Об игре
550 is a six-player partnership trick-taking game with bidding, played in Iran and named after its target score. Six players form three fixed partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other so that each is flanked by two opponents, and play rotates counter-clockwise. Spades are permanently trumps: they are never chosen and never bid for. The deck holds 48 cards, the 2 of hearts, diamonds and clubs being removed from a standard pack along with a 3 of one of those suits in place of the 2 of spades, which leaves the trump suit intact and gives each player eight cards. An optional variant adds two jokers as the highest trumps.
Before the deal, any player may propose a blind bid for their team, promising a number of tricks without having seen a single card. It stands only if the partner confirms it, and it scores double in both directions. After the deal, each player announces openly and in turn how many tricks they personally expect to win. Bids may be halves as well as whole numbers, but a partnership's total must come out whole, so a half bid obliges the partner to answer with a half. The contract is the sum of the two bids, with a forced minimum of two: a team that bids nothing is still held to two tricks. If no team bid blind and all three end up at that minimum, the hand is redealt.
Following suit is compulsory, but trumping is not. A player who cannot follow may discard rather than cut, even when their partner is about to lose the trick, which makes the decision of when to spend a trump the heart of the game. Scoring rewards accuracy over greed: a team that makes its contract scores ten points per contracted trick and nothing at all for overtricks, so bidding three and taking four still scores thirty, while a team that falls short loses ten per contracted trick. The first team to reach 550 points with a lead of at least fifty wins, and lower targets are used for shorter games.
550 grew out of a simpler trick-taking game played informally in Iran. Its bidding system - half bids with whole-number partnership totals, the forced minimum of two with its redeal, the partner-confirmed blind bid, and the restriction on leading trumps - was developed by Danial Diba, who also wrote down and published the complete rules for the first time in 2026.
-description from the designer