Euchre Rule Variations and House Rules

Ask four Euchre players for the rules and you may get five answers. The core of the game (five cards, two bowers, three tricks to make it) is the same everywhere, but small house rules travel with families from one kitchen table to the next. Here are the most common ones, what they change, and which you can turn on in our free Euchre game under Settings → House rules.

Game Length: 5, 7, 10 or 11 Points

Ten points is the usual target, and it makes a game of roughly 15 to 20 minutes. A game to 5 is popular when time is short or in a tournament with many rounds. Some groups play to 7, and a few play to 11 so that a single euchre near the end can't quite decide it.

In our game: choose 5, 7, 10 (standard) or 11 points. The change starts with your next game.

Stick the Dealer

In the oldest rules, if all four players pass in both rounds, the cards are thrown in and the deal passes to the left. Many players find that slow, so they play stick the dealer (also called screw the dealer): in round 2 the dealer may not pass and must name a suit, however poor their hand.

The rule changes strategy in a useful way. The player to the dealer's left can pass a borderline hand knowing the dealer will be forced to call, and the dealer's partner has a reason to call a so-so hand to save their partner from a bad forced choice. Every hand gets played, so games move faster.

In our game: stick the dealer is on by default. Turn it off and a hand that everyone passes twice is thrown in, and the next player deals.

Canadian Loner

When the dealer's partner orders up the upcard, they are sending a good card to their own partner. Some tables, especially in Canada, think that is too easy. Under the Canadian loner rule, the dealer's partner may order up in round 1 only by going alone. They can still pass, and they can still name a suit with their partner in round 2.

In our game: turn on Canadian loner and, when you are the dealer's partner, the Order it up button is replaced by Go alone in round 1. The computer players follow the same rule.

No Ace, No Face (Farmer's Hand)

A hand made only of 9s and 10s has no ace and no picture card, and it is almost useless. Many families let a player dealt such a hand call for a redeal. You may hear it called a farmer's hand or a "nine-ten" hand. Some tables let the player swap three of those cards for the three cards in the kitty instead.

In our game: with this rule on, a deal in which anyone holds only 9s and 10s is thrown in at once and the same dealer deals again. The status box tells you when it happened. Our game does not offer the kitty-swap version.

Going Alone: Other Customs

Our game follows the common rules: the player who makes trump may go alone, their partner sits out, and taking all five tricks scores 4 points. When the dealer's partner goes alone after ordering up, the dealer is the one sitting out, so the upcard is left out of play. A few other customs exist:

• Defending alone. In some groups, when a player goes alone, one defender may also choose to play alone against them, earning 4 points for a euchre. Our game doesn't offer this.
• The loner's swap. Some tables let a lone player swap a card with their partner, or let the lone dealer's partner take the upcard. Our game doesn't offer these.
• Bigger rewards. A few groups score 5 points for a loner or 4 for euchring a lone player. Our game uses the standard 4 and 2.

Other Variations You May Meet

Agreeing on Rules at Home

Before the first deal, agree on three things: the target score, what happens when everyone passes twice, and whether going alone has any special limits. Those cover nearly every argument. If you like to try new rules, change one at a time and play a full game with it.

New to the game? Start with the full Euchre rules, then read our Euchre strategy guide. If you also enjoy bidding games, have a look at the Spades house rules.