Euchre Rules

Euchre is a tricking taking game for 2 teams of two. Euchre uses a deck of 24 standard playing cards (using only the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and, A). The objective of Euchre is for your team to win 10 points

Set Up

Before game play can begin, a dealer must be selected. Each player draws one card from a shuffled deck. The player with the lowest card becomes the dealer. The dealer shuffles the deck and passes out 5 cards to each player in a clockwise fashion. 

Establishing Trump

The top card from the remaining deck is flipped over. The player to the left of the dealer has the option to establish the flipped over card as the trump suit. If they decline to do so, the authority of establishing trump moves to the left. If no one decides to establish the flipped over card as the trump suit, the player to the left of the dealer decides which ever trump suit they would like. If the card initially flipped up is established as trump, the dealer takes the flipped up card and replaces it with any card in their deck. If the flipped up card is passed as trump, no one replaces the card.

Card Rankings

In Euchre, Aces are high and 9’s low. The Jack of the trump suit is called the Right Bower and it is the highest ranking card. The Jack of the off suit (suit of the same color) is called the Left Bower and it becomes the Jack of the trump suit.

Teams: Attackers/Defenders

Teammates sit across from each other in the group circle. The team who determined the trump suit is called the attackers or makers while, the other team is called the defenders.

After trump is establish, a player may decide to go alone. If they do so, their teammate must lay their cards down and abstain from the game. Going alone has possible advantages when it comes to scoring.

How to Play

The player to the left of the dealer begins the game play by placing the lead card in the center of the circle. Going clockwise, every player must follow suit if they can. The player with the highest ranking card, factoring in the established trump suit, takes the trick. The winner of the trick takes the lead for the next round.

Scoring

If the attackers take 3 or 4 tricks, they receive 1 point; If they take 5 tricks, they receive 2 points. If the defenders take 3 or 4 tricks, they receive 2 points; If they take 5 tricks, they receive 4 points.

If an attacking player decides to go alone and they take 3 or 4 tricks, they receive 2 points; If they take 5 tricks, they receive 4 points. If a defending player decides to go alone and they take 3 or 4 tricks, they receive 4 points; If they take 5 tricks, they receive 5 points.

Game play keeps going until a team earns 10 points.

Points are kept visually for each team by using two 5’s of a color, one placed over the other. The top card is initially faced down and is used to progressively reveal pips as the team earns points. Each pip shown counts as 1 point. After 5 points, the top card is flipped up and the cycle begins again.

A team is “Euchred” if they fail to get 3 tricks.