The goal
You and Hazel (across from you) are a team against Burl and Tamsin. Win tricks to score points. First team to 10 points wins (5 in a quick match).
The deck
Only 24 cards: 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace of each suit. Everyone gets 5 cards. One card is turned face up in the middle.
Picking trump
- Round 1: going around, each player can order up the face-up card. Its suit becomes trump and the dealer takes that card (and throws one away). Or say pass.
- Round 2: if everyone passed, the card is turned down. Now each player can name any other suit as trump, or pass. If it comes back to the dealer, the dealer must pick.
- The team that picks trump are the makers. They need at least 3 of the 5 tricks.
The bowers (the special Jacks)
Say hearts are trump. The J♥ is the best card in the game (the right bower). The J♦, the other Jack of the same color, is second best (the left bower) and counts as a heart for this hand. Then A♥, K♥, Q♥, 10♥, 9♥.
Your hand sorts these for you, so the left bower sits with your trumps.
Playing
- The player after the dealer leads. You must follow suit if you can (remember the left bower is trump, not its printed suit).
- If you can't follow, play any card. Any trump beats any other suit. Otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins.
Scoring
- Makers take 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point. All 5 (a march): 2 points.
- Makers take fewer than 3: they're euchred and the other team scores 2.
- Going alone: the maker's partner sits out. Take all 5 alone for 4 points.
Match and daily scores
Match score: 100 for a win, plus 50, plus 5 for each point you finish ahead (or minus 5 for each point behind). Normal counts x1.5 and Hard x2. The Daily Deal is five hands with the same cards for everyone: 10 for every point your team scores, plus 30 if you win the day.