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How to play Euchre
Euchre is a trick-taking game for four people in two partnerships, played with a stripped 24-card deck. It is fast, it is played to ten points, and the whole game turns on one strange rule about jacks.
There is an order-it-up drill further down — the decision that decides most Euchre games.
What you need
Four players in two partnerships, sitting so that partners are opposite each other. Strip a standard deck down to the 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit — 24 cards. Put the rest away.
You also need a way to keep score to ten. Traditionally this is done with a spare 4 and 6 from the discarded cards, but paper works.
The bowers — the rule that makes Euchre
Once a trump suit is chosen, two jacks change identity:
- The right bower is the jack of the trump suit. It is the highest card in the game.
- The left bower is the jack of the other suit of the same color. It becomes the second-highest trump, and it stops being a member of its printed suit entirely.
Worked example. If hearts are trump, the order from the top is: J♥ (right bower), J♦ (left bower), then A♥ K♥ Q♥ 10♥ 9♥.
The J♦ is now a heart. If a diamond is led, you cannot play it as a diamond — and if a heart is led, you must.
Every other suit ranks normally: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9. Note that the suit which lost its jack to the bowers is a card short.
The deal
- Deal five cards to each player, in packets of two and three rather than one at a time.
- Place the remaining four cards face down. Turn the top one face up — this is the upcard, and it proposes a trump suit.
Choosing trump
First round. Starting to the dealer's left, each player either passes or orders it up — accepting the upcard's suit as trump. The dealer's partner saying this is called assisting. If anyone orders it up, the dealer picks the upcard into their hand and discards one card face down.
Second round. If all four pass, the upcard is turned face down. Now each player in turn may name any other suit as trump, or pass again. You cannot name the suit that was just turned down.
If everyone passes twice, most groups either redeal or play "screw the dealer", where the dealer is forced to name a suit. Agree which before you start.
The partnership that chooses trump are the makers. They have taken on the job of winning at least three of the five tricks.
Going alone
A player who names trump may declare they are going alone. Their partner puts their hand face down and sits the round out, and the lone player plays against both opponents. It is worth far more points, and it is the main way a Euchre game swings.
Playing the tricks
The player to the dealer's left leads. Everyone must follow suit if they can — remembering that the left bower counts as trump, not as its printed suit. A player unable to follow may play anything, including a trump.
The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. The winner of each trick leads the next.
Scoring
| Outcome | Points | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| Makers win 3 or 4 tricks | 1 | Makers |
| Makers win all 5 (a march) | 2 | Makers |
| Lone player wins 3 or 4 tricks | 1 | Makers |
| Lone player wins all 5 | 4 | Makers |
| Makers win fewer than 3 — euchred | 2 | Opponents |
First partnership to ten points wins.
Order-it-up drill
Euchre gives you one decision before anything else happens, and getting it wrong is expensive: call a hand that cannot take three tricks and you are euchred, which hands two points to the other side.
Below is a hand and an upcard. Order it up, or pass? Trumps are outlined — including the left bower, which is the one people forget to count.
Loading the drill…
Your hand
Upcard — would be trump
The answer comes from playing the hand out forty times against random opposition, with the bowers handled properly — the left bower counts as a trump and outranks the ace, which is what makes a hand stronger than it looks. What counts is the tricks your side takes, because the makers need three between them, and ordering up has to clear better than two-in-three: making pays one point and getting euchred pays the other side two, so a hand that merely makes more often than not is still a pass.
Three things beginners get wrong
Forgetting the left bower has changed suit
This is the mistake, and it is usually an accidental renege. If hearts are trump, the jack of diamonds is a heart — period. Say the trump suit out loud before the first lead until it is second nature.
Ordering up the dealer
Naming the upcard as trump hands the dealer that exact card. If the upcard is the right bower and the dealer is an opponent, you have just given them the best card in the game.
Not counting on three tricks, only hoping
Calling trump is a commitment. Getting euchred gives the other side two points, and two euchres is most of a game. Note the asymmetry: making the contract pays you one, missing it pays them two, so a call needs to be a clear favorite and not a coin flip. A rough guide: two reasonably certain tricks of your own plus trump length, counting on your partner for the third — the three tricks are owed by the partnership, not by your five cards alone.
Common variations
- Stick the dealer — the dealer must call rather than redeal.
- Farmer's hand — a player dealt three 9s and two 10s may ask for a redeal.
- Going under — a similar mercy rule for a hopeless hand.
- Bidding to 15 instead of 10, for a longer game.
None of these are standard. Settle them before the first deal, not during the argument.
Euchre only needs 24 cards, so it is a good excuse to retire a tired deck to game duty — see our deck picks if it is time for a fresh one.
The vocabulary, and where to read more
Card games assume a shared vocabulary that nobody ever teaches. Our glossary defines every term used on this page in plain English.
For the games we have not written up yet, the four reference books we recommend cover several hundred between them.