Euchre or Eucre ( ) is a trick-taking card game played in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, particularly in Michigan, upstate New York and the Midwest. It is played with a deck of 24, 25, 28, or 32 standard playing cards. There are normally four players, two on each team, although there are variations for two to nine players.
Euchre emerged in the United States in the early 19th century. There are several theories regarding its origin, but the most likely is that it is derived from an old Alsatian game called Jucker or Juckerspiel. Euchre was responsible for introducing the joker into the modern deck of cards; the joker first appeared in Euchre packs in the 1850s.Parlett (1991), p. 104.Porter (2010), p. 205.
Euchre has a large number of variants and has been described as "an excellent social game".Kansil (2001), pp. 178–184.
Origins and popularity
Eucre is briefly mentioned as early as 1810, being played in a gaming house alongside all fours, loo, cribbage, and whist.Piomingo (1810), p. 153. In 1829, uker was being played with bowers on a steamboat in the American Midwest. The earliest written rules appeared in 1844.Mathews (1844), pp. 92 ff.
The mode of play and terminology of Euchre have resulted in several theories which suggest that it has an origin in Spanish Trionfo,Keller (1887), p. 9. French Ecarté or Triomphe, or Alsatian Jucker. An early American theory was that Euchre was brought into the United States by the German settlers of Pennsylvania, and from that region it was disseminated throughout the nation. The 1864 edition of The American Hoyle disputes its alleged German heritage, tracing the game's origin to Pennsylvania itself in the 1820s. It goes on to surmise that a "rich German farmer's daughter" had visited Philadelphia and carried home a confused memory of Écarté, which then developed into Euchre.
Yet another theory is that Euchre may have been introduced to America by immigrants from the counties of Cornwall or Devon in southwest England, where it remains a hugely popular game. Euchre was introduced into Devon in turn by French prisoners of the Napoleonic Wars, imprisoned in Dartmoor Prison between 1805 and 1816. American prisoners were also housed there during the War of 1812.
Card game historian David Parlett believes that Euchre is derived from an eighteenth-century Alsatian card game named Jucker or Juckerspiel, pronounced "yooker". Clues to a possible German origin are the names of the trump Jacks. Bower is phonetically identical with the German word Bauer which normally means farmer, but also refers to the Jack in playing cards. Another word probably derived from German is "march", which is the literal translation of Marsch, itself an abbreviation of Durchmarsch and the German for a slam in many card games.Parlett (2007), pp. 255–261.Parlett (2022).
Other words or phrases that reflect a German origin are: "maker" from Macher, short for Spielmacher i.e. "game maker", the person who determines the type of game to be played; "euchred" from gejuckert; "having a dog from every county" from aus jedem Dorf ein Köter i.e. "a mongrel from every village", a common expression in German card games; "cards away" from Karten weg or Kart' ab, an expression in games from the Palatinate/Saarland region for the same announcement, "bridge" possibly from Pritsche, a plank bed, hence a place of safety.
The earliest known treatise is an 1839 lost book called Game of Euchre and Its Laws, by an unknown author. The earliest surviving rules appeared in 1844, in which there is no Joker. 32 cards are used. The Right Bower, the trump Jack, is the "commanding card" with the Left Bower, the Jack of the same color, as the second-highest card. As the Joker had not yet been introduced, the Right Bower was also known as the Best Bower.Parlett (1991), p. 190. According to Parlett, the Joker was added to a 32-card pack in the 1850s specifically for the game of Euchre and is first mentioned in a set of rules in 1868 where it turns out to be a blank specimen card not intended for actual play.
This gave rise to a variant called "Euchre with the Joker" in which the blank card ranked above all the rest. Later, the Joker was embellished with a motif and specifically intended for use as the top trump. It was later transferred to the game of Poker and initially called the Mistigris.Parlett (1991), p. 191.
In the late 19th century, Euchre was regarded as the national card game of the United States. It has since declined in popularity, although it retains a strong following in regions such as the Midwestern United States. With the rise of 20th century games such as Contract Bridge and Spades, Euchre has declined in popularity, though it is still played as a social game in the US Midwest, the Canadian province of Ontario, Australia, New Zealand, and Great Britain, especially Cornwall.
Earliest rules (1844) The earliest surviving rules were published in America by Thomas Mathews in his 1844 work, The Whist Player's Hand-book, in which a four-hand version of Euchre is described right at the end. The following is a summary:
Players and cards Euchre is played by two to nine people, but most often by four. A 32-card French-suited Piquet pack is used and cards rank in the trump suit as follows: Right Bower (trump knave), Left Bower (knave of same color), A > K > Q > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7. The side suits rank in their natural order. Deal and play are clockwise.
Deal Determining the initial dealer, there are at least two options, after the pack is shuffled:
(1) Deal one card to each player. The players with two higher cards become partners and play the other two.
(2) Deal the cards, to the left, face up to each player, until the first Jack is dealt, that player is the dealer. Continue dealing cards face up, skipping the dealer, until the next Jack, which will be the dealers Partner. Partners sit across from each other.
