Euchre
Objective:
Euchre is a drinking game commonly played with 24 cards removed from a standard deck of 52. There are typically 4 players in 2 different teams squaring off in this ancient card game. This card game first came to life in the 1860's and is still played by many households today. Some households even play with a joker card, 28 cards or 32 playing cards. Outscore and outdrink your opponents to 10 for the win!
What You Need:
24 cards from a full deck of standard playing
4 Players or More
Drinks for every player
4 Players or More
Drinks for every player
Set Up:
Players sit across from their teammate so that the order of play stays consistent.
Take your deck of cards and remove all cards 2 through 8 from your deck of 52 playing cards.
For score keeping, keep the number five cards off to the side.
Each team should get two number five cards each and designate one person from each team as the score keeper.
This should leave you with 24 remaining cards.
Shuffle the deck and deal each person 5 cards.
The last 4 cards that remain, referred to as the "kitty", get placed facedown in the center of the table.
Now it is time to choose the "Trump" card.
And no this has nothing to do with the president. Stay focused drunkies there's more important matters at hand here!
Take your deck of cards and remove all cards 2 through 8 from your deck of 52 playing cards.
For score keeping, keep the number five cards off to the side.
Each team should get two number five cards each and designate one person from each team as the score keeper.
This should leave you with 24 remaining cards.
Shuffle the deck and deal each person 5 cards.
The last 4 cards that remain, referred to as the "kitty", get placed facedown in the center of the table.
Now it is time to choose the "Trump" card.
And no this has nothing to do with the president. Stay focused drunkies there's more important matters at hand here!
How Cards Rank:
For beginners, scoring is often very confusing to understand at first.
This guide should help players better understand how this part of the game works.
Trump Card:
When a trump card is chosen, the suit of the chosen card determines which suit ranks the highest.
This is how you will know which cards are the best.
Most people are used to Aces ranking the highest, Kings ranking second highest, Queens ranking third, then Jacks and 10's and so on.
That is almost how it works here but not quite!
Instead, in Euchre the Jack card is the highest ranking card.
The Jack card that is the same suit as the chosen trump card becomes the highest ranking card.
Also very important! The Jack card that is the same color as the trump card also becomes the second highest ranking card.
The named trump card decides which pair of Jacks become the most powerful.
In other words, the Jack of the named suit becomes the most powerful. Often called the "Left Bower".
The Jack that is the same color as the named suit becomes the second most powerful. Often called the "Right Bower".
Your Left and Right Jack cards outrank everything!
Best Card Ranks:
This makes the new rank of cards go in order from highest to lowest like this:
1st - Left Jack (Suit)
2nd -Right Jack (Same Color as Suit)
3rd - Ace (Suit)
4th - King (Suit)
5th - Queen (Suit)
6th - Ten (Suit)
7th - Nine (Suite)
8th - Ace (Different Suit)
9th - King (Different Suit)
10th - Queen (Different Suit)
11th - Jack (Different Color)
12th - Ten (Different Suit)
13th - Nine (Different Suit)
Now that you know which cards are the best, you can start playing!
This guide should help players better understand how this part of the game works.
Trump Card:
When a trump card is chosen, the suit of the chosen card determines which suit ranks the highest.
This is how you will know which cards are the best.
Most people are used to Aces ranking the highest, Kings ranking second highest, Queens ranking third, then Jacks and 10's and so on.
That is almost how it works here but not quite!
Instead, in Euchre the Jack card is the highest ranking card.
The Jack card that is the same suit as the chosen trump card becomes the highest ranking card.
Also very important! The Jack card that is the same color as the trump card also becomes the second highest ranking card.
The named trump card decides which pair of Jacks become the most powerful.
In other words, the Jack of the named suit becomes the most powerful. Often called the "Left Bower".
The Jack that is the same color as the named suit becomes the second most powerful. Often called the "Right Bower".
Your Left and Right Jack cards outrank everything!
Best Card Ranks:
This makes the new rank of cards go in order from highest to lowest like this:
1st - Left Jack (Suit)
2nd -Right Jack (Same Color as Suit)
3rd - Ace (Suit)
4th - King (Suit)
5th - Queen (Suit)
6th - Ten (Suit)
7th - Nine (Suite)
8th - Ace (Different Suit)
9th - King (Different Suit)
10th - Queen (Different Suit)
11th - Jack (Different Color)
12th - Ten (Different Suit)
13th - Nine (Different Suit)
Now that you know which cards are the best, you can start playing!
How To Start:
Choose the Trump Card:
Turn the card on top of the kitty face up to reveal the suit.
Going left (clockwise) from the dealer, each player gets a turn to choose if they want the top card to be the "trump" card.
