Bids flew out of the mouths of each player, while sly partners nudged their noses as if they were giving baseball signals. This is the exciting world of card games. The intramural 500 card tournament was played on Saturday in the Memorial Union Pine Room, and the entire tournament took six hours to complete.

Mathew Thome, sophomore in agricultural studies, said that many people on campus aren’t familiar with the 500 card game and he said there is a pretty good reason why — learning to play the game is challenging.

The 500 card game is played with partners, and a pack of 45 cards created by discarding the twos and threes from a regular deck of 52 and adding the joker.

“It’s a tough game to play and a tough game to learn,” Thome said. “I’ve played 500 since I was 12 years old. My parents taught me how to play.”

There were 16 teams signed up for this year’s tournament. Each team received the game rules explained in great detail, in case clarification was needed.

Bidding is the most important aspect of the game. Each player has only one chance to bid during each round. Bidding begins with the player on the dealer’s left.

Dan Gates, sophomore in animal ecology and recreational services staff member, explained the bidding process.

“You deal the cards out and then you have blind cards in the center of the table,” Gates said.

Then the players bid on how many tricks they can take. Each bid must name a suit and a number of tricks. For example, “seven hearts” would indicate a player could take seven tricks and hearts would be the trump suit.

If a player has the highest bid, he or she gets the blind cards, which he or she can use to swap for cards in his or her hand.

“Ten is the highest you can go on a bid,” Thome said. “I like winning, so making a 10 bid is pretty exciting.”

Each card is worth a certain amount of points. The game ends when a team accumulates 500 points first for the win or a team gets to negative 500 points first for the loss.

Gates is a newcomer to 500, but he said he still knows his stuff.

“I learned from one of my friends here in Ames,” Gates said. “We play, but it’s hard to find four people who know how to play it well. We’ve got a select few players, but it isn’t as big as poker is here at ISU.”

Thome and his 500 card tournament partner Justin Jedlicka, junior in agricultural studies, said the competition was pretty stiff this year.

“The first game we played was probably the toughest so far,” Thome said.

Jedlicka said he just learned how to play 500, but plays Euchre frequently.

“I just started playing a year ago. I really haven’t played that much at all,” Jedlicka said. “Euchre is similar to the 500 card game, but it’s played with less cards, and the thing I had to learn in this was how to make tricks. In 500 you have to make a certain number.” Jedlicka stressed the idea of being extremely aggressive during the entire tournament.

“I’m pretty competitive, and I like to win,” Jedlicka said. “I enjoy playing this because it’s a lot like Euchre. I like it.”

Although Thome doesn’t play 500 regularly, he said he still enjoys it.

“I really just got back into it this week,” Thome said.

“I haven’t played much in the last two years, but it’s fun. We didn’t get in to play in the Texas Hold ’em poker game this semester, but we plan on playing in the one coming up.”