How to Play Euchre
Euchre is the quick, chatty partnership card game of the American Midwest, Ontario and many a family cabin. A hand takes only a few minutes: five cards each, five tricks, and one big decision about which suit will be trump. Most of the fun comes from two odd little cards called the bowers, and from deciding when to be brave.
These are the rules our free online Euchre game uses. Where families often play differently, we say so, and the rule variations page explains those house rules in more detail.
What You Need
- Four players in two teams of two. Partners sit across from each other.
- A 24-card deck: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each of the four suits. Take them out of an ordinary deck and set the rest aside.
- Something to keep score. Many families use two spare 5s or 6s from the deck as score markers. (Online, the score sheet does it for you.)
In our online game you sit at the bottom of the table. Your partner is North, a computer player across from you. West and East are your opponents, also played by the computer.
The Deal
The dealer shuffles and gives each player five cards. (At the table they are usually dealt in a batch of two and a batch of three, but that makes no difference.) The dealer then places the remaining four cards face down and turns the top one face up. This is the upcard, and it is the first suggestion for trump. The three cards beneath it, often called the kitty, are not used in the hand.
The deal moves one seat to the left after every hand, so everyone gets a turn.
Making Trump
Before any card is played, the table decides which suit will be trump for this hand. A trump card beats any card of another suit. The player or team that chooses trump is called the makers; the other team are the defenders. The makers promise to take at least three of the five tricks.
Round 1: order it up or pass
Starting with the player to the dealer's left and going around the table, each player looks at the upcard and either passes or orders it up. Ordering it up means "I want that suit as trump." The dealer then takes the upcard into their hand and puts any one card away face down, so they still hold five.
Notice that the upcard always goes to the dealer, whoever orders it up. If your partner is dealing, ordering up a strong card helps your own team. If an opponent is dealing, ordering it up hands them a good card. When the dealer wants the upcard, they "pick it up" themselves. When it's the dealer's partner who orders it up, the dealer's team is said to have "assisted."
Round 2: name a suit or pass
If all four players pass, the upcard is turned face down and that suit can no longer be trump. Starting again at the dealer's left, each player may now name any of the other three suits as trump, or pass.
If all four pass a second time, many families throw the cards in and the next player deals. Others play stick the dealer: the dealer is not allowed to pass in round 2 and must name a suit, even with a poor hand. Our game uses stick the dealer unless you turn it off in Settings.
The Bowers and the Order of the Cards
This is the part that surprises new players, so take it slowly.
The jack of the trump suit is called the right bower. It is the highest card in the game. The other jack of the same colour is called the left bower, and it is the second-highest card. For the whole hand, the left bower belongs to the trump suit. It is no longer a card of its printed suit at all.
| Trump suit | Right bower | Left bower |
|---|---|---|
| Spades ♠ | Jack of spades | Jack of clubs |
| Clubs ♣ | Jack of clubs | Jack of spades |
| Hearts ♥ | Jack of hearts | Jack of diamonds |
| Diamonds ♦ | Jack of diamonds | Jack of hearts |
So the trump suit ranks, from high to low:
- Right bower (jack of trump)
- Left bower (jack of the same colour)
- Ace, king, queen, 10 and 9 of trump
The trump suit has seven cards and the suit of the same colour has only five. The other two suits keep all six cards in the usual order: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9.
In our game: once trump is chosen, your cards are sorted with all your trumps together, highest first, and both bowers carry a label. The status box also reminds you which card is the left bower this hand.
Playing the Tricks
The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick by playing any card face up. Going clockwise, each other player plays one card. You must follow suit if you can: play a card of the suit that was led. If you have none, you may play any card, including a trump.
The trick is won by the highest trump in it. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. A card of a third suit can never win. The winner gathers the cards and leads the next trick. After five tricks the hand is over.
Following suit with the left bower
Because the left bower counts as a trump, two things follow:
- If trump is led and the left bower is your only trump, you must play it.
