Euchre
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Euchre isn't nearly as difficult as it's made out to be, in fact, it's one of the faster playing trick-taking partnership games.
Object #
Be the first team to make it to 10 points. You earn points by winning at least 3 tricks, with the possibility for more.
Setup #
A normal deck of cards is stripped of everything except A-K-Q-J-10-9 for each suit, making 24 cards.
Two teams are formed and the reduced deck is shuffled.
Cards are dealt in an alternating 3 / 2 pattern until each player has 5 cards.
The remaining 4 cards are dealt face-down in front of the dealer to form the 'Book'. The top card is flipped over to determine the trump suit, and bidding starts.
Set aside the 4 and 6 of both hearts and spades as scoring aids for each team.
Bidding #
Starting with the left of the dealer, each player decides to either:
- Order it up, where the trump is accepted and the dealer takes the revealed card and discards a card of their choice to the bottom of the Book.
- Pass, meaning they don't want the displayed trump and bidding passes to the next player.
If all players including the dealer pass, the revealed card of the Book is flipped face-down and another round of bidding occurs where players can either:
- Declare a trump, which remains for the rest of the round.
- Pass, and bidding passes to the next player.
The first player to make a bid ends the bidding round. If no players declare a trump, the next player becomes the dealer and all cards are shuffled and dealt with bidding starting over.
Going Alone #
The player that wins the bid has the choice to either:
- Play alone, where they will play without the assistance of their partner for the chance of extra points.
- Play together, play with the assistance of your partner.
Card Order #
The jack in the trump suit, and the jack of the same colored suit become the highest cards in that round.
- Jack of trump suit = Right Bower (Highest Card)
- Jack of other same colored suit = Left Bower (2nd Highest Card)
For leading purposes, the Left Bower counts as a trump suit.
For example, if diamonds are trumps, the right bower is J♦ and left bower is J♥. If a player leads with J♥, other players must play diamonds (trump suit) if they have them.
The other cards retain normal ordering, with Aces-high.
Play #
The player to the left of the dealer leads any card to the first trick.
Players must follow suit if possible. A player who has no card of the suit led ("short-suited") may play any card.
The player of the highest card of the suit that was led wins the trick and leads any card to the next trick.
Scoring #
- Won the bid, alone or together won at least 3 tricks = 1 point
- Won the bid, together won all 5 tricks = 2 points
- Won the bid, alone won all 5 tricks = 4 points
- Did not win the bid, but won at least three tricks (called 'Euchred') = 2 points
First team to 10 points wins the game.
As a scoring aid, use the 4 and 6 of hearts or spades. Turn the 4 face up and use the face down 6 to cover all pips on the card. As you score points, reveal that number of pips. When the score becomes greater than 4, flip the 6 face up and use the face up 4 to gradually reveal pips as you score points. This way the amount visible pips on both cards is the teams total score.
Nathan's Notes: I learned this at Viget25 from Brian DiChiara and was surprised at how fast it played. It's less precise than Spades (since the bid is always at least 3) and it's a bit easier to remember what's been played with the lower card count. This makes for a lighter and breezier game. Playing to 10 also doesn't last too long, so it's easy to reset and try again.
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