If a player answers "No" and does not want the kitty card to be the trump card. The turn goes to the next person to decide.
If a player answers "Yes" and does want the kitty card to be a trump card. The dealer must take the top kitty card and replace it with another card they own face down.
If every player including the dealer passes and does not want the top card to be trump. The top card is turned back over facedown.
This then becomes a misdeal and the "trick" cannot be started yet.
Misdeal:
On a misdeal the top card of the kitty is flipped face down.
Starting from the left of the dealer each player gets to choose what they want the trump card to be.
However, players cannot choose the same suit of the kitty card that was just revealed. You may only choose one of the other three suits.
Turn the card on top of the kitty face up to reveal the suit.
Going left (clockwise) from the dealer, each player gets a turn to choose if they want the top card to be the "trump" card.
If a player answers "No" and does not want the kitty card to be the trump card. The turn goes to the next person to decide.
If a player answers "Yes" and does want the kitty card to be a trump card. The dealer must take the top kitty card and replace it with another card they own face down.
If every player including the dealer passes and does not want the top card to be trump. The top card is turned back over facedown.
This then becomes a misdeal and the "trick" cannot be started yet.
Misdeal:
On a misdeal the top card of the kitty is flipped face down.
Starting from the left of the dealer each player gets to choose what they want the trump card to be.
However, players cannot choose the same suit of the kitty card that was just revealed. You may only choose one of the other three suits.
How To Play:
Each player has only 5 cards in their hand.
How to play "trick":
To start playing, each player will lay one card from their hand face-up in the center of the table. This is called a "trick".
To win the "trick" and move onto the next "trick". You or your teammate will want to lay down the best card you own.
The best card is determined by how cards are ranked. Which changes every time there is a new dealer so be careful and pay attention!
Ranks are explained above under How To Score:
"The highest ranking card will always be a Jack of the named suite"
After 5 "tricks" players should have no more cards left to play and the hand is over.
The team that one the most tricks gets to add a point to their scoreboard!
This is where your number five cards come in to keep score.
For Example:
Let's say the chosen trump card for this example round is a suit of Red Diamonds.
Every player in their head should know what the card ranks will be now.
A red Jack of Diamonds ranks the highest for this round since the trump card chosen was a diamond.
A red Jack of Hearts becomes a red Jack of Diamonds and becomes the second highest card for the round.
To put it more simple, the red Jack of Hearts basically becomes a red Jack of Diamonds since the trump suite chosen was diamonds.
It is important to remember how cards rank since it can and will change every time a new hand is dealt
The only way to score a point for your team is know which cards are the best cards.
This will allow you to win at "tricks" when you start playing.
You may use the symbols on the number five cards to keep track of how many points your team has.
The first to 10 points wins!
How to play "trick":
To start playing, each player will lay one card from their hand face-up in the center of the table. This is called a "trick".
To win the "trick" and move onto the next "trick". You or your teammate will want to lay down the best card you own.
The best card is determined by how cards are ranked. Which changes every time there is a new dealer so be careful and pay attention!
Ranks are explained above under How To Score:
"The highest ranking card will always be a Jack of the named suite"
After 5 "tricks" players should have no more cards left to play and the hand is over.
The team that one the most tricks gets to add a point to their scoreboard!
This is where your number five cards come in to keep score.
For Example:
Let's say the chosen trump card for this example round is a suit of Red Diamonds.
Every player in their head should know what the card ranks will be now.
A red Jack of Diamonds ranks the highest for this round since the trump card chosen was a diamond.
A red Jack of Hearts becomes a red Jack of Diamonds and becomes the second highest card for the round.
To put it more simple, the red Jack of Hearts basically becomes a red Jack of Diamonds since the trump suite chosen was diamonds.
It is important to remember how cards rank since it can and will change every time a new hand is dealt
The only way to score a point for your team is know which cards are the best cards.
This will allow you to win at "tricks" when you start playing.
You may use the symbols on the number five cards to keep track of how many points your team has.
The first to 10 points wins!
How To Play:
Now that we know the rules of Euchre, we can get into how you continue playing.
This should be a good guideline to follow beginning from How To Start to scoring points.
First, prepare your deck by removing the appropriate cards 2 through 8. Shuffle, choose teams, and choose a dealer to start first.
Next the dealer will pass out only 5 cards to each player including themselves.
This should leave the dealer with 4 remaining cards called the "kitty".
Place the kitty in the middle and reveal the top card.
Now you will start to decide the Trump card.
The first person to choose is always the person to the left of the dealer.
The first person chooses to either use the revealed kitty card as the Trump card or they may pass.
