Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card games played with traditional decks have formally standardized rules, but most are folk games whose rules vary by region, culture, and person.

Many games that are not generally placed in the family of card games do in fact use cards for some aspect of their gameplay. Similarly, some games that are placed in the card game genre involve a board. The distinction is that the gameplay of a card game primarily depends on the use of the cards by players (the board is simply a guide for scorekeeping or for card placement), while board games (the principal non-card game genre to use cards) generally focus on the players' positions on the board, and use the cards for some secondary purpose.

Playing cards

A card game is played with a deck or pack of playing cards which are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. Normally the backs of the cards are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards may all be unique, or there can be duplicates. The composition of a deck is known to each player. In some cases several decks are shuffled together to form a single pack or shoe.

Jeu de cartes (Balanchine)

Jeu de cartes (En., Card Game) is a ballet in three "deals" by Igor Stravinsky composed in 1936–37, with libretto by the composer in collaboration with M. Malaieff (a friend of Stravinsky's eldest son Théodore Stravinsky) and choreography by George Balanchine. The ballet was premiered by the American Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City on 27 April 1937, with the composer conducting. The European premier was on 13 October 1937 at the Dresden Staatsoper. The New York City Ballet premiere took place on 15 February 1951 under the title The Card Game at City Center of Music and Drama, New York.

Jeu de cartes was commissioned in November 1935, although the idea of card game, especially the game of poker, didn't get firmly formed in Stravinsky's mind until after August 1936. The work was written during Stravinsky's neoclassical period, which was ushered in by one of his earlier ballets, Pulcinella, premiered in 1920.

The main character is the deceitful Joker, who fashions himself unbeatable, owing to his chameleon-like ability to become any card. There are also other cards -- Queens, Aces—and several card players portrayed in the ballet. Jeu de cartes shows that even the higher value cards, in much the same way as the people of higher position, may be occasionally defeated by the lower value cards.

500 (card game)

500 or Five Hundred is a trick-taking game that is an extension of Euchre with some ideas from Bridge. For two to six players it is most commonly played by four players in partnerships but is sometimes recommended as a good three player game. It arose in America before 1900 and was promoted by the United States Playing Card Company, which copyrighted and marketed the rules in 1904. 500 is a social card game and was highly popular in the United States until around 1920 when first Auction bridge and then Contract Bridge drove it from favour. It continues to enjoy popularity in Australia, New Zealand and Quebec.

Setup

Of the many variants to 500, the standard deck contains 43 playing cards: a Joker is included (sometimes two, in which case the black-and-white joker beats the coloured one), and the 2s, 3s, and two 4s are removed. Either the two black 4s are removed, or the 4 of spades and 4 of diamonds are removed, in which case the 4 that matches the trump color is also considered trump, so that there are always 13 trump cards (14 when using two jokers). Cards are dealt to each of the four players and three (four with two jokers) are dealt face down on the table to form the kitty (also known as the widow the blind or the hole card.) Alternatively, a 45 card deck can be used (46 with two jokers), in which case the 4s are not removed. Each player still receives a hand of 10 cards, but the kitty is increased to five cards (six with two jokers).