Euchre

"This ill-bred game of cards is about twenty-seven years old. It was first discovered by the deck hands on a Lake Erie steam boat and handed down by them to posterity in all its juvenile beauty. It is generally played by four persons, and owes much of its absorbingness to the fact that you can talk, and drink, and chaw and cheat while the game is advancing" Westminster Papers, 1875.

Euchre was an enormously popular game in the United States in the 19th Century, rivaling Poker as the national card game. It was the card game for which the Joker was invented. Euchre is the descendent of Whist and the ancestor of modern Bridge, which largely replaced it in the 20th Century. There are numerous variations on Euchre that were played from time to time. I will ignore them all, and concentrate on the basic, and by far most commonly played, version of the game.

Set up:

Remove the Two through Six from the deck. Players divide into two teams. The partners sit opposite each other in the circle, with an opponent to the right and left. Draw low card to determine the dealer.

The Cards:
The highest card is the "Right Bower". The Right Bower is the Jack of the Trump suit. The Jack of the suit of the same color (the opposite suit) is known as the "Left Bower" and will beat all cards but the Right Bower. The players may also elect to include a Joker or "Best Bower". The current form of clownish Joker did not emerge until the turn of the century. Before that the Joker was often a blank card with the same back as the rest of the deck, or it had some other device on it. One surviving deck shows a tiger, with the legend "Beats the Right Bower". If the Joker should be turned up for Trumps, discard it and place the next card down for Trumps. The Joker found its way into Euchre around the 1870s.

Deal:

• Deal each player five cards. The cards should be dealt two or three at a time, not one at a time. Turn up the 21st card for Trumps. (The suit of that card will be the Trump suit)
• The player to the left of the dealer (the "Elder Hand") then decides if he will accept, or "order up" the Trump. If he elects so to do, the dealer then takes up the Trump and discards a single card. If he elects not to pass, the choice passes to the dealer's partner.
• The partner may not order up the Trump, but if he wishes the dealer to take it, he declares "I assist". The dealer then takes up the Trump and discards a card.
• If the partner passes, then the choice moves to the left to the third player, who like the first, may elect to order up or pass. If he passes, the choice passes to the dealer, who may elect to accept or "turn down" the Trump. õ If he turns it down, each player, beginning with the Elder Hand, has the option of naming a new suit for Trumps or passing. If no one will take up the Trump, assist or name a new Trump, it is declared a misdeal and the same dealer deals again.

Sequence of Play:
If one player has a particularly strong hand, he may elect to "go alone". If he so declares, his partner puts his cards down and the player who is going alone plays alone against his two opponents. If he wins all five tricks, he will score 5 points. If he wins less than 5 but more than his opponents, he scores 1.

The Elder Hand leads the first Trick. The player to his left must then follow suit. He may play a card of a different suit (to include Trumps), only if he has no cards of that suit left is his hand. (Note: the Left Bower, though not actually of the Trump suit, is considered to be of the Trump suit for the purposes of play).

All players, moving around the circle to the left, lay one card. The player who laid the highest cards wins the Trick.

The winner of the last Trick leads the next Trick. This continues until 5 tricks have been played, at which point the scores are tallied and recorded.

The deal then moves to the left, and the Elder Hand becomes the dealer.

Scoring:
The first team to win 5 points has won the game.

The player who has "ordered up" the Trump suit has agreed to win at least 3 of 5 tricks. If his team fails to do so, they are "Euchred" and the opposing team scores 2 points.

If either team wins 3 or 4 tricks, they sore 1 point (unless the opponents were Euchred, in which case they score 2).

If either team wins all 5 tricks, they have scored a "March", and they get 3 points.

If a player has Gone Alone and scored a March, his team gets 4 points.

See Also Vice Poker Monte Faro The West