Authors: Nikki Katz
The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (12 page)
Bid euchre introduces an element of bidding in which you dictate the number of tricks you are attempting to take in that hand. You’ll typically play with four players forming two teams with partners sitting opposite one another. In this section you’ll see rules of play for using two decks of twenty-four cards each, consisting of the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and nine of each suit. You can also play with just one deck of thirty-two or thirty-six cards and vary the minimum or maximum bid. The trump suit has eight cards ranking from high to low as: Benny, Right Bower (jack of the trump suit), Left Bower (jack of the same color as the trump suit), ace, king, queen, ten, and nine. Each of the other suits has five or six cards ranking as normal. There will be two of each card since two decks are used. The objective in each hand is for you to bid the correct number of tricks and win that amount or more.
The first dealer is selected at random and deals the entire deck clockwise. You each have one opportunity to bid, starting with the player on the dealer’s left. You bid by naming a number of tricks plus the trump suit you wish to have, or no trumps (e.g., “four, hearts” or “five, no trump”). When it’s your turn, you can pass or bid an amount higher than the previous bid. The player with the highest bid becomes the declarer, and the suit named in the bid becomes trump. The minimum bid is three tricks, and if the first three players do not bid, the dealer must bid three tricks and call a trump suit.
The high bidder lays his first trick by playing any one card out of his hand face up on the table. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn, you must follow suit, if you can, by playing one card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card in your hand. The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led or the highest trump if a trump was played. If you’re the first to play one of two identical cards in the same trick, your card beats the second player to lay down. The winner of each trick starts off the next one.
If you are the declarer, and your team wins the number of tricks you bid, or more, you win one point for each trick won. If you do not win the number of tricks bid, you lose points equal to the amount of your bid. Your opponents score one point for each trick they won, regardless of whether your team won or lost the hand. The game is won when one team reaches the agreed-upon score (usually thirty-two points) in a hand in which they are the high bidder.
British euchre includes the introduction of the Benny card as high trump, for added complexity. This is another game played with four players divided into two teams with partners sitting opposite one another. You’ll need a pack of twenty-five cards consisting of the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and nine in each suit and an additional Benny card, which is either a joker or 2♠. The trump suit has eight cards ranking from high to low as: Benny, Right Bower (jack of the trump suit), Left Bower (jack of the same color as the trump suit), ace, king, queen, ten, and nine. Each of the other suits has five or six cards ranking as normal. The goal in each hand is to win at least three of the five tricks in the hand, earning your team points. The team that scores ten or more points wins the game.
The first dealer is selected through a process where you each cut the deck. If you cut the highest card, you become the dealer, and the deal rotates clockwise after each hand is played. You deal the deck clockwise, giving each player a group of two or three cards face down in any order. You then deal clockwise again, giving any player who was dealt two cards in the first round three cards in the second, and vice versa. You turn up the next card in the pack face up and this up card is used as a basis for selecting the trump suit. The last four cards are left face down and are not used.
After dealing, it’s time to pick the trump suit. If the Benny is turned up and you’re the dealer, your team automatically becomes the makers. You must choose the trump suit before looking at your cards. You then pick up the Benny and discard a card from your hand. If the Benny is not turned up, the player to your left may choose to accept the up-card suit as the trump, accept the suit as trump and “go alone,” or she can pass. Choosing to go alone means that the player’s partner does not play in this hand. This continues around the table until the trump is selected or the dealer passes.
If the up card is selected as trump, you (as the dealer) pick up the up card and add it to your hand, discarding one card face down, and begin playing tricks. If all four players pass on the up card, it is turned face down. The players then have the option to make any suit trump, other than the up card suit. Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, each player can pass or name a trump. If you all pass during the second round, the cards are thrown in and the next player deals. If a trump suit is selected, that player’s team becomes the “makers” and the opposite side becomes the “defenders.” At this point any of the other players may choose to “go alone” as well.
If all four players are in the game, the play begins with the player to the dealer’s left laying his first card. If one player is playing alone, the person to that player’s left leads first. If two players are playing alone, the defender leads.
The first player to lead may lay down any one card in his hand face up on the table. Play continues clockwise around the table. When it’s your turn, you must follow suit, if you can, by playing one card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. The trick goes to the player who played the highest card of the suit led, unless a trump was played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of each trick starts off the next one.