This continues until a trump card is chosen or until there is a Misdeal.
In the event that no one chooses a trump card, see the section above about Misdeals and how to play those.
Once a Trump card is chosen, the dealer must take the revealed kitty card and add it to their hand. They must also remove a card from their hand and place it face down on the kitty.
Now the group can start playing for points!
The player to the left of the dealer always goes first and gets to be the first person to play a card from their hand.
If you are the person playing a card, you will want to play your highest ranked card to win a point for your team.
If a card was played before you, all players must remember to "Follow Suit".
To "Follow Suit" means that if possible, the first card a played decides the suit.
Each player after the first player must play a card from their hand that is the same suit as the first card played.
If it is not possible for you to "Follow Suit" then you may play a different card from your hand.
Be careful not to "Renege" here!
If you get caught purposefully not "Following Suit" then the opposing team automatically gets 4 points.
After all players have played their cards this ends the turn for what's called the first "trick".
The person who played the highest ranked card wins the "trick" and gets to play the first card during the next "trick".
After five turns or "tricks" the table adds up which team won the most tricks. The team with the most tricks gets awarded 1 point for the scoreboard.
Now repeat!
The person to the left of the original dealer now becomes the new dealer.
The new dealer gathers the cards, shuffles them, deals them, and reveals the kitty.
Now start choosing the next Trump card and start flexing your stuff!
This should be a good guideline to follow beginning from How To Start to scoring points.
First, prepare your deck by removing the appropriate cards 2 through 8. Shuffle, choose teams, and choose a dealer to start first.
Next the dealer will pass out only 5 cards to each player including themselves.
This should leave the dealer with 4 remaining cards called the "kitty".
Place the kitty in the middle and reveal the top card.
Now you will start to decide the Trump card.
The first person to choose is always the person to the left of the dealer.
The first person chooses to either use the revealed kitty card as the Trump card or they may pass.
This continues until a trump card is chosen or until there is a Misdeal.
In the event that no one chooses a trump card, see the section above about Misdeals and how to play those.
Once a Trump card is chosen, the dealer must take the revealed kitty card and add it to their hand. They must also remove a card from their hand and place it face down on the kitty.
Now the group can start playing for points!
The player to the left of the dealer always goes first and gets to be the first person to play a card from their hand.
If you are the person playing a card, you will want to play your highest ranked card to win a point for your team.
If a card was played before you, all players must remember to "Follow Suit".
To "Follow Suit" means that if possible, the first card a played decides the suit.
Each player after the first player must play a card from their hand that is the same suit as the first card played.
If it is not possible for you to "Follow Suit" then you may play a different card from your hand.
Be careful not to "Renege" here!
If you get caught purposefully not "Following Suit" then the opposing team automatically gets 4 points.
After all players have played their cards this ends the turn for what's called the first "trick".
The person who played the highest ranked card wins the "trick" and gets to play the first card during the next "trick".
After five turns or "tricks" the table adds up which team won the most tricks. The team with the most tricks gets awarded 1 point for the scoreboard.
Now repeat!
The person to the left of the original dealer now becomes the new dealer.
The new dealer gathers the cards, shuffles them, deals them, and reveals the kitty.
Now start choosing the next Trump card and start flexing your stuff!
How To Score:
Scoring is explained a little bit above, however, there are a few different ways teams can earn points.
When your team wins 3 or 4 out of the 5 "tricks" then your team gets 1 point.
Teams that win all 5 "tricks" earn 2 points to their scoreboard.
If your team "Reneges" then the opposing team gets 4 points.
Important rule incoming!
If the team that chose the Trump card does not earn at least 3 tricks for their team. The opposite team earns 2 points.
Any time this happens it is called a "Euchre"!
Going at a "Lone Hand" could potentially earn your team 4 points.
To play a "Lone Hand" you may only announce this if choosing a Trump card still and it is your turn to choose. The player who chooses the Trump and does a "Lone Hand" usually only does this if they know they have good cards in their hand for the Trump. If you choose to do a "Lone Hand" then your teammate has to sit out then you continue playing like normal in a two versus one battle.
If you win all 5 tricks on your Lone Hand then your team gets 4 points.
If you only win 3 or 4 tricks then your team is only awarded 1 point.
When your team wins 3 or 4 out of the 5 "tricks" then your team gets 1 point.
Teams that win all 5 "tricks" earn 2 points to their scoreboard.
If your team "Reneges" then the opposing team gets 4 points.
Important rule incoming!
If the team that chose the Trump card does not earn at least 3 tricks for their team. The opposite team earns 2 points.
Any time this happens it is called a "Euchre"!
