The classic American trick-taking card game, Euchre, has been enjoyed for generations. Here, you can read everything you need to know about Euchre rules so that you can impress everyone at your next gathering with your newfound skills.
If you enjoy card games with a bit of history to them, you will love Euchre. So get ready to shuffle up and deal!
Euchre is played with a standard 52-card pack that can be stripped to make a deck of 32 cards (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 of each suit), 28 cards (7s omitted), or 24 cards (7s and 8s omitted). In some games, a joker is added. Special Euchre decks are also available.
If you’re playing with a partner, you will need two decks of cards, so there are enough for both of you to have a hand of five cards each.
The object of the game is to take at least three tricks. To do this, players must use strategy and play their cards to try to take control of the hand. If the side that fixed the trump fails to get three tricks, it is said to be "euchred." Winning all five tricks is called a "march."
The highest trump is the jack of the trump suit, called the "right bower." The second-highest trump is the jack of the other suit of the same colour called the "left bower." The remaining trumps, and also the plain suits, rank as follows: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7. Remember that if you have added a joker to the pack, it acts as the highest trump.
Points are scored in various ways throughout the game, with the most common being through Trick Points and Go Points. Here, you can see the different score situations:
The first player(s) to score 5, 7, or 10 points wins the game. In the 5-point game, a side is said to be “at the bridge” when it has scored 4, and the opponents have scored 2 or less.
Go Points are earned when a team bidding to make at least 5 tricks is successful. If the team bidding makes at least 5 tricks, they earn 1 point. If they manage to take all 5 tricks (called a Euchre), then they earn 2 points instead.
There are also specific card values in Euchre that can help players keep track of how many points have been scored by each team throughout the course of the game. For example, the Ace is worth 11 points, the King is worth 4 points, the Queen is worth 3 points, and the Jack is worth 2 points. These card values come into play when one side has taken at least 9 tricks and goes set (loses).
In euchre, a rubber is a set of three winning hands. The first team to win two rubbers (six hands) wins the game. The game is a draw if both teams win one rubber each.
Rubbers can be either plain or trump. A plain rubber is won by taking three hands in a row without using the trump suit. A trump rubber is won by taking three hands in a row using the trump suit.
The aim of making a trump is to have more trump cards than your opponents. Trump cards are determined by whatever suit is named in the bid – so if clubs are named as trump, then clubs are trump for that round. The declarer leads first, and the game then proceeds clockwise around the table.
There are a few different ways to play Euchre, but the most common way is for each player to be dealt five cards face down. The dealer then sets the remaining four cards away, stacked face down. The top card of the face-down deck is then turned up to become the trump suit for the hand. The player to the dealer’s left gets to decide whether or not to accept this trump suit. If they do, they take the face-up card and put it in their hand; if not, they turn it over, revealing its suit, and the next player gets to choose.
Once Trump has been decided, each player must discard any non-trump cards from their hand face down on the table. They then draw an equal number of cards from the face-down deck to replace them. The game starts with the player seated to the dealer’s left and proceeds clockwise around the table.
On each turn, each player must play one card from their hand face up on the table. The first card played in a trick sets its suit as trumps for that particular trick; subsequent plays in that trick must follow suit. The highest card of the same suit wins the trick unless a higher trump card is played. The winner of each trick then leads the next one, and so on, until all tricks have been played.
At the end of each round, players can tally up their points to determine who won the hand. Depending on which version of Euchre you’re playing, different amounts of points may be awarded for taking a certain number of tricks or declaring trump correctly.
Deal out the entire deck of cards, face down, into two equal piles. Pick up one pile and hold it in your hand so that only you can see the faces of the cards. This is your hand.
The other pile becomes the “talon,” or draw pile. Set this pile in front of you, face down. Draw the top card from the talon and look at it. This is your up card.
Choose one suit to be trump for the hand. Trump is the suit that beats all other suits; for example, if hearts are trump and you play a heart card, it will beat any other card played (even if that other card is from another trump suit).
If you’re a fan of Euchre, you’ll be happy to know that there are plenty of other card games out there that offer a similar experience. Here are just a few of the most popular options:
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