Euchre

Play North American Euchre with Gloria as your partner across the table against Hank and Luis, three computer players who bid and play by the book. Order it up, call trump, go alone when the hand is there, and race to 10.

How this table works

Before the first deal you see a short summary of the rules and three options. Stick the dealer is on and the Canadian loner is off, the standard settings, and a match ends at 10 points, or 5 for a short game. You set the level of your opponents and, separately, of Gloria: Easy, Standard, or Expert.

Bids are buttons, with keys: in the first round, press 1 to order it up (Pick it up when you're the dealer), 2 to go alone, or 0 to pass. In the second round, 1 to 3 call the three suits you may name and 4 to 6 call them alone. To play, tap a card; with six cards after picking up, tap the one to discard. Once trump is set, the right bower in your hand wears a small crown and the left bower shows the trump suit beside its own index.

Undo (key U) takes you back to your last decision in the hand; Hint (key H) marks the bid or card an Expert player would choose. After each hand the summary shows who made trump, the tricks each side took, and the points, and Show all hands lays out the four hands as dealt.

The Menu holds Replay this deal, Today's deal, statistics, and Copy deal details. Table settings hold card size, four-color suits, sort order, Tap twice to play, and speed. The Classic button swaps the portraits for plain faces. To let the Company play a hand by itself, watch a hand. Cards make a light sound on the cloth and the Herald calls each new hand. Press the speaker button to silence the table.

The Intermission button

Playing somewhere you'd rather not be seen? The Intermission button on the toolbar replaces the table with an ordinary-looking work screen or a plain curtain, and so does the panic key, ` (left of 1) unless you choose another. If the browser permits, the cover goes full screen and the tab's title turns dull; Escape twice covers the window only. Come back with the same key, Escape twice, or the small corner control, and every card is where it was. In Table settings, from the Menu: Intermission screen (Dashboard, Inbox, Code editor, Report, Project plan, Spreadsheet, or Curtain), Go full screen, and Panic key, `, \ or F2. The full story.

How to play

Four players in two partnerships, partners sitting across: you and Gloria against Hank, on your left, and Luis, on your right. The deck is the 24-card Euchre deck, 9 through ace in each suit, no joker. The first dealer is drawn at random and the deal passes to the left after every hand. Each player gets 5 cards, and the next card is turned face up on the remaining 3, which stay face down and out of play.

Trump and the bowers

The jack of trump is the right bower, the highest card in the deck. The other jack of the same color is the left bower, second highest, and for every purpose of the hand it is a trump, not a card of its printed suit. Then come the ace, king, queen, 10, and 9 of trump: 7 trumps in all. With hearts as trump, the J♥ is the right bower and the J♦ the left; diamonds then has only 5 cards, A K Q 10 9, while clubs and spades keep all 6, A K Q J 10 9.

The first round: ordering it up

Starting on the dealer's left, each player in turn may accept the turned-up card's suit as trump or pass. An opponent of the dealer "orders it up"; the dealer's partner may do the same and still plays with the dealer; the dealer, last to speak, "picks it up." As soon as anyone accepts, bidding stops: the dealer takes the up-card into the hand and discards one card face down, and nobody sees the discard. If all four pass, the up-card is turned down.

The second round: calling a suit

Again starting on the dealer's left, each player may name any of the other 3 suits as trump or pass. The suit that was turned down can't be named by anyone. Nobody picks anything up. With Stick the dealer on, the dealer can't pass if the other three have: the dealer must name a suit. With it off, four passes throw the hand in with no score, and the deal moves to the left.

The side that set trump are the makers; the other side are the defenders.

Going alone

The player who orders up, picks up, or calls trump may go alone at that moment. The partner lays the hand face down and sits out, and the loner plays three-handed against both opponents. If the dealer's partner orders it up alone, the dealer is the one who sits out, so nobody picks up the card: it stays turned up and takes no part in play. When an opponent of the dealer orders it up alone, the dealer still picks up and discards as usual.

With the Canadian loner option on, the dealer's partner who orders up the turned card must play alone. The rule belongs to the first round only: in the second round the dealer's partner calls a suit with or without the partner, like anyone else.

The play

The player on the dealer's left leads the first trick. If that player is sitting out because the partner went alone, the lead passes to the next player on the left who is in the hand. Any card may be led. You must follow the suit led if you can; if you can't, play any card. Remember the left bower: when trump is led it must be played as a trump, and when its printed suit is led it doesn't count as that suit at all. A trick goes to the highest trump in it, or if none, the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads the next trick. All 5 tricks are played every hand, even after the result is settled.

Hearts are trump and Hank leads the K♠. You hold the A♠ and the J♦: you must play the ace. If Hank had led a diamond instead, say the Q♦, and your only diamond were the J♦, you would have no diamond at all, since the J♦ is now a heart, and could play anything.

Scoring

Only one side scores in a hand. The makers need 3 of the 5 tricks.

• Makers take 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point.
• Makers take all 5, a march: 2 points.
• A loner takes 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point.
• A loner takes all 5: 4 points.
• Makers, alone or not, take fewer than 3: they are euchred and the defenders score 2.

Points don't stack: a lone march is 4, not 2 plus 4. The match ends at the end of the hand in which a side reaches 10 (or 5 in the short game), and the final score may run past it: 9 plus a lone march is 13.

A worked hand. Match to 10. Your side has 6, Hank and Luis have 7. Luis deals and turns up the 10♠. You hold J♥ K♥ 10♥ A♣ 9♠; Hank A♥ Q♥ K♠ 10♣ A♦; Gloria J♦ 9♥ A♠ K♣ Q♦; Luis Q♠ J♣ 9♣ 10♦ K♦.

