Euchre Basics

The following sections describe the classic Euchre game. For information on our Bid Euchre variant, see Bid Euchre Basics.

Euchre is a fast-paced, partnership, trick-taking game played with the Nine through Ace of each suit. Bidding determines trump. In the trump suit, the Jack and off-Jack are the two highest ranked cards. The rank of cards in non-trump suits is standard Ace-high. Each hand consists of five tricks and a team must take at least three tricks to earn points. The team that gets to 10 points first wins the game.

The Deal

Using a 24-card deck, the dealer deals five cards to each player. The dealer places the four undealt cards face down on the table in front of him/her and turns the top card face-up.

Bidding

Starting with the player to the dealer’s left, a player may choose to pass or make trump the suit of the “up card,” optionally declaring to play the hand “alone,” that is, without his or her partner participating in the hand. The value of going “alone” is the higher score awarded if the bidder takes all five tricks (see Scoring, below). If playing “Alone must take 5,” the alone player must take all five tricks to get points (see Euchre Rules). If the Joker is the up card, trump is spades.

If everyone passes in the first round of bidding, the “up card” is turned face down and another round of bidding ensues in which players may pass or make trump one of the suits other than the previously turned-up card. The “alone” option remains available.

If everyone passes in the second round, the deal moves to the left and a new hand is dealt. If playing “Stick the dealer,” the dealer cannot pass at the end of the second round (see Euchre Rules).

Up Card Pickup and Discard

If trump was made during the first round of bidding, the dealer adds the “up card” to his or her hand and discards one card, so they again have five cards. This fact influences whether to make trump during the first round.

Play

After bidding and, if needed, the dealer discarding, the player to the dealer’s left leads. Any card may be led. Play continues clockwise by following the led suit, if possible, or playing any other card if not. When all four players have played, the trick is taken by the player who played the highest trump card, if any, or the player who played the highest card of the led suit otherwise.

Remember that in trump, the two highest ranked cards are the Jack of the trump suit and the Jack of the other suit of the same color (the off-Jack). For instance, if Spades is trump, ♠J is the highest ranked card, ♣J second highest, and ♠A third highest. Trickster Euchre automatically sorts the cards in your hand in this way.

Scoring

After the five tricks are played the team who picked trump is awarded points based on the bid and number of tricks taken (without the “Take 4 for 1 pt” and “Alone worth 2 pts” options):

If the team who picked trump fails to take at least 3 tricks, this is known as a Euchre and their opponents are awarded 2 points instead. The team that gets to 10 points first wins the game.

See the description of the house rules options “Take 4 for 1 pt” and “Alone worth 2 pts” in Euchre Rules for modifications to these values.

Euchre House Rules Options

If you don’t see your favorite rules listed, use the “More Games/Rules…” button at the bottom of the list of available rules and customize them the way you want. View the available house rule options in Euchre Rules.