Euchre in five minutes.
Four players, two partnerships, twenty-four cards, first side to ten points. Here is all of it. The full rules, with every edge case, are in Learn.
The deck and the table
Only the nine through the ace of each suit are used. You sit across from your partner; the players on your left and right are the other side. The dealer gives everyone five cards, in packets of two and three.
Trump, and the two bowers
One suit is trump each hand, and any trump beats any other suit. The jack of trump is the right bower, the best card in the game. The other jack of the same colour becomes trump too: the left bower, second best. With hearts as trump the jack of diamonds is a heart.
- Right bower
- Left bower
- Ace
- King
- Queen
- Ten
- Nine
The jack of diamonds crosses over: with hearts as trump it counts as a heart, the second-best card in the game.
Calling trump
After the deal one card is turned face up. Going round the table, each player can order it up, making its suit trump and sending the card to the dealer, or pass. If all four pass, the card is turned down and each player may name any other suit. Here the dealer can’t pass a second time: they must name trump.
The side that names trump are the makers. They need three of the five tricks.
Playing the tricks
The player left of the dealer leads. Everyone must follow the suit led if they can; if they can’t, any card will do, trump included. The highest trump takes the trick, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads the next trick.
Scoring
| Makers take three or four tricks | 1 |
|---|---|
| Makers take all five, a march | 2 |
| Makers take fewer than three: euchred, to the defenders | 2 |
| Alone, all five tricks | 4 |
| Alone, three or four tricks | 1 |
Going alone: a maker with a strong hand can send their partner away. Take all five alone and it’s four points.