Euchre
Euchre is a fast partnership trick-taking game for four players in two teams.
It is played with a short 24-card deck and is famous for its trump bidding, its
two "bower" trump jacks, and the option to go alone for bonus points.
Objective
Be the first partnership to reach 10 points. Partners sit across from one
another: Team 1 is players 1 & 3, Team 2 is players 2 & 4.
The Deck
Euchre uses only 24 cards — the 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of each of
the four suits. All lower cards are removed.
Setup
•
Each player is dealt 5 cards.
•
The next card is turned face up. Its suit is the candidate trump for the
first round of bidding. The three remaining cards form the kitty and are set
aside.
•
The deal passes one seat to the left after every hand.
Trump and the Bowers
Once a trump suit is chosen, the two most powerful cards are the bowers:
•
Right bower — the Jack of the trump suit. This is the highest card in the
game.
•
Left bower — the Jack of the other suit of the same color. It counts as
a trump card (not its printed suit) and is the second-highest card.
For example, if spades is trump, the right bower is the J♠ and the left
bower is the J♣. The full trump order, high to low, is:
J (right bower) → J of same color (left bower) → A → K → Q → 10 → 9
In every non-trump suit the order is the normal A → K → Q → (J) → 10 → 9,
except that the suit whose Jack has become the left bower is missing that Jack.
Bidding for Trump
Starting to the dealer's left and going clockwise:
1.
Round 1 — order it up. Each player may order up the turned-up suit as
trump, or pass. If a player orders it up, the dealer picks up the
turned card and discards one card face down, and that suit becomes trump.
2.
Round 2 — name a suit. If all four players pass, the turned card is turned
face down. Going around again, each player may name any of the other three
suits as trump (not the suit that was turned down), or pass.
3.
Redeal. If everyone passes a second time, the hand is thrown in and
redealt by the next dealer.
The partners who set trump are the makers; their opponents are the
defenders.
Going Alone
When you set trump, you may declare that you will play alone. Your partner
sits out the entire hand — their cards are set aside and their turn is skipped —
and you play the five tricks by yourself against both opponents. Going alone
risks nothing extra but pays a large bonus for sweeping the hand.
Playing the Tricks
•
The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick (if that player is
sitting out for a loner, the lead passes to the next active player).
•
You must follow the led suit if you can. Remember the left bower counts as
trump, not as its printed suit.
•
A trick is won by the highest trump played, or, if no trump is played, by
the highest card of the suit that was led.
•
The winner of each trick leads the next one. Five tricks are played per hand.
Scoring
At the end of each hand, count the makers' tricks:
Makers take 3 or 4 tricks
Makers take all 5 tricks (a "march")
Makers take all 5 tricks while going alone
Makers take 3 or 4 tricks while going alone
Makers take fewer than 3 tricks ("euchred")
Winning
The first partnership to reach 10 points wins the game.