The rules of euchre

01Overview

Euchre is a fast partnership trick-taking game for four players in two teams of two, partners sitting opposite each other. It uses a short deck of 24 cards, the nine through the ace of each suit, and is played in hands of five tricks. The first side to 10 points wins.

The game is usually traced to the Alsace region in the early nineteenth century, and came to North America with German settlers. It became hugely popular in the United States and Canada, above all in the Midwest, where it's still a fixture of family tables, bars and tournaments. What sets it apart is its trump system, with the right bower and the left bower, which almost no other trick-taking game has.

Each hand opens with bidding, where one side commits to taking at least three of the five tricks, and then the tricks are played. The side that names trump are the makers; the other side are the defenders. If the makers fall short they are euchred, and the defenders score.

02The deck

Euchre uses a 24-card deck: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit, ♥ hearts, ♦ diamonds, ♠ spades and ♣ clubs.

Everything below the nine comes out of a standard 52-card deck. Some regional games add a joker; the standard game doesn't. With a physical deck, take out the twos through eights and set them aside.

Each player gets five cards, and the four left over form the kitty. The small hand is what makes euchre fast, and what forces big decisions on very little information.

03Dealing

The dealer shuffles and deals five cards to each player in packets of two and three: one pass round the table, then a second, so everyone ends with exactly five. Which players get two first and which get three varies by table; the total never does.

The remaining four cards are the kitty. Its top card is turned face up. That's the turned card (also called the up card), and its suit is offered as trump in the first round of bidding.

The deal passes to the left after every hand. The dealer's seat matters: the dealer can take the turned card into their hand, and speaks last in each round of bidding.

04Bidding, round one

Bidding starts with the player on the dealer's left and goes round clockwise. In the first round, the turned card's suit is on offer as trump, and each player has two choices:

• Order it up. The turned card's suit becomes trump, and the dealer takes the turned card into their hand and discards one card face down. If the dealer's partner orders it up, it's traditionally called assisting; if the dealer takes it on their own turn, they pick it up. Whoever calls it, their side are the makers.
• Pass. Decline, and the next player speaks.

Whenever the card is taken, the dealer adds it to their hand and discards any card they choose, face down and out of play for the hand. That swap is a real advantage: the dealer improves their hand before a card is played.

For when to order it up, read the bidding guide.

05Bidding, round two

If all four players pass in round one, the turned card is turned face down and a second round begins, again from the dealer's left. Each player may:

• Name a suit as trump, any suit except the one just turned down. The player who names it makes their side the makers.
• Pass. The next player speaks.

In some games, if everyone passes again, the cards are thrown in and the deal passes on. The common modern rule, and the one used here, is stick the dealer (see house rules): if everyone else passes, the dealer must name a suit. No hand is ever thrown in.

The dealer can't name the suit that was turned down; it has to be one of the other three.

06Trump and card ranking

Once trump is named, the order of the cards changes, and understanding the bowers is the single most important idea in the game.

Trump, highest to lowest

1. Right bower, the jack of trump: the highest card in the game for the whole hand. Nothing beats it.
2. Left bower, the jack of the other suit of the same colour. For the hand, it leaves its printed suit and becomes a trump, the second-highest card in the game.
3. Ace of trump
4. King of trump
5. Queen of trump
6. Ten of trump
7. Nine of trump

The other suits, highest to lowest

Suits that aren't trump rank as usual: ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine. The one exception is the same-colour suit, which has lost its jack to trump. With hearts as trump, diamonds has only five cards: ace, king, queen, ten, nine.

A full example

With ♠ spades as trump, every card ranks like this:

• Trump (spades): J♠ (right bower), J♣ (left bower), A♠, K♠, Q♠, 10♠, 9♠
• Clubs: A♣, K♣, Q♣, 10♣, 9♣ (no jack: it's the left bower)
• Hearts: A♥, K♥, Q♥, J♥, 10♥, 9♥
• Diamonds: A♦, K♦, Q♦, J♦, 10♦, 9♦

Clubs has lost its jack while hearts and diamonds keep theirs, because only the same-colour jack moves to trump.

07Playing tricks

Once trump is set, the player on the dealer's left leads the first trick (for a lone hand, see going alone). A hand is five tricks.

Leading

The leader plays any card face up, and its suit is the led suit for that trick. Remember that the left bower counts as trump, not as its printed suit.

Following suit

Going clockwise, each player must play a card of the led suit if they have one. A player with none may play any card: a trump to try to win the trick, or a low card from another suit to throw away.

Winning a trick

The trick goes to:

1. the highest trump played, if any trump was played (including when trump was led);
2. otherwise, the highest card of the led suit.

The winner of each trick leads the next. After the fifth trick, the hand is scored.

08Scoring

Points are scored at the end of each hand, according to how many tricks the makers took. The game is played to 10 points.

March. Taking all five tricks is a march. It's worth 2, or 4 when you've gone alone.

Euchre. When the makers take fewer than three tricks they are euchred, and the defenders score 2. It's a big swing: the makers expected to score and gave points away instead. Good defence is built around making it happen.

09Going alone

Whoever names trump, in either round, may declare that they're going alone. Their partner lays their cards face down and sits the hand out, and the lone player plays all five tricks against both defenders.

Why go alone

If the lone player takes all five tricks, their side scores 4 points instead of the 2 for a march, a huge swing in a game to 10. Take three or four and it's 1 point, the same as a normal hand. Get euchred and the defenders score 2, as usual.

When to go alone

It takes a very strong hand: usually at least three trump including one or both bowers, plus off-suit aces. For how to judge a hand, read the going alone guide.

Playing a lone hand

The lone player's partner takes no part, so each trick has three cards instead of four. The player on the dealer's left still leads the first trick; if that's the partner who is sitting out, the next player leads instead.

10House rules

Euchre has a long tradition of house rules. These are the ones you'll meet most often, and whether they're played here.

Stick the dealer Played here

If everyone passes in both rounds, the dealer must name trump. No hand is thrown in, and it adds strategy: the dealer has to make the best of whatever they hold, and everyone knows it. It's the usual rule in competitive play.

Farmer's hand Not played here

Some tables let a player whose hand has no face cards or aces ask for a redeal, sometimes called a farmer's hand or "ace, no face". It spares an unlucky deal, but slows the game, and competitive play doesn't use it.

Defending alone Not played here

In some games a defender may answer a lone hand by going alone too, playing without their own partner. If the lone defender euchres the lone maker, the defenders score 4. It's uncommon in standard play.

For more regional rules, read euchre variants.