A hand of Euchre is five cards and five tricks, played with a 24-card deck by two partnerships. Trump is not fixed, as each hand it is chosen from a card turned face up in the middle of the table, and the side that chooses it, the makers, has to win at least three tricks. Fall short and the makers are euchred, which gives the other side 2 points. Naming trump also moves a card between suits, because the jack of the other suit of the same colour becomes a trump for that hand. You play with Rory, the computer partner sitting opposite you, against Alex on your left and Sam on your right. The first side to 10 points wins.
Each suit has only the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A, with no jokers. The dealer moves one seat to the left every hand and deals from their left in two rounds, three cards each and then two cards each. The four cards left over form a small pile, and the top one is flipped over as the up card, whose suit is the first one offered as trump.
What happens to the up card depends on the bidding:
| During the bidding | The up card |
|---|---|
| Someone orders it up in round one | Goes into the dealer's hand, and the dealer discards one card face down |
| All four players pass in round one | Is turned down and stays out of play; its suit can't be named in round two |
| The dealer's partner orders it up and goes alone | Stays out of play, because the dealer sits the hand out |
Once trump is set, the player on the dealer's left leads the first trick, and each trick's winner leads the next. Following suit is compulsory whenever you can, and when you can't, any card is legal. Trump can be led at any time, with no need to wait for it to be broken. The highest trump in a trick wins it, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. Only the 20 cards in the players' hands are played, while the rest of the small pile stays face down all hand.
Say Sam, on your right, deals and turns up the 10♠. You speak first. If you pass, the choice goes to Alex, then Rory, then Sam, who as dealer can order up his own card. As soon as anyone orders it up, bidding stops and the 10♠ joins Sam's hand.
If all four pass, round two begins with you again. Now each player may name clubs, diamonds or hearts, any suit except the up card's, or pass.
Only the player who names trump can go alone, never the defenders. When the maker goes alone, their partner sits out, so three players finish the hand and each trick has three cards.
Because the game here uses stick the dealer. Once the other three players pass in round two, the dealer is required to name a trump suit. There is no Pass button for the dealer at that point, so a hand is never thrown in and redealt. When you are the stuck dealer, a note on the panel tells you before you choose.
The jack of the trump suit becomes the highest card in the deck, the right bower. The jack of the other suit of the same colour becomes the second-highest, the left bower, and for that hand it belongs to the trump suit completely. With clubs as trump, the order looks like this:
The left bower follows the suit it has joined, which is where most mistakes happen. With clubs as trump, suppose you hold J♠, 10♥ and A♦. If Alex leads the A♠, you have no spades, because your J♠ counts as a club, so you may play anything, and the J♠ would beat the A♠ as a trump. If Alex leads a club instead, the J♠ is the only card you are allowed to play. When the left bower itself is led, the status line asks you to follow clubs.
For the rest of the hand, the side panel keeps a Card order note with the ranking for that trump, for example J♣ > J♠ > A > K > Q > 10 > 9.
Only one side scores in each hand:
| Makers' tricks | Playing with a partner | Going alone |
|---|---|---|
| All 5 (a march) | 2 points to the makers | 4 points to the makers |
| 3 or 4 | 1 point to the makers | 1 point to the makers |
| 0, 1 or 2 (euchred) | 2 points to the defenders | 2 points to the defenders |
Going alone only changes the top row. Because only one side scores per hand, the first side to reach 10 wins outright, with no tie to play off and no need to win by two.
The same five cards can be a good order from one seat and a doubtful one from another, because the up card always lands in the dealer's hand. Hold J♣, K♠, 10♠, A♥, 9♦ with the A♠ turned up:
Dealer's seat matters in round two as well. If you are the dealer and the first three pass, you must name something, so a weak dealer's hand can be forced into a contract. With a middling hand in the seat on the dealer's left, passing hands that pressure to the dealer instead of taking the risk yourself.
A lone hand that takes three or four tricks still scores 1, the same as if your partner had played. Going alone therefore costs you only what your partner might have added: the fifth trick that turns 1 point into a 2-point march, or the third trick that saves you from being euchred. If your own five cards are sure of three tricks and have a real chance at all five, the switch labelled Alone ("Partner sits out; all five tricks scores 4") is worth turning on.
The score changes the decision too. At 6 points, a lone march takes you straight to 10. At 9, any made hand wins the game, so there is nothing to gain from playing alone.
No. When the dealer's partner orders up, it is an ordinary bid, and they play alone only if they switch Alone on themselves. Forcing that player to go alone is a local rule in parts of Australia, England and Canada, and it is not used here.
The defenders need three tricks to euchre the makers. Cash an ace in a side suit early, while both makers still hold cards in that suit and have to follow, because a trick or two later one of them may have run out and can trump it. On the makers' side it works the other way, so when Rory has named trump and you win a trick, leading a trump helps pull the defenders' trumps before they can be used.
Count the deck as it really is, with only 20 cards ever in play, and only 15 when someone goes alone. The Card counter in the table's corner, just below the trump badge, shows each card as still out, in your hand or played, starting once the first card is played. A card marked still out may never appear, because the turned-down up card, the dealer's discard and the rest of the small pile are counted as still out too. When a trump has not shown up by the fourth trick, it may well be lying face down in that pile.
Five tricks with a 24-card deck, and the trump suit is bid each hand — which quietly changes what a card is, because the jack of trump’s colour partner joins the trump suit outright and stops being its own suit at all.
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