Euchre Lodge

What is Euchre?

Euchre is a fast four-player trick-taking game played in two partnerships, with partners sitting across from each other. It uses a small deck, short hands of five cards, and a trump suit that changes every hand. A full game to 10 points goes quickly, and the decisions come thick and fast.

The thing that trips up new players is the bowers: two jacks that jump to the top of the trump suit. Once those click, euchre is easy to pick up. Euchre Lodge sorts your hand so the bowers sit with your trumps, and every trump prompt reminds you which two jacks are the bowers.

It's free to play in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to download.

How to play Euchre

The deck and the deal

Euchre uses only 24 cards: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit. Each player gets 5 cards. The remaining four cards go in the middle, and the top one is turned face up. That card is called the upcard, and it starts the bidding for trump.

Picking trump: round one

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, each player can either pass or order up the upcard. Ordering up makes the upcard's suit trump. The dealer then picks up the upcard and discards one card face down. If the dealer is on your team, ordering up helps your partner. If the dealer is an opponent, you're handing them a trump, so you need a strong hand.

Picking trump: round two

If all four players pass, the upcard is turned face down and its suit can't be trump this hand. Going around again, each player can name any other suit as trump, or pass. In Euchre Lodge we play stick the dealer: if it comes all the way back around, the dealer has to choose a suit. No hand gets thrown in.

Whoever picks trump makes their team the makers. The makers need to win at least 3 of the 5 tricks. The other team are the defenders.

The bowers: right and left

This is the rule people look up the most. When a suit is trump, two jacks become the highest cards in the game:

• The right bower is the jack of the trump suit. It's the best card in the hand.
• The left bower is the other jack of the same color. It's the second best card, and for this hand it counts as a trump, not as its printed suit.

Say hearts are trump. The trump order from top to bottom is:

That makes seven trumps when hearts are called, and only five diamonds, because the J♦ has moved over. If diamonds are led and you hold the J♦ but no other diamond, you don't have to play it, since it's a heart for this hand. And if hearts are led and the J♦ is your only trump, you must play it.

Clubs and spades are the black pair, so with spades as trump, the J♠ is the right bower and the J♣ is the left.

Playing the tricks

• The player to the dealer's left leads the first trick.
• You must follow suit if you can. Remember the left bower belongs to the trump suit.
• If you can't follow, play any card. Any trump beats any card of another suit.
• Otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins. Aces are high.
• The winner of each trick leads the next.

How scoring works

Going alone means the maker's partner puts their cards down and sits out the hand. You play your five cards against both opponents. It's worth it when your hand is so strong that your partner can't add much: both bowers and the ace of trump, for example. The payoff for a lone march is 4 points, which is almost half a game.

The first team to 10 points wins the match, or 5 in a quick match.

Controls

When it's your turn to bid, the game shows you how many trumps you'd hold, which jacks would be the bowers, and a suggestion: Pass, Order up (or Pick it up if you're dealing), or Go alone. In round two you get a button for each legal suit, with your trump count under each. If you pick up the upcard as dealer, tap the card you want to discard.

During play, tap a card to play it, or switch to Tap twice in settings if you want to confirm. Illegal plays are blocked with a short reason, including a reminder when the left bower counts as trump. A lightbulb button gives a hint. On a computer, arrow keys pick a card, Enter or Space plays it and Esc pauses.

Difficulty, Daily Deal and match score

Choose Easy, Normal or Hard. Your match score is 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 counts x2.

The Daily Deal is five hands with the same cards for everyone that day. You get 10 for every point your team scores, plus 30 if you win the day. Check the leaderboard and keep your day streak alive.

Ranks, tables and card backs

Hands and matches earn XP, which climbs through 12 lodge ranks from Greenhorn and Camper to Ranger, Bower Boss, Lodge Captain and finally Legend of the Lodge. New tables open as you go: Forest Plaid, Lake Blue, Honey Oak and Aurora Night, after the starting Pine Cabin.

Milestones unlock card backs shared by every card game on our site: your first win, your first march, euchring the other team three times, a solo march, a win on Hard, and ten match wins. The Lodge screen tracks marches, solo marches, euchres and how many of your calls you made.

Euchre strategy tips

Calling trump

• A common rule of thumb: call trump when you hold three trumps, or two trumps with a bower and an off-suit ace. Your partner is expected to take about one trick.
• As the dealer's partner, think twice before ordering up. You're giving a card to your partner, which is good, but you're also passing on the chance to call your own suit in round two.
• When the dealer is an opponent, ordering up gives them an extra trump. You want a clearly strong hand for that.
• In round two, players often call next: the suit of the same color as the card that was turned down. The reasoning is that the dealer's team passed on that color, and you may hold its left bower.
• Stick the dealer means a dealer with a weak hand still has to choose. Pick the suit where you hold the most trumps, even if it's only two.

Playing the hand

• As the maker, lead trump early to pull the defenders' trumps, especially if you hold the right bower.
• As a defender, lead off-suit aces. You want to win your tricks before the makers can trump them.
• Don't trump your partner's winning card. If Hazel is winning the trick, throw your lowest card.
• Count the trumps. There are only seven in play, and once both bowers are gone, the ace of trump is boss.
• Being short in a suit (one card or none) is a strength, because you can trump in when it's led.
• Go alone when your hand can take all five on its own. If you'd need a little help to march, play with your partner and settle for 2.

Questions