The goal
In 500 Rummy every card you meld scores for you, and every card left in your hand counts against you. Everybody scores every hand, and a hand can cost you points. Finish a hand alone at the top with five hundred or more to win.
The deal
Up to three players get ten cards each. With four or more it is seven. Five or more players play with two decks. The rest is the stock, with one card turned up. That is the ranked deal. A hosted table deals a flat ten to everyone, or seven if the host picks it. The deal moves one seat along each hand.
The play
Draw one card from the stock, or take from the discard pile. You may take several cards down from the top, but the deepest one must be melded or laid off in the same move. The cards above it join your hand and may go into that meld. Here you take all three, so the five of spades must be melded right now.
A set is three or four cards of one rank, one per suit even with two decks in play, so no set repeats a suit. A run is three or more in sequence in one suit; the ace runs low as ace-two-three or high as queen-king-ace, never both in the same run. Lay down what you have, whenever you have it.
You may lay off onto any meld on the table, even an opponent's. The points for the card you add are yours, not theirs.
With the discard rule off, melding or laying off your last card ends the hand at once. With it on (every ranked table, and a new hosted table), your last card must leave as a discard. Once the stock runs out you may still take from the discard pile. The hand ends the moment a player declines to draw or has no legal take. Going out earns no bonus. It only ends the hand, and every hand is shown at the count, so the player who went out can still score less.
Several cards can be laid off at once, as long as they and the meld together make one meld. Lay down a meld that continues one already on the table, anyone's, and the two are joined into one. The points for your cards are still yours. Nothing you throw is really gone. Every discard stays within reach, so the card you give up may be the one an opponent digs out later.
Scoring
At the end of a hand add the value of every card you melded, then subtract what is still in your hand. Tens and face cards are ten. At face value an ace is five and the rest count their pips, as here. Many tables score aces and low cards differently (next page).
A table you host starts with house rules: aces fifteen, twos to nines five each, runs allowed past the king, so a run like jack-queen-king-ace-two wraps straight through. A hosted table also deals ten to everyone and needs a final discard to go out. Your host can change any of that before the first deal. Ranked tables play a preset: House rules (as above), Classic (aces five, twos to nines five, no wrapping) or Competitive (aces five, the rest face value, no wrapping). All need a final discard.
Winning
The game ends after a hand in which one player alone holds the top score at five hundred or more. If two pass it, the higher score wins. If two or more players tie for the top score at or past five hundred, another hand is dealt to break it. Only players dealt into that hand can win on it. A player who leaves and is not back before their reconnect time runs out ends the game for everyone, and so does a host who cancels.
