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Outsmart A deck of cards

Euchre

Partners race to win three of five tricks, where two jacks become the most powerful cards in the deck.

the best bit: slamming down the right bower to steal the last trick

Players
4
Time
30–60 min
Learn in
A few minutes
Mood
Lively
Format
Teams
Teach mode: one step at a time

The 30-second version

A fast four-player partner game, huge in the Midwest, played with just the 9s through aces. Each hand, one team chooses the trump suit and has to win at least three of the five tricks. In trump, the jack is the highest card, and the other jack of the same color is second. First team to 10 points wins.

don't explain it all up front. play one practice round.

Grab these

Set up

  1. Take out the 9s, 10s, jacks, queens, kings and aces. That's 24 cards. Put the rest away.
  2. Sit across from your partner.
  3. Deal five cards each. Put the last four face down in the middle and turn the top one face up.

How to play

  1. Pick trump

    Starting left of the dealer, each player can make the face-up card's suit trump by saying "Pick it up." The dealer adds that card to their hand and discards one. Or say "Pass."

  2. Second chance

    If all four pass, turn the card face down. Going around again, anyone can name a different suit as trump. If everyone passes again, the next player deals.

  3. Know the bowers

    The jack of trump, the right bower, is now the highest card. The other jack of the same color, the left bower, is second and counts as trump. Then ace, king, queen, 10 and 9 of trump.

  4. Play five tricks

    The player left of the dealer leads. Follow suit if you can. The highest trump wins the trick, or if there's no trump, the highest card of the suit led.

  5. Score

    The team that picked trump needs three tricks. Three or four is 1 point. All five is 2 points. Fewer than three and they're euchred: the other team scores 2.

How to win

The first team to 10 points wins.

Once you know it

Going alone
If you pick trump and your hand is strong, play without your partner, who sits the hand out. Win all five tricks alone for 4 points.

From experience…

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