Dealing hands: The dealer, deals cards to each player, in packets of two and three, for a total of five cards. The dealer then turns the next card, face up, for initial trump.
The deal rotates to the left after every hand.
Making trump The eldest hand (to the left of the dealer) opens the auction and may either 'order it up' (= accept the turnup as trump) or 'turn it down' (= pass), in which case the next player in turn has the same options and so on. The team that orders it up, are the 'makers'. If all pass, the dealer does not exchange, and another round of bidding begins with eldest who may make trump of any other suit. If all pass again and dealer does not want to make trump, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer deals.
If anyone orders up the upcard as trump, the dealer discards first, then the dealer picks up the upcard.
The player ordering up trump, or declaring trump, that wants to play alone (confident of taking 5 tricks single-handedly), can say: "cards away", "alone", "going alone", "here", or some other regional saying to the other players. The declarers partner sits out the hand and does not reveal their cards.
It's important to calling "going alone" before ordering up or declaring trump, because the person to the left of the dealer, if not the declarer, could play a card first, that prevents the call for "going alone". So one would say "going alone" first before ordering the dealer to pick it up or declaring a suit trump.
Play The eldest leads to the first trick. Players must follow suit if able; otherwise may play any card. The highest trump takes the trick or the highest card of the led suit if no trumps were played. The trick winner leads to the next trick.
Winning The makers must take at least 3 tricks to win and score 1 point. Otherwise they are euchred, i.e. have lost and their opponents score 2 points. Winning all 5 tricks is a march which earns 2 points. Announcing "cards away" and winning all 5 tricks alone scores 4 points. Points are tallied using the unused Deuce and Trey cards, or counters. Game is 5 points.
Terminology The following terms were used by Mathews. Many continue to be used today:
Bridge. The leading team are "at the bridge" when 1 point from winning and the trailing team are 4 points away, and could win by going alone. Players in Indiana refer to the "bridge" as "the barn" ("we're in the barn"). Cards Away. Now called going alone or "making a lone." To play alone against the two defenders. Dutching. When the dealer has turned down the upcard, to entrump the suit of the same colour. Euchre. When the makers fail to take at least 3 tricks they are euchred. March. Taking all tricks, which scores 2 points. Order up. As a non-dealer, to accept the turnup as trump. Turn down. As dealer, after everyone else has passed, to reject the turnup.
British rules In Britain, euchre is played in southwestern England, especially Cornwall, Devon and Guernsey, as well as in coastal East Anglia. A key feature is that a joker (or sometimes the ), called the Benny, is the highest trump. The following is a summary of modern British rules by John McLeod, supplemented by other sources where indicated.
Players and cards Euchre is a four-player game using a pack of 25 cards with a joker and four suits comprising AKQJT9. Card ranking is as per the 1844 rules with the exception that the top trump is the Benny or Best Bower represented by the joker or . Deal and play are clockwise.
Deal The first dealer can be chosen by any random method. The dealer shuffles and deals each player a packet of 2 or 3 cards in any order and then a second packet making the hands up to 5 cards. The next card is turned as a potential trump. Often, it is customary to offer a cut of the deck to the player on the dealer's right before passing out the cards.
Making trump The process of making trump is as follows: Eldest opens by passing or saying "I order it up" (or just "up") If eldest passes, dealer's partner may pass or say "I turn it down" If the first two pass, third hand may pass or order it up If the first three pass, the dealer may say "I take it up" and pick up the upcard, or pass by saying "over" and turning it face down. The option is now given to select any other suit to be trump, and this again is chosen or passed on by each player in turn. If no player elects to make trump the second time round, the hand is either discarded and the game continues with the next dealer, or the fourth player is forced to choose a trump suit, depending on rule set.
As soon as someone makes trump (instead of passing) that player's team become the makers and their opponents are the defenders. Should either opponent order it up or the dealer take it up, the suit of the upcard becomes trump. The dealer picks it up and discards a card face down.
Note that the dealer's partner cannot make trumps and play with the dealer, but can only pass or play alone by turning it down. This does not apply to the second choice in which the player may choose any suit. If the upcard is the Benny, the dealer must announce trumps before picking up their own hand cards and the dealer's team are the makers (a "blind shout").
Going alone Before the first trick any player may announce they are going "alone", whereupon the partner of the lone player puts their cards face down on the table and drops out of that hand. A maker and a defender may both go alone, in which case it is one against one. The side going alone gains 4 points if it gets a "clean sweep"; if it only wins 3, it gains 2 points.
Play and scoring Play and scoring are as in the 1844 rules, except that: If a maker is going alone, an active defender to the left of the loner leads; otherwise the remaining opponent leads If a defender plays alone and wins ≥ 3 tricks, the defenders score 4 points. Score is kept using a spare 5 and 6 card instead of a deuce and trey. Game is 11 points.
British terminology Bump. Knock the cards instead of cutting.