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Euchre is a Whist family trick-taking card game that is most popular in the United States, Canada, and Australia.

The game is played with 24 cards by four players in two teams. To win the round you must take at least 3 of 5 hands. For the winning of all five hands, you get additional points. The game ends when one of the teams reaches 10 points.

You can learn the complete rules, practice, or play multiplayer games online.

Game Popularity

Euchre is most played in:

?? United States
?? Canada
?? Australia
?? New Zealand
?? United Kingdom
?? France

Euchre was considered the national card game of the United States. Today the game’s popularity is not as strong as before, but still has a big following in many regions across the USA. Euchre is also popular in the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia.

A descendant of the Whist family and similar to other trick-taking card games such as Hearts and Spades, Euchre is a simplified version of the two and makes it a lot more accessible. There are fewer cards used during the play, and the game is quicker, making the sessions pretty enjoyable. It is possible to learn the rules in a matter of minutes. But it takes time to become a master player.

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Euchre Rules

Rules

Game Goal
Dealing and Playing
Going alone
Ranking of trump cards
Scoring

To play Euchre you need four players split into two teams and 24 cards. The cards used are Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine of each of the four suits. The gameplay is easy, as the players name a trump and then try to win more tricks.

Euchre Game Goal

The main objective is to win more tricks than the other team by playing a higher card. Players are obliged to follow suit but can play any other card if they do not have anything from the leading suit.

The trump beats all other suits. The first team to reach 10 points is declared the winner.

Dealing and Playing

The game begins with the dealer, chosen at random, dealing 5 cards to each player, beginning with 3 and then dealing 2 more. The gameplay is in a clockwise direction.

Having dealt 20 cards to everyone, a card is taken by the dealer from the remaining 4 cards and is turned up, being visible to every player. This card initiates the bidding phase.

At this point, every player can either pass or choose the face-up card, making it the trump for this round. Whichever team chooses the trump is now known as the “Makers”. The objective of the “Makers” is to win more tricks (3 or more) than the “Defenders”.

The player who starts the first trick is determined as follows:

– If no player is playing alone then the one to the dealer’s left starts first.
– If one of the players is playing alone then the person from their left plays first.
– If two players are playing alone (only possible in custom games), then the defender plays first.

Going Alone

Whoever chooses the trump for the round has the option to play alone. If a player decides to “go alone” his partner instantly ends his participation in the round, making his cards obsolete. Whether to go alone or not is perhaps one of the most exciting euchre strategy aspects.

Going alone allows the team who named the trump to increase the points won, from 2 to 4.
Going alone is successful if all 5 tricks are won.
You have to consider well the risk as if you do not win all 4 and the other team wins them they get your 4 points.
If you win 3 of the 5 tricks by playing Alone you still are winning 1 point.

The player who starts the first trick is determined as follows:

If no player is playing alone then the player to the dealer’s left plays first.
If one player is playing alone then the person to that player’s left plays first.
If two players are playing alone (only possible in custom games), then the defender plays first.

Ranking of Trump Cards

What makes Euchre exciting is the difference in the ranking of trump cards. The strongest couple of cards depending on the suit of the chosen trump. For example, if the diamond suit is chosen for a trump. the second strongest card will be Jack of Hearts. In other words, the Jack of diamonds is the strongest card, also named “Right Bower” and Jack of Hearts comes after it, called also “Left Bower”. The third strongest card will be Ace of diamond, King, Queen, 10 and 9.

In the example given above, the cards in the trump suit are ranked as follows:

Jack of Diamonds (Right Bower)
Jack of Hearts (Left Bower)
Ace of Diamonds
King of Diamonds
Queen of Diamonds
10 of Diamonds
9 of Diamonds

Euchre Scoring

The team that named the trump is called the “Makers”, while the other team is called the “Defenders”. Whoever wins 3 or more tricks wins the hand and receives points. More points can be won when a player decides to play alone. Scoring in Euchre is as follows:

Result	Makers	Defenders
Makers win 3 or 4 tricks.	1	0
Makers win 5 tricks.	2	0
Maker goes alone and wins 3 or 4 tricks.	1	0
Maker goes alone and wins 5 tricks.	4	0
Defenders win 3 or more tricks.	0	2

SETTINGS IN THE LOBBY PLAY WITH FRIENDS

We have two special settings in this lobby which are:

1. Canadian Loner: provides another possibility to determine who can play alone. When the dealer’s partner calls Trump, he must play the hand as a loner.

2. Stick the Dealer: this option provides you with the possibility to have always a contract announced for the hand. This practically means that in the second bidding phaze if all 3 players pass, the dealer cannot pass and must bid.

For more Euchre variations visit Euchre.com

How to play and Training