Euchre rules: the complete guide

Euchre at a glance

If you only remember one thing, remember this: the Jack of trump is the highest card, and the other Jack of the same color is second highest. Almost every Euchre argument starts with someone forgetting the second part.

Setting up the game

Take a standard 52-card deck and remove every card from 2 through 8. You are left with 24 cards. Many players keep the leftover 5s and 6s of two suits aside — they make the classic Euchre score markers (more on that below).

Partners sit opposite each other, so play always alternates between the two teams. To pick the first dealer, deal cards face up around the table until someone gets a black Jack; that player deals first. After each hand, the deal moves one seat to the left.

Dealing

The dealer shuffles, offers the deck to the player on their right to cut, and then deals five cards to each player, starting on their left. Traditionally the cards go out in two rounds: a packet of 3, then a packet of 2 (or 2 then 3) to each player. The exact pattern doesn’t matter as long as everyone ends up with five.

The four leftover cards are the kitty. The dealer turns its top card face up. That card is the “up card” and it proposes a trump suit for the first round of bidding.

Choosing trump

Trump is chosen in at most two rounds, always starting with the player to the dealer’s left and going clockwise.

Round one: order it up or pass

Each player either passes or tells the dealer to pick it up (“I order it up”). The dealer can accept it for themselves by saying “I’ll pick it up.” As soon as anyone accepts:

1. The up card’s suit becomes trump.
2. The dealer adds the up card to their hand and discards any one card face down.
3. The player who accepted is the maker, and their team must win at least three tricks.

Notice that ordering it up always puts the card in the dealer’s hand. Ordering a Jack into an opponent’s hand gives them the highest card in the game — so think about whose deal it is.

Round two: name a different suit

If all four players pass, the dealer turns the up card face down. Going around again from the dealer’s left, each player may name any suit except the one that was turned down, or pass.

If everyone passes a second time, tables do one of two things:

• Throw it in. The hand is dead and the deal moves to the next player.
• Stick the dealer (also called screw the dealer). The dealer is not allowed to pass and must name a suit. This is very common in tournaments and is the default on BieGames.

Going alone

The maker may announce “I’m going alone” right after naming trump. Their partner lays their cards face down and sits out the hand. If the lone player takes all five tricks, the team scores 4 points instead of 2.

Example. Hearts are trump and you hold the J♥, J♦, A♥, A♠ and K♠. You have the top three trumps and an off-suit Ace. That is a textbook loner — take on both opponents alone.

Card rankings and the bowers

Once trump is set, the trump suit ranks like this, from highest to lowest:

1. Right bower — the Jack of trump
2. Left bower — the Jack of the other suit of the same color
3. Ace, King, Queen, 10 and 9 of trump

The other three suits rank normally: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9. But the suit that loses its Jack to trump has only five cards in that hand.

The left bower is a trump, not its printed suit

This is the rule that trips people up. If spades are trump, the J♣ is a spade for the whole hand.

• When someone leads clubs, the J♣ cannot be used to follow suit. If it is your only “club,” you are actually void in clubs and may play anything.
• When someone leads spades (or leads the J♣ itself), you must follow with a spade — and the J♣ counts as one. If it is your only spade, you must play it.

Playing the wrong card here is a renege (see below), and it costs your team 2 points.

Playing the hand

The player to the dealer’s left leads the first trick. (If that player’s partner is going alone, so they are sitting out, the next active player leads.) Each player then plays one card, clockwise.

• You must follow suit if you can. Remember the left bower belongs to trump.
• If you can’t follow suit, you may play any card: trump it, or throw off a low card.
• The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.
• The winner gathers the trick and leads to the next one.

Five tricks are played, and then the hand is scored.

A sample trick

Diamonds are trump. West leads the A♣. North (your partner) plays the 9♣. East has no clubs and plays the 10♦ — a trump. You have the K♣ and the J♥. You can follow suit with the K♣, so you must; you cannot play the J♥ even though it is the left bower and would win. East’s 10♦ takes the trick.