Going at a "Lone Hand" could potentially earn your team 4 points.
To play a "Lone Hand" you may only announce this if choosing a Trump card still and it is your turn to choose. The player who chooses the Trump and does a "Lone Hand" usually only does this if they know they have good cards in their hand for the Trump. If you choose to do a "Lone Hand" then your teammate has to sit out then you continue playing like normal in a two versus one battle.
If you win all 5 tricks on your Lone Hand then your team gets 4 points.
If you only win 3 or 4 tricks then your team is only awarded 1 point.
How To Drink:
Whew! You're probably parched after reading all of this. We are too!
So now that we know how to play, this list below will tell you what the drinking game rules apply.
Hopefully for convenience purposes listing them in this order will help. They are listed in order from what will probably happen first to what will likely not happen as long as you are careful.
1. If you chose the Trump card every player except you drinks. Yes this means your teammate has to drink!
2. When your team wins a "trick", the losing team has to drink.
3. Each time a team scores a point, the opposite team drinks the according to the amount of scored points. For instance, a team scores 2 points at the end of a "trick". The players on the opposing team each must drink two times
4. Take one drink if you cannot "Follow Suit"!
5. If your team is caught "Reneging" then you not only drink 4 times for each point the opposite team gets for the "Renege". However, you must also drink one extra time for the "Renege" you caused. Might as well just finish your beer!
6. Drink every single time you have to flip the kitty card face down. Yes, everyone drinks!
7. Any time a team gets "Euchre" the team that does not score because of the Euchre must drink 4 times.
8. Lone Hand will occasionally happen when you get playing more. If a Lone Hand is called the person calling the Lone Hand not only forces their opponent out of competing. However, it also puts them in a two versus one battle against the other team. The person who is playing a Lone Hand also applies extra drinking game rules.
The first being the the Lone Hand's teammate has to take a drink in addition to sitting out.
Now play like normal except every time a Lone Hand has to drink. Add 1 extra drink!
This does not mean multiply! Only add one extra drink.
At the the end of the "tricks" if the Lone Hand pulls it off and wins all 5 tricks. They not only score 4 points for their team but they also force the losing team to drink one extra time.
If the Lone Hand wins 3 or 4 out of the 5 tricks. The opposing team drinks one extra time.
If the Lone Hand loses, then the Lone Hand drinks 5 times.
So now that we know how to play, this list below will tell you what the drinking game rules apply.
Hopefully for convenience purposes listing them in this order will help. They are listed in order from what will probably happen first to what will likely not happen as long as you are careful.
1. If you chose the Trump card every player except you drinks. Yes this means your teammate has to drink!
2. When your team wins a "trick", the losing team has to drink.
3. Each time a team scores a point, the opposite team drinks the according to the amount of scored points. For instance, a team scores 2 points at the end of a "trick". The players on the opposing team each must drink two times
4. Take one drink if you cannot "Follow Suit"!
5. If your team is caught "Reneging" then you not only drink 4 times for each point the opposite team gets for the "Renege". However, you must also drink one extra time for the "Renege" you caused. Might as well just finish your beer!
6. Drink every single time you have to flip the kitty card face down. Yes, everyone drinks!
7. Any time a team gets "Euchre" the team that does not score because of the Euchre must drink 4 times.
8. Lone Hand will occasionally happen when you get playing more. If a Lone Hand is called the person calling the Lone Hand not only forces their opponent out of competing. However, it also puts them in a two versus one battle against the other team. The person who is playing a Lone Hand also applies extra drinking game rules.
The first being the the Lone Hand's teammate has to take a drink in addition to sitting out.
Now play like normal except every time a Lone Hand has to drink. Add 1 extra drink!
This does not mean multiply! Only add one extra drink.
At the the end of the "tricks" if the Lone Hand pulls it off and wins all 5 tricks. They not only score 4 points for their team but they also force the losing team to drink one extra time.
If the Lone Hand wins 3 or 4 out of the 5 tricks. The opposing team drinks one extra time.
If the Lone Hand loses, then the Lone Hand drinks 5 times.
*The consumption of alcohol is for Adults of legal drinking age only. If you choose to drink beverages that contain alcohol please do so responsibly and in moderation. Do not drink and drive. Do not drink excessively. Do not drink while pregnant and do not drink while using medication. Do not drink anytime it could put you or others at risk. United States Dietary Guidelines suggest limiting your intake to two drinks per day for men and one a day for women. Eating a large healthy meal prior to consuming alcohol will help slow the absorption of alcohol. If you or someone you know cannot control the amount that they drink you should not drink, and should seek medical attention. Drinking excessively can impair judgement and cause bodily harm, know your limit...
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