The goal of Euchre
Euchre is a four-player partnership trick-taking game. Partners sit across from each other, each player receives five cards, and every hand has a trump suit. Your team earns points by taking at least three of the five tricks.
The game uses a 24-card deck containing 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace in each suit. Made Simple Games plays until one team reaches 10 points with a clear lead.
The bowers and trump order
Trump cards outrank every non-trump card. The jack of the trump suit is the right bower and is the highest card. The jack of the same color is the left bower and becomes part of the trump suit.
If hearts are trump, the order begins jack of hearts, jack of diamonds, ace of hearts, king of hearts, queen of hearts, 10 of hearts, and 9 of hearts. The jack of diamonds is no longer a diamond for that hand. This matters whenever diamonds are led: a player holding only the left bower does not have to follow diamonds.
How trump is chosen
After the deal, one card is turned face up. Starting left of the dealer, players may order up that suit as trump or pass. If somebody orders it up, the dealer picks up the turned card and discards one card.
If everyone passes, a second round begins. Players may name a different suit as trump. In the Made Simple Games version, the dealer must choose a suit if all other players pass in round two.
Playing and winning tricks
The player left of the dealer leads the first trick. Everyone must follow the led suit if possible, remembering that the left bower belongs to trump. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. The highest trump wins; if no trump is played, the highest card of the led suit wins.
The winner of each trick leads the next. Because only five tricks are played, keeping track of trump and the cards already shown is manageable and extremely useful.
How scoring works
- The team that chose trump scores 1 point for taking three or four tricks.
- The team that chose trump scores 2 points for taking all five tricks, called a march.
- If the makers take fewer than three tricks, they are euchred and the defenders score 2 points.
Beginner strategy
- Order up with a hand that can reasonably contribute two tricks, especially when your partner may supply one more.
- Treat the left bower as trump when counting both suit length and legal plays.
- When your team called trump, leading trump can remove defenders’ trump cards and protect side-suit winners.
- When defending with a lone strong trump, saving it may stop the makers from marching.
- Watch the dealer position. Ordering a suit gives the dealer an extra trump candidate through the pickup.
A simple way to evaluate a hand
Start with the bowers. A right bower is a sure trump trick; the left bower is nearly as strong. Add aces in off-suits, then consider how many trump cards you hold. Three trump with a bower is often a powerful hand, while one low trump and scattered kings can be fragile.
Euchre rewards decisive play. There are so few cards that a passive choice can waste a winner. Count the seven possible trump cards, remember which have appeared, and coordinate with your partner by noticing what they lead and what they cannot follow.