Number of Players - 4 playing as partners.
Object of game: To score 10 points.
Deck- 24 card deck consisting of 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and
Ace in each suit.
Rank of cards: In trumps the rank is Jack (right bower), other Jack of the same color (left bower), Ace, King, Queen, Ten, Nine. In other suit same color as trumps the rank is Ace, King, Queen, Ten, Nine. In suits the opposite color of trumps the rank is Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine. (In many parts of the US the word "bower" has been corrupted to "bar".)
Preliminaries: Partners are seated non-adjacently.
Deal: 5 cards are dealt to each player. (Traditionally cards are dealt in groups of 2 and 3. All 5 cards MUST be dealt in 2 passes.) There will be four cards left over. The top card is turned face up and the stack is placed on the table by the dealer.
Bidding: Bidding begins to the left of the dealer and continues clockwise. During the first round of bidding players either pass or instruct the dealer to pick up the face up card. They do this by saying "I order it up". If the dealer wishes to pick up the face up card they say "I take it" or just pick it up. Bidding ends when someone "orders up". Ordering up the face up card makes the suit of that card trumps for the hand. After the dealer picks up the card, they then discard one card from their hand. If all four players pass, the face up card is turned down and there is one more round of bidding. In this round a player may pass or name a suit other than the one that was turned up. Naming a suit makes that suit trumps for the hand. Bidding ends when someone names a suit. If no one orders up or calls a trump suit, the hand is abandoned and the next dealer deals. At the time of "ordering up" or naming a suit, the player doing so may state that they are "going alone", meaning they will play the hand without the help of their partner. The partner of the player going alone places their hand face down on the table and does not play during the hand. The team that "orders up" or names a trump suit is the declaring team, the other team is the defending team.
Play of the hand: If a player is going alone, the person to their left leads to the first trick. Otherwise, the person to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick. Going clockwise, each player plays a card to the trick. Players must play the suit of the card led if possible, if not, they may play any card. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trumps are played, then the highest card of the suit led wins the trick. The winner of the trick leads to the next trick. It is important to remember that the Jack of the suit that is the same color as trumps is considered to be a card in trump suit. Example: If hearts are trumps, the Jack of Hearts is the highest trump called "The Right Bower" and the Jack of Diamonds is the second highest trump called "The Left Bower". The Jack of Diamonds is considered to be a heart for all purposes during the hand, including determining voidness in diamonds, and following suit to a heart lead. So, if diamonds led and the only diamond a player had was the Jack, they would not be required to play it. If hearts were led and a player had no hearts, but had the Jack of Diamonds, they would be required to play it. Also, remember the black jacks in this example would hold their normal ranks.
Scoring: If the declaring team is not playing alone and takes 3 or 4 tricks, they score 1 point. If they take all 5 tricks, they score 2 points. If they are playing alone, they score 4 points for all 5 tricks and 1 point for 3 or 4 tricks. If the declaring team fails to take at least 3 tricks, the defending team scores 2 points ( called "being euchred"). In the case of this board, place the chip on the number of score. Scoring is traditionally done on two cards below a nine that add up to 10, such as a 6 and 4. The players simply arrange the two cards, by placing one over the other, turning one or both face up, or a combination of such so that the total number of spots showing is the teams score. The first team to score 10 points wins the game.
Variation in number of cards:
* The 7's and 8's may be included in the deck, making a total
of 32 cards. Five cards are still dealt to each player.
* A joker may be added to the deck. The joker is the highest trump
and is called the "Best Bower" or "Benny".
Variations in dealing:
A player dealt all 9's and 10's can (or must) declare a misdeal.
Deal passes to the next player.
A player dealt a single ace with the remainder of the hand comprised
of 9's and 10's can (or must) call a misdeal. Deal passes to the
next player.
Variations in Bidding:
Dealer may not pick up face up card if it would be his only trump.
No player may order up or pick up the face up card unless they
already have that suit in their hand. The left bower does not
fulfill the requirement.
* If dealer's partner wishes to make the suit of the face-up card
trumps, she must play alone. (She says "I order it down",
to declare this.)
If no one calls trumps on the second round of bidding, the dealer
must call trumps.
Either defender may declare that they are defending alone after
the declarer has been decided. If the lone defender euchres the
declarer the defending team gets 4 points instead of 2. (Some
play that you may only defend alone against a lone declarer.)
During the second round of bidding a player may bid "high"
or "low" instead of naming a trump suit. If either of
these are bid, there is no trump suit. If the bid is "high",
the highest card of the suit led wins each trick. If the bid is
"low" the lowest card of the suit led wins each trick.
A player may play "high" or "low" alone.
Variations in play:
The first person in play to the left of the dealer always leads,
whether anyone is playing alone or not.
If a player is dealt any combination of three nines and tens,
they may exchange them for the three face down cards before bidding
starts. (In the unlikely event that this happened to more than
one player, the first person to the left of the dealer gets the
first opportunity to exchange.)
Variations in number of players:
Two or three players may play using the rules given. Each plays
for himself. There is no bonus for "going alone" (since
players will always be going alone). In the three-handed game,
if the declarer is euchred each opponent scores 2 points.
Another two-handed variation can be played with the 32-card deck.
Each person is dealt 4 cards face down in a row, then a card face
up on each of the face down cards, then a normal five card hand.
Bidding is as normal, though the "high" and "low"
options are often used. Players may play cards from their five-card
hand or from their face-up cards on the table. When a face-up
card is played, the face-down card beneath it (if any) is turned
up and is then in play. (Since some cards do not come into play
until later in the hand, a player could be void in a suit for
one trick, but not for successive tricks.) If declarer takes 7
tricks she scores 1 point, 10 tricks score 2 points and all 13
tricks scores 4 points. A euchre counts 2 points.
· Spread board on the floor or a table. · Deal cards accordingly. · Place leftover cards on "Pack" spot. · Place cube on pack. · Once Trump is called, turn cube to show the trump suit. · Begin play by discarding to approximately "Card Played" spot. · Deck ("Pack") will always be in front of dealer with cube. · Place Tricks in "Trick" area. · Score with "Chip" provided on appropriate score instead of using cards. The circle is for your beveridge of choice!!!
Scoring Markers
-History of Euchre-