When you start looking at card games there are hundreds to pick from, but many of the best are games which have been around for decades.
Euchre fits into that category.
It was created way back in 1848, so just to have stayed popular for more than a century speaks to true game’s appeal.
One reason for that appeal is that euchre is a versatile game allowing for two to seven players, although like many card games it is widely thought to be best played by four players.
Euchre is another of the myriad of trick taking card games out there, which has relatively simple bidding and trick-taking elements.
Euchre in North America uses a deck of 24 standard playing cards consisting of A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9 of each of the four suits. A standard deck 52-card deck can be used, omitting the cards from 2 to 8, Players are dealt a five-card hand and the object is to win three of the five tricks.
In Great Britain a Joker is added for 25 cards, with it being the best card in the game.
Five cards are dealt to each player in two rounds, but in a somewhat different fashion than most games. The dealer deals clockwise, giving each player a packet of two or three cards in any order - any player who was dealt two in the first round gets three in the second and vice versa.
The dealer then turns the next card in the deck face up. This up-card is used as a basis for selecting the trump suit, although it’s not a straight up case of the suit turned being trump.
Making trump is where the ‘bid’ aspect of euchre weaves into the game.
This process determines the trump suit and which team are the makers - that is the team which undertakes to win three tricks. First each player in turn, beginning with the player to the dealer’s left, has the option of accepting the turned over card suit as the trump suit or passing. Specifically:
• The player to dealer’s left may either pass or say “I order it up”
• If the first player passes, the dealer’s partner may either pass or say “I turn it down”
• If the first two players pass, the player to dealer’s right may either pass or say “I order it up”
• If all three other players pass, the dealer may either take up the up-card, saying “I take it up”, or pass by saying “over” and turning the up-card face-down.
If either of the dealer’s opponents order it up or if dealer decides to take it up, the suit of the card becomes trump; the dealer adds the up-card to his or her hand and discards a card face-down.
If all four players pass, the up-card is turned face-down, and there is a second round in which players have the option to make any suit trump, other than the suit of the new card. Note that the trump making process ends as soon as someone accepts or makes trump (rather than passing). That player’s side are the makers and the other side are the defenders.
Another interesting aspect of euchre, after trump has been made, but before the first lead, any player may announce that they are playing alone. The partner of a lone player puts his or her cards face-down and takes no part in the play.
The reason for this move is to try and gain additional scoring points.
Either a member of the makers side or a defender may play alone. It is even possible that a maker and a defender choose to play alone, in which case there will be only two active players.
If all four players are playing then the scores are as follows:
• If the makers win 3 or four tricks they score one point.
• If the makers win all five tricks they score two points.
• If the makers take fewer than three tricks they are said to be euchred, and the defenders score two points.
If a member of the makers’ team is playing alone and wins all 5 tricks, the team scores 4 points instead of 2’.
You can find a nice rules summary at www.wikihow.com/Sample/Euchre-Rules
The game is popular enough that there are actually boards that allow you to track scores much like in cribbage, which is a neat feature since gamers love cool accessories.
Like most card games there are numerous ‘house rules’ and regional tweaks to the way the game is played, so make sure you discuss before playing with anyone experienced in the game to make sure you are on the same page.
A quick game, with some interesting elements regarding trump make euchre a game well worth exploring.
