by D J McAdam
Ever see a 13 of hearts? You have, if you've ever played six-handed five hundred, a very fun card game.
Five Hundred was the most popular social card game in the US between 1904 and 1920, when it lost that honor to Bridge. You need a special deck of cards to play six-handed five hundred. The Bicycle-brand deck is manufactured by the US Playing Card Co.
As you can see from the illustration at right, the deck is not entirely
standard! It includes all of the cards you'd find in a normal 52-card
deck, plus 11's and 12's of each of the four suits and 13's of the two red
suits, hearts and diamonds.
(There's also one joker.)
The deck includes an instruction leaflet.
If you don't want to play six-handed 500, but you do collect unusual playing card decks (there are more of us out there than one might think), this deck will also be of interest.
To the left is an old advertisement for No. 1112 Eleven and Twelve Spots or, as the box reads, "No. 1112 11 and 12 Spots for 500 Poker and All Games With Eight or More Players." The 12 of Spades is illustrated.
Bicycle and Five Hundred are trademarks of the United States Playing Card Co.
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