- If its printed suit is led, the left bower does not follow suit. If you hold another card of that suit, you must play that card instead.
Example. Hearts are trump. West leads the ace of diamonds. You hold the jack of diamonds and the 9 of diamonds. The jack of diamonds is the left bower, a heart this hand, so you must follow with the 9 of diamonds. If the 9 were not in your hand, you would be out of diamonds and could trump with the jack and win the trick.
Going Alone
The player who orders up or names trump may announce that they are going alone. Their partner lays their cards face down and sits out the hand, and the tricks are played with three players. Going alone is worth it only with a very strong hand, but the reward is big: taking all five tricks alone scores 4 points.
If the dealer's partner orders up and goes alone, the dealer is the one sitting out, so in our game nobody picks up the upcard; it stays on the table, out of play. When the player to the dealer's left is sitting out, the next player leads.
Scoring
Only one side scores in each hand.
| What happened | Points |
|---|---|
| Makers take 3 or 4 tricks | 1 to the makers |
| Makers take all 5 tricks (a march) | 2 to the makers |
| A player going alone takes 3 or 4 tricks | 1 to the makers |
| A player going alone takes all 5 tricks | 4 to the makers |
| Makers take fewer than 3 tricks (euchred) | 2 to the defenders |
The first side to reach 10 points wins the game. Some tables play to 5, 7 or 11 instead, and you can choose any of these in our game's Settings.
A Worked Example Hand
North deals and turns up the 9 of spades. East sits to the dealer's left, so East speaks first, then you, then West, then North.
- Round 1. East passes. You hold the jack of clubs, the ace and king of spades, the ace of hearts and the 10 of diamonds. With spades as trump the jack of clubs becomes the left bower, and your partner North is the dealer who will pick up the 9. You count three likely tricks for your side and order it up. Spades are trump.
- The dealer's discard. North takes the 9 of spades into their hand and puts one card away face down.
- Trick 1. East leads the ace of diamonds. You follow with your 10 of diamonds, and West and North follow too. East wins.
- Trick 2. East leads the king of clubs. Your jack of clubs is a spade this hand, so you have no clubs and may play anything. You trump with the king of spades and win.
- Trick 3. You lead the left bower. Everyone else must play a spade if they have one. The right bower was not dealt this hand (it is one of the three unused cards), so your jack is the highest trump in play; it wins and pulls out their trumps.
- Tricks 4 and 5. You lead the ace of spades and then the ace of hearts. Both win.
Your side took four tricks: 1 point. Had you gone alone, four tricks would still have scored only 1 point, which is why players save going alone for hands that can take every trick.
Common Questions at the Table
Can the dealer pick up the upcard and then put it straight back?
Yes. The dealer may put away any card, including the one just picked up, though there is rarely a reason to.
Do I have to trump if I can't follow suit?
No. If you can't follow suit you may play any card. Throwing away a low card is often wiser, especially when your partner is already winning the trick.
What if everyone passes twice?
With stick the dealer (our default) the dealer must name a suit. Without it, the cards are thrown in and the next player deals a new hand.
House rules in our game: play to 5, 7, 10 or 11 points, turn stick the dealer on or off, add the Canadian loner rule (the dealer's partner may only order up by going alone) and the "no ace, no face" redeal. Open Settings → House rules. The variations page explains each one.
Helpful Features in Our Game
- Labeled bowers. Both bowers are labeled in your hand, and the status box explains the left bower in plain words.
- A clear trump bar. Trump, who called it, and each side's tricks are always shown above the table.
- Hint and Why? Ask for a suggested bid or card, or tap Why? to see the reason behind a computer player's choice.
- Fair computer players. Easy, Normal and Hard players never see your cards. After each hand, Show All Hands lets you see what everyone held.
- Deal numbers. Every deal has a number, and Replay This Deal lets you try the same cards again.
If you like Euchre, you may also enjoy Spades, a longer partnership game where you bid how many tricks you will take, or Hearts, where every player is on their own.