Euchre
You and North are partners against West and East. Make trump, then take at least three of the five tricks. The two jacks of the trump colour, the bowers, are the highest trumps.
Also try Spades → Also try Klaverjassen (Dutch Jass) → Also try Pinochle →
How to play Euchre
Dealing and making trump
Everyone gets five cards from a 24-card deck (9 up to ace) and the top card of the four left over is turned up. Starting left of the dealer, each player may order the dealer to pick it up, which makes its suit trump, or pass; the dealer then discards a card face down. If all four pass, the card is turned down and each player in turn may name another suit as trump or pass. The dealer can’t pass a second time: this game plays stick the dealer.
Bowers and following suit
The jack of trump (the right bower) is the highest card, then the other jack of the same colour (the left bower), then the ace, king, queen, 10 and 9 of trump. The left bower belongs to the trump suit: when trump is led it must follow, and it never counts as its printed suit. Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest trump wins the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led.
Scoring and going alone
The side that made trump needs three tricks: three or four score 1 point and all five (a march) score 2. Take fewer and you are euchred: the other side scores 2. The player who makes trump may go alone while their partner sits out, and a march alone scores 4. If the dealer’s partner goes alone, the dealer sits out and nobody picks up the turned card. The first side to 10 points wins.
Tips and controls
Make trump with two or three good trumps, or a bower and an ace, and lead trump when your side called it. Don’t trump a trick your partner is already winning. Tap a card to lift it and tap again to play, or drag it to the middle; with a mouse, a click plays it. With a keyboard, use the arrow keys and Enter, P to pass, O to order up, A to go alone and C, D, H or S to name a suit.
Questions
How do you play Euchre?
Four players in two partnerships get five cards each. One suit becomes trump: the suit of the turned-up card if someone orders it up in the first round, or a suit someone names in the second round. The side that chose trump must then win at least three of the five tricks, and the first side to 10 points wins.
What are the right and left bower?
The right bower is the jack of the trump suit, the highest card in the hand. The left bower is the other jack of the same colour; it counts as a trump, so with hearts as trump the jack of diamonds is a heart, not a diamond. Both rank above the ace of trump.
What does going alone mean in Euchre?
The player who makes trump can play without their partner, who sits the hand out. Three or four tricks alone still score 1 point, but taking all five alone scores 4. On Medium and Hard the computer players also go alone with very strong hands, and when North goes alone you sit that hand out.
What is stick the dealer?
If all four players pass in both rounds, some tables throw the hand in and deal again. With stick the dealer, which this game uses, the dealer has to name a trump suit in the second round, so every deal is played.
Do the computer players cheat?
No. Each computer player decides using only its own cards, the turned-up card, the calls and the cards already played. North, your partner, plays to help your side, and the Hard players look ahead by trying out many possible layouts of the cards they can’t see.