Euchre looks complicated from the outside and feels obvious about ten minutes after someone deals you in. If you have never played, this guide will get you to the table. By the end you will know the deck, the deal, how bidding works, and the one quirk that trips up every beginner: the bowers.
The deck
Euchre uses a short deck. Take a standard 52 card deck and pull out everything below the nine. You are left with 24 cards: nine, ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace in all four suits. That is the whole deck. No twos, no fives, no jokers.
Teams and seating
Euchre is a partnership game for four players, two against two. Partners sit across from each other, so the seats alternate: you, an opponent, your partner, the other opponent. Your partner is the person you never play against and always have to trust.
The deal
One player deals five cards to each person. After the deal there are four cards left over. The top card of that leftover stack is turned face up in the middle. This is the upcard, and it matters a great deal, because it is how the table decides what trump will be.
Trump, in one sentence
Trump is the suit that beats everything else for the hand. A low trump card beats a high card of any other suit. Choosing trump well is most of the game.
Bidding happens in two rounds
Starting to the dealer's left, each player decides whether the suit of the upcard should be trump.
In the first round, you either pass or tell the dealer to pick it up. If someone says pick it up, the upcard's suit becomes trump, the dealer adds that card to their hand, and they discard one. The team that called trump becomes the makers, and they have to take at least three of the five tricks.
If everyone passes in the first round, the upcard is turned down and a second round begins. Now each player can pass or name a different suit as trump, any suit except the one just turned down. If everyone passes again, the cards are thrown in and the next person deals. Many families play stick the dealer, where the dealer must name a suit rather than pass.
The bowers, the part that confuses everyone
Here is the rule that makes Euchre Euchre.
When a suit is trump, the two highest cards are not the Ace and King. They are the Jacks.
The Jack of the trump suit is the highest card in the game. It is called the right bower.
The Jack of the other suit of the same color is the second highest card. It is called the left bower, and for this hand it counts as a trump card, not as its printed suit.
So if hearts is trump, the right bower is the Jack of hearts, and the left bower is the Jack of diamonds. That Jack of diamonds is now a heart, the second best card you can hold. It does not matter that a diamond is printed on it. For this hand, it is trump. After the two bowers, trump continues with the Ace, King, Queen, ten, and nine of the trump suit.
Playing the tricks
The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick by playing any card. Going clockwise, everyone else plays a card. You must follow the suit that was led if you can. If you cannot follow, you may play anything, including trump.
The highest trump played wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the led suit wins. Whoever wins the trick leads the next one. Five cards, five tricks.
Scoring
The makers are trying for at least three tricks. Here is how points work. Three or four tricks scores 1 point. All five tricks, called a march, scores 2 points. Going alone and taking all five scores 4 points. If the makers fail to take three, they are euchred and the other team scores 2 points. Most games go to 10.
Going alone
If your hand is strong enough, you can declare that you are going alone. Your partner sets their cards down and sits out. You play all five tricks by yourself against both opponents. Taking all five alone is worth 4 points, and it is the most satisfying way to win a hand.
Now go play
The rules fit on a napkin, but the game has enough depth to keep a family arguing happily for decades.
If you would rather learn by playing than by reading, start a game. Marty, our built-in coach, knows every rule and answers questions in the middle of a hand without slowing anyone down. He is especially patient with the bowers. For a deeper reference on every rule, visit our Euchre guide.