1. All four pass the 10♠, and it is turned down. You speak first in the second round and call hearts. The J♥ is your right bower; Gloria's J♦ is the left.
2. Trick 1: you lead the J♥. Hank must follow with a trump and plays the Q♥, Gloria the 9♥, and Luis, with no trump, throws the 9♣. Yours.
3. Trick 2: you lead the A♣. Hank 10♣, Gloria K♣, Luis J♣ (a plain club, since clubs are black and trump is red). Yours.
4. Trick 3: you lead the K♥. Hank plays his A♥, but Gloria follows with the J♦, which beats the ace, and Luis throws the 10♦. Gloria's.
5. Trick 4: Gloria leads the A♠. Luis Q♠, you 9♠, Hank K♠. Gloria's.
6. Trick 5: Gloria leads the Q♦, Luis tops it with the K♦, and you, out of diamonds, trump with the 10♥. Hank's A♦ comes too late. Yours.
7. Your side took all 5: a march, 2 points. The score goes from 6–7 to 8–7, and the deal passes to you.

Had Hank held the J♦ instead of Gloria, he would have won trick 3, your side could have taken four tricks at most, and the hand would have scored 1, for 7–7. Had your side taken only two, Hank and Luis would have scored 2 for the euchre, 6–9.

Playing it well

Ordering up

In first seat, ordering it up hands the dealer an extra trump and a free discard, so you want real strength: a bower and two more trump, or three trump with an outside ace. Pass three small trump with no bower. The dealer's partner can bid a little lighter, because the dealer improves the hand. The dealer should count the up-card as already in hand: J♠ A♠ with the 9♠ turned up is three trump, and a turned-up jack is worth taking on two small trump, since it becomes your right bower.

When you pick up as dealer, discard to make a void. Picking up the 9♥ to A♥ Q♥ K♦ 10♦ 9♣, throw the lone 9♣. The void lets you trump the first club led.

The second round

Name the suit where your hand is strongest, counting both bowers. With J♣ J♠ A♣ and odd cards, either black suit gives you both bowers, and the A♣ makes clubs the call. When two suits count the same, prefer the one where you hold the right bower. With stick the dealer on, the seats before the dealer can pass a marginal hand more freely, knowing the dealer must call; as the dealer's partner, though, call a fair hand yourself rather than leave your partner stuck with a weak one.

Going alone

A loner needs tricks you can count, not hope for. J♠ J♣ A♠ K♠ A♥ with spades trump is a loner: the bowers and the ace come first and pull most of the trump out, and the K♠ and A♥ are left to take the last tricks. J♠ Q♠ 9♠ K♥ 9♦ is not; it may well make three tricks with Gloria's help, and alone it is likely to be euchred. Take more risk when you're well behind, less when you're ahead, and at 9–9 don't bother: any made hand wins the match.

Leading and following

When your side has made trump and you hold three or more, lead trump. With J♥ A♥ 10♥ 9♠ K♣, lead the J♥ and pull the defenders' trump before they can trump your king. With only one or two trump, cash outside aces first and hold your trump back.

On defense, keep your trump for the makers' aces, and lead through the maker: with the maker on your left, the maker has to play before your partner, who can then top it. Never trump a trick your partner is winning. If Gloria leads the A♦ and you're out of diamonds, holding the 9♥ with hearts trump, throw something else. When you must discard, let go of a losing singleton before breaking a guarded king: with K♣ Q♣ and a lone 9♦, throw the 9♦.

Count trump. There are 7, not 6; you see your own and, in the first round, the up-card. When both opponents have shown out, stop leading trump. On defense with two tricks in, play for the third rather than for a fourth: the euchre is what scores.

The Company in Euchre

When trump is named, the two bowers step onto the cloth. When a player goes alone, the partner bows out and leaves the square. A march sets off fireworks over the winners; when the makers are euchred, their banners shake.

According to Pagat, Euchre probably came from the Alsatian game Jucker, and "bower" is the German Bauer, a farmer, which is also the name of the jack in German cards. The game reached the United States in the early 1800s, and in the 1850s the joker was added to the deck for it, as the highest trump. That makes Euchre the one game here that gave the deck a card. Why the Jack of Hearts shows only one eye is told on the Company page.

Questions players ask

Why didn't the player on the loner's left lead?

Groups differ. This table follows the Bicycle rule: the player on the dealer's left leads, and if that player is sitting out, the next player in the hand does. When no one is alone, every version agrees.

Can a defender go alone, or score 4 for euchring a loner?

No. Only the player who made trump may go alone, and a euchred loner gives the defenders 2, the same as any euchre. Defending alone for 4 is a house variant that the standard rules don't include.

Can the dealer discard the card just picked up?

Yes. After picking up, the dealer holds 6 cards and may discard any of them, the up-card included.

Where is the joker, the Benny?

The joker as top trump, the Benny, belongs to the British game (Pagat). The North American game, the one played here, uses the 24-card deck without it, and the right bower is the highest card.

Can Gloria and I signal each other?

Only through the cards you play, as at a real table. Gloria knows her own hand and what has been played, never yours; the fair play page lists what each computer player is told.

Sources

1. EuchrePagat (John McLeod)
2. How to Play EuchreBicycle Playing Cards
3. Euchre ruleseuchre.com
4. Euchre strategyeuchre.cards
5. Euchre bidding strategyeuchre.cards