After all tricks have been played, the hand is scored. If your team is the makers, you score one point if you win three or four tricks. You score two points if you win all five tricks (four points if one player of your team is going alone). If you take fewer than three tricks, you are “euchred,” and the defenders score two points (four points if one of the defender’s team is going alone). The game is normally played to five, seven, ten, or eleven points.
| The word “bower” is derived from the German word Bauer, which means a farmer or peasant and is also a word for the jack. Through the years, the third-highest-ranking card has been called a knave, a jack, a Bauer, and a chevalier. |
The North American version of euchre is a popular game in Canada and the Northeast and Midwest in the United States. It was first introduced in New Orleans and spread north along the Mississippi River, where the modern version is played today.
The trump suit, chosen later in the game, has seven cards ranking from high to low as: Right Bower (jack of the trump suit), Left Bower (jack of the same color as the trump suit), ace, king, queen, ten, and nine. The cards in each of the other suits (except the jack of the same color as the trump suit) rank as normal.
Players try to win at least three of the five tricks in the hand, earning points for their team. The first team to score ten wins the game.
The first dealer is selected by cutting the deck. The player who receives the highest card is the first dealer. The deal then rotates clockwise as each hand is played. The dealer deals the deck clockwise, giving each player a group of two or three cards face down in any order. He then deals clockwise again, giving any player who was dealt two cards in the first round three cards in the second, and vice versa. The next card is turned face up, and this up card is used to determine the trump suit. The last three cards are left face down and are not used.
After deal, it’s time to determine the trump suit. The player to the dealer’s left may choose to accept the up-card suit as the trump, or she can pass. If she passes, the next person may choose to pass or accept the trump. This continues around the table until the trump is selected or the dealer passes.
| Euchre is played with a shortened deck of cards, but just how many cards to play with is often disputed. Some players play with twenty-four cards, some with thirty-two cards, and some with thirty-six cards. Play remains the same; it just changes the number of tricks that have to be played out. |
The correct terminology in accepting trump is to say, “I order it up,” followed by the dealer’s partner agreeing, “I assist.” If you don’t want the card that was turned up as the trump suit, you say, “I pass.”
If the up card is selected as trump, the dealer picks up the up card and adds it to his hand, discarding one card face down, and you begin playing tricks. If all players pass on the up card, it is turned face down. Players then have the option to make any suit trump, other than the up card suit. This starts with the player to the dealer’s left, who may either declare a suit or pass. If all players pass during the second round, the cards are thrown in, and the next player deals. If one player chooses a trump suit, play will begin. That player’s team becomes the “makers,” and the opposite side becomes the “defenders.” If you choose as trump the suit of the same color as the original turned-up trump, it is called “making it next.” If you choose as trump either of the suits opposite of the original turned-up card, it is called “crossing it.”
Play begins with the player to the dealer’s left laying his first card face up on the table, choosing any one card in his hand. Play continues clockwise. When it’s your turn, you must follow suit, if you can, by playing a card of the same suit that was led. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any one card in your hand. The trick is won by whoever played the highest card of the suit led unless a trump was played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner of each trick leads the next one.
After all tricks have been played, the hand is scored. If your team is the makers and you win three or four tricks, you score one point. If you win all five tricks, you score two points. If you take fewer than three tricks, you are “euchred,” and your opponents, the defenders, score two points. The game is normally played until one team reaches ten points.
| In euchre terminology, “the Dutchman” is when you hold both bowers (both the trump jack and the jack of the same color as the trump) and the ace of trump. “Dutchman’s Point” is the point you win when holding these cards. |
Spoil Five is part of the euchre family and is often regarded as the national card game of Ireland. The game can be played with two to ten players but is typically played with four or five people. The objective of Spoil Five is to try to win enough tricks to win the pool. This game does not use a shortened deck; instead, the entire deck of fifty-two cards is used. The highest trumps are the five of that suit, the jack of that suit, and then the A♥. The rest of the cards in the trump suit rank (from high to low) as ace, king, queen, and then if the trump suit color is black, the rank is two, three, four, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten. If the trump suit color is red, it ranks ten, nine, eight, seven, six, four, three, and two.