How to Play Euchre Card Games

Euchre is a popular card game of tricks and trump--so popular that many variations have developed. The most popular version is a four player game, in partners, but it can also be played with 2 to 7 players. Once you learn the basics of four-handed euchre, the variations are easy to learn.

Make a deck of 24 playing cards by removing the cards numbered two through eight in a standard deck.

Shuffle the deck and deal five cards to each player, first in groups of three, and then groups of two. Place the remaining cards on the table, and turn the top one over.

Arrange your cards in order. Cards are ranked in order from highest to lowest, except for trump: ace, king, queen, (jack), ten and nine. The jacks rank higher in the trump suit: Bower (jack of trump suit), left bower (the jack of the same color as trump suit), then ace, king, queen, ten and nine. The left bower counts as trump--so if clubs is trump, then the jack of spades is considered to be a club, not a spade, for the hand.

Start with the person to the left of the dealer. Each player may pass or accept the turned-up card as trump. If a player accepts trump, then the dealer puts the card in his hand and discards another. If no one accepts the card as trump, then the dealer turns the card over, and each player in turn can choose another suit to be trump.

Begin play. The player to the left of the dealer plays a card--trump or otherwise. Each player in turn lays down a card of the same suit if he has it, or any other card. The object of the hand is to take at least three of the possible five tricks by playing the highest ranked card. The winner of the trick leads the next round.

Score a point for each hand your team wins at least three tricks. Score two points if your team won all five tricks. If your team called trump and did not win at least three tricks, the other team “euchres” you and scores two points. The winner is the first team to score 10 points.