There is a card game played in the Midwest that isn’t known in every state. This card game is called Euchre, pronounced “YOO-ker”. Euchre has its own “Euchre Belt,” a group of states where the game is commonly played, which includes Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan and Pennsylvania. It is also played in Canada, Great Britain, New Zealand and Upstate New York. I personally introduced the game to a large group of friends in California. It is a fun game, and easy enough to learn that my grandchildren have usually picked it up by age ten.

Euchre typically has four players, consisting of two pairs of partners that sit across the table from each other. The object of the game is to take the most tricks. The deck is comprised of cards from the 9s up to the Aces, 24 cards in all. Most players use the 4 and 6 of hearts and spades as score cards, because the team that reaches 10 points first is the winner.

The dealer deals 5 cards to each player, usually dealing 3 cards at once to his opponents and 2 cards to his partner, going around the table, and then vice versa. He turns up the top card on the remaining stack of 4 cards. This card could be the trump. The player to his left has the first opportunity to call that trump, but if he passes the choice moves around the table. If someone wants that suit to be trump, they “order it up” and the dealer puts the trump card into their deck and discards a card. If no one calls that card trump, then the dealer turns that card over and the choice can then be made to call trump in any other suit. Once trump is established, the player to the left of the dealer begins the play by laying down a card, usually a high card of any suit but trump. The team that calls the trump suit must take at least 3 of the 5 tricks, if they don’t they are “Euchre’d” and the opposing team gets 2 points. If the team that calls the trump suit takes all five tricks, they get 2 points. If one of the team players has an excellent deck, he can say he is “going alone” and his partner will not play. If he takes all five tricks, his team gets 4 points, but if he only takes 3 or 4 of the 5 tricks, his team gets 1 point.

Clear as mud, right? Well, let me now tell you the craziest part about this game and what causes people to give up on this game in frustration. When spades is called trump, the Jack of Spades becomes the highest card in the deck, and the Jack of Clubs is the second highest card in the deck. These are known as “the bowers.” The Jack of the trump suit is the “Right Bower” and the Jack of the same color suit is the “Left Bower.” Then the order of importance of the cards is Ace, King, Queen, Jacks of other suits, tens and nines. So the highest cards in the deck are constantly changing. If hearts is trump, Jack of Hearts and Jack of Diamonds are the bowers. If Diamonds are trump, then Jack of Diamonds is right, Jack of Hearts is the left.

I’m not an instructional writer, and have done my best to explain the game, but if you decide to try it, please refer to instructions you can probably find online. And give it a try!

Euchre is a game where you have to try to guess what cards your partner has, and your opponents have. Your strategy is to do your best to figure out if you and your partner can take at least 3 tricks. It takes practice, but provides hours of fun. In the cold Midwestern winters, Euchre is a good way to spend time.

Below is a picture of the order of importance of cards if Clubs were trump on top and if Hearts were trump on bottom.

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