Scoring

Only one team scores each hand.

The first team to 10 points wins. Some groups play to 5 for a quick game, or to 11 for a slightly longer one.

Keeping score with the 5s and 6s

The traditional way to keep score uses the spare 5 and 6 of one color for each team. Lay the 6 face up and cover part of it with the 5 face down (or the other way round): the number of pips showing is your score. Slide the top card to reveal more pips as you earn points — 1 through 4 with the 5 on top, 5 by showing the 5 alone, 6 by showing the 6 alone, and 7 through 10 by covering the 5 with the 6. It looks fiddly the first time and becomes second nature by the third game.

Misdeals and reneges

• Misdeal. If a card is turned face up during the deal, a player gets the wrong number of cards, or the deck was not offered for a cut, the same dealer reshuffles and deals again (some tables pass the deal instead).
• Renege. A player who fails to follow suit when they could have has reneged. If it is caught before the hand ends, the offending team is penalized 2 points — usually awarded to the other team, or 4 if the renege defeated a lone hand. When playing online the game simply won’t let you renege.
• Playing out of turn. Most casual tables just take the card back. Strict tables treat it as a renege if it gave away information.

Popular house rules and variations

Euchre has as many house rules as it has kitchen tables. These are the ones you’ll meet most often:

• Stick the dealer. The dealer must name trump if everyone passes twice. Speeds the game up and punishes weak dealers.
• Canadian loner. In round one, the dealer’s partner may only order up the up card if they go alone.
• Defend alone. When a player goes alone, one defender may also play alone. If the lone defender euchres the maker, it’s worth 4 points.
• Farmer’s hand. A player dealt three or more 9s and 10s (a “farmer’s hand”) may swap three of them for the three face-down kitty cards.
• No ace, no face, no trump. A player with no Aces, no face cards and no trumps may call a misdeal.
• The Joker (Benny). Some groups add a Joker as the highest trump of all, above the right bower. If the Joker is turned up, the dealer picks the trump suit.
• Three-handed Euchre (cutthroat). Each player plays for themselves; the maker plays against the other two, who team up for that hand.
• Two-handed Euchre. There are a few ways to play with two. A popular one gives each player a hand plus a row of face-down and face-up cards they can also play from; our guide to two-handed Euchre explains it and the simpler alternatives.
• Bid Euchre. Players bid on how many tricks they will take, with a larger deck and no kitty. It’s a different game in many ways.

On BieGames you can play Euchre free with a computer partner. Stick the dealer is on by default (you can turn it off), the Canadian loner and defend alone can be switched on in Settings, and you can choose a game to 5 or 10 points.

Euchre terms and slang

• Bower — one of the two top trumps (from the German Bauer, “farmer” or “jack”).
• Kitty — the four undealt cards.
• Order up — tell the dealer to take the up card, making its suit trump.
• Next — the suit of the same color as the turned-down card. Bidding “next” in round two is a classic play for the player on the dealer’s left.
• Reverse next (or cross) — naming a suit of the opposite color in round two.
• Euchred — the makers failed to take three tricks.
• March — the makers took all five tricks.
• Loner — a hand played alone.
• Trump the trick — play a trump when you can’t follow suit.
• Renege — fail to follow suit when you could have.

Quick questions about the rules

Can the dealer pick up the up card and then go alone? Yes. The dealer may accept the up card and announce a loner in the same breath.

Do you have to order up if you have the bowers? No. Bidding is always optional (unless your table plays stick the dealer and you are the dealer in round two).

Can you lead trump on the first trick? Yes. Any card may be led, at any time.

What happens if nobody takes three tricks? That can’t happen — there are only two teams and five tricks, so one team always takes at least three.

Is Euchre the same as 500? No, but they’re related. The card game 500 grew out of Euchre and keeps the bowers, but adds bidding on tricks and a larger deck.

How do I get better at Euchre? Learn when to order up from each seat, when to call next and what to lead. Our Euchre strategy tips cover all of it. And if you enjoy playing with a partner, the Spades rules are a good next read.