Euchre · the complete guide
Euchre: rules, strategy, and house rules
Euchre is a four-player, two-team, trick-taking game played with 24 cards, nine through ace. Partners sit across from each other, a hand is five tricks, and the first team to 10 points wins. What follows is the game everyone plays the same way, then the house rules that change from table to table.
- Four players
- 24-card deck
- Five tricks a hand
- 10 points to win
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Standard rules. Always on.
Four players, two teams
Partners sit across from each other, so you never play against your own partner. Each hand is five tricks, one card apiece.
Trump and the bowers
The jack of trump is the right bower and beats everything. The other jack of the same color is the left bower, and it counts as trump too.
Bidding
Order up the turned card, pass, or name a different suit in the second round. Whoever calls trump owes their team three tricks.
Scoring and going alone
Three or four tricks is 1 point, all five is 2. Fall short of three and the other team takes 2. Sit your partner out, take all five, and it is 4.
Turn timer
90 seconds a turn. An idle player gets nudged, then a bot takes the chair so the hand keeps moving. Come back and you can reclaim your seat.
The euchre your table plays
House rules. Yours to switch on and off.
Stick the Dealer
On by defaultEveryone passed? The dealer has to name trump. No endless redeals.
Cutthroat, three-handed
A player short. No partners: whoever calls trump plays alone against the other two.
Ace No Face
Nothing but nines and tens and a single ace? Automatic redeal.
Farmer’s Hand
All nines and tens, no faces, no aces. Unplayable, so we redeal it for you.
Once the rules are easy
Bidding is the whole game
Most hands are won or lost before a card is played. Six guides, one decision each.
- When to call trump The three-trick benchmark, and how your seat changes the answer.
- When to go alone Which hands are worth sitting your partner out for.
- Playing defense Euchring the team that called it is worth as much as a march.
- Reading your partner A pass, an order-up, and a second-round call each tell you something.
- The first trick What to lead as the maker, and what to lead against one.
- Counting cards Only 24 cards are in play, which makes keeping track realistic.
Common questions
Asked at every table
What is the left bower?
The jack of the same color as trump. It counts as trump rather than its printed suit, and it outranks the ace. Only the jack of trump itself, the right bower, beats it.
How many points is going alone?
4 points if you take all five tricks with your partner sitting out. Take three or four and it scores the usual 1 point.
Can you play euchre with three people?
Yes. Three-handed euchre, called Cutthroat, drops partners entirely: whoever calls trump plays alone against the other two.
What does it mean to be euchred?
The team that called trump failed to win three tricks. The other team scores 2 points for it, and that is where the game gets its name.
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