will win. Because players only have knowledge of the ten cards they are holding, bidding is a way for partners to indirectly communicate. Direct communication about play, so-called “table talk” is prohibited, thus pairs use well-rehearsed bidding strategies or more for the less honourable, covert gesturing. For example, a player might bid “six diamonds”, which means the partnership will win six tricks with diamonds as the trump suit.
By the end of the bidding, players can start to form some picture of what the other three players are holding. The highest bidder gets to claim the three card “kitty” which is also an unknown quantity, and discard three cards from their hand. The general rule of thumb when bidding is to count the number of tricks you might win, expect your partner to win two, and expect to have one from the kitty.
Points are based on how ambitious the bid is — saying you’re going to win ten tricks gives more points (and has more risk) than calling the minimum six tricks. Suits have different values as well, hearts the highest and spades the lowest. If a pair does not meet the bid, the same value is deducted from their score. In some house rules, the other pair wins ten points for every trick they “steal” from the pair that won the bidding. The game ends when one pair wins by reaching 500 points, or the other team loses by “going out the backdoor” with -500 points.
Luck has a much lower role in 500 than some other lesser games such as poker (or worse, Texas Hold ‘Em). Thus a good team can win on bad cards, and a bad team can lose on good cards. It’s not what you have, but how you play it. 500 also encourages a certain level of brinkmanship and showmanship. One type of bid is “misère”, in which a player must lose ten tricks. The partner of the misère bid winner folds their hand and sits it out. A misère call is often used by players who have lost faith in their partners, like to grandstand, or have low cards in a single suit. To up the ante even further, there is “open misère” in which not only must one player battle the partnership by herself, but also plays an open hand (after the first trick) – revealing her cards to the other players.
Pairs play together but cannot communicate with each other about the game other than through how they play their cards. Because neither is entirely sure of what the other is holding, there is a delicate, tenuous interaction between them. A player needs to know when to take the lead, or when to lead to their partner. A player must also know how to avoid accidentally and wastefully playing too high a card. Likewise, they need to recognise when their partner is leading to them, imploring them to win the trick themselves. Naturally partners can get disillusioned when their ace is clobbered by your right bower 1, or when their low lead card can only be followed up with a middling card which does not win the trick.
During recreational 500 – best mixed with wine and good food – it is easy to forget which trump is being played, or what cards have already been played. Players need to remember what cards have been played (and sifting through used cards is not on) to know if it is safe to play their own. Forgetfulness or ineptitude can lead to foolish playing of cards, and generate significant angst within a partnership. When in France last week I was staying in this lovely old mansion that had lots of objects d’art scattered around the place. One of these precious things was the device below, which would be quite useful. Pressing the top rotated the dial, switching between the suits or “no trumps”. I wanted to steal it.
So, if you have four people and a deck of cards, have a think about 500. A game of depth, subtleness and skill. Just be good to your partner. For a better description of the rules, John McLeod has a good reference.
References: Wikipedia
1. The jack of the trump suit, the highest card after the joker
47 days agoComment [1]
A French Wedding
Was in Sens, France for the last four days attending a wedding.
Romantic, relaxed and fun, with great food and wine, yet I had a hole in my heart the whole time. The couple however are the most perfect match, which is a treat to see.
58 days agoNorway in a Nutshell
Before putting up the cheap postcards of the fantastic Norwegian summer, these must be shared.
Preikestolen is possibly the only other tourist attraction in the world (apart from Amsterdam’s Red Light District) where upon arriving, you promptly lie down, hang on and enjoy it
The magical song and dance at the waterfall
Where’s Dmitry?
Multi-lingual fish market
Ship, roof and ship
