What you need
Euchre is played by four players in two teams, partners sitting across the table from each other. It uses a short pack of 24 cards: the 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit. Take the 2s to 8s out of an ordinary pack and you have it. On this site you are south, your partner is North, and you play against West and East, all three played by the computer, so a game is always ready.
The goal
Each hand, one team chooses the trump suit. That team, the makers, must take at least three of the five tricks. If they do, they score; if they do not, they are euchred and the other team scores instead. The first team to reach 10 points wins the game.
The deal
The dealer gives each player five cards. The next card is turned face up in the middle of the table, and the last three stay face down under it, out of play. The deal passes to the left after every hand.
The bowers: the two highest cards
Once trump is chosen, two Jacks change. The Jack of the trump suit is the right bower, the highest card in the game. The other Jack of the same colour is the left bower, the second highest. The pairs of the same colour are spades and clubs, and hearts and diamonds. So if hearts are trump, the Jack of Hearts is the right bower and the Jack of Diamonds is the left bower.
The left bower is a trump for every purpose. It is no longer a diamond at all: it follows hearts, it must be played when hearts are led and it is your only heart, and it cannot be played to follow diamonds. This is the rule new players forget most often. After the two bowers come the Ace, King, Queen, 10 and 9 of trumps, then the other suits, each from the Ace down to the 9.
Choosing trump
Choosing trump happens in up to two rounds, starting with the player on the dealer’s left and going round the table.
- Round one: the turned-up card. Each player in turn may order up the card, which makes its suit trump, or pass. If anyone orders it up, the dealer adds the card to their hand and puts away one card face down, so the dealer always gains a trump. The dealer may also take it up themselves, after the other three have passed.
- Round two: any other suit. If all four pass, the card is turned face down. Each player in turn may now call any other suit as trump, or pass. The suit that was turned down cannot be chosen.
- Everyone passes twice. The cards are thrown in and the next player deals a new hand.
Whoever orders up or calls trump makes their team the makers. Think about who gets the turned-up card: ordering it up to your partner adds a trump to your side, while ordering it up to an opponent gives them one.
Going alone
The player who chooses trump may announce that they will go alone. Their partner puts their cards down and sits the hand out, and the lone player plays against both opponents. It is worth it with a very strong hand: a lone player who takes all five tricks scores 4 points instead of 2. If the dealer’s partner goes alone in round one, the dealer sits out and does not pick up the card.
Playing the tricks
The player on the dealer’s left leads the first trick (if that player is sitting out, the next player leads). Each player in turn adds one card:
- Follow suit if you can. If you hold a card of the suit that was led, you must play one. Remember that the left bower belongs to the trump suit.
- If you cannot follow, play any card. You may play a trump to win the trick, or throw away a card you do not need.
The highest trump played wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. The winner leads the next trick.
Scoring
When all five tricks are played, the makers count their tricks:
| The makers take | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 or 4 tricks | 1 point to the makers |
| All 5 tricks (a march) | 2 points to the makers |
| All 5 tricks, playing alone | 4 points to the makers |
| 3 or 4 tricks, playing alone | 1 point to the makers |
| Fewer than 3 tricks (euchred) | 2 points to the other team |
The first team to reach 10 points wins. On this site the score sheet under the table keeps every hand: who chose trump, how many tricks each team took, and the points.
Tips to win more hands
- Count your trumps before you order up. Three trumps, or two with a bower and an off-suit Ace, usually take three tricks with your partner’s help. One or two low trumps usually do not.
- Mind where the card goes. Be bolder ordering the card up to your partner than to an opponent: the card goes into the dealer’s hand.
- Lead trumps when your side chose them. Leading the right bower draws out the opponents’ trumps, so your Aces can win later.
- Do not trump your partner’s winning card. If your partner’s Ace is winning the trick, throw away a low card and keep your trumps.
- Empty a suit when you deal. When you pick up the card, put away a lone low card of another suit. Then, when that suit is led, you can trump it.
- Remember the left bower. It is easy to miss that the Jack of the same colour is a trump. Count it when you bid, and watch for it when trumps are led.
- Go alone only with a sure hand. Both bowers and the Ace of trumps, or three trumps with the right bower and an off-suit Ace, are the usual hands for it.
Hint follows these ideas and explains each one in a sentence, so asking for a hint now and then is a good way to learn.
Other ways people play
Euchre has many house rules. With stick the dealer, the dealer may not pass in the second round and must choose a suit, so hands are never thrown in. Some tables add a joker, the best bower, above the right bower, play to 5, 7 or 11 points, or add the 7s and 8s. This site plays the common rules above: 24 cards, a game to 10, and the cards thrown in when everyone passes twice.
Where Euchre comes from
Euchre is thought to come from an Alsatian card game called Juckerspiel, and the name of its highest card, the bower, from the German word Bauer, the Jack. It arrived in America with German-speaking settlers in Pennsylvania and spread across the country in the 1800s, when it was among the most popular card games in the United States. The joker was first printed for Euchre, as the best bower. Today it is played most of all in the American Midwest, in Ontario, and in Cornwall and the West Country in England.
Where to play
Play Euchre with a computer partner here, or try Hearts, every player for themselves.