Euchre - Rules, History & Strategy Guide

Euchre is a nineteenth-century trick-taking game that became a fixture in the American Midwest and in parts of Canada, Britain and Australia. It is usually credited with bringing the joker into standard card packs, as a top trump for this game.

It is played with a short deck and only five cards each, which makes a hand quick and a bad guess expensive.

In Arcadia's version you play with an AI partner across the table against two opponents, and the first team to 10 points wins.

1. A 24-card deck of 9 through ace is used. Everyone gets five cards and the next card is turned face up.
2. Starting left of the dealer, each player either orders up the turned suit or passes. On an order up the dealer picks the card up and discards one.
3. If all four pass, a second round lets a player name a different suit. Four more passes mean a redeal; stick the dealer is off here.
4. The jack of trump is the highest card, and the jack of the same colour counts as trump too, both for following suit and for winning tricks.
5. The maker may go alone, in which case their partner sits out the hand and the other three play for three-card tricks.
6. Makers score 1 for three or four tricks and 2 for all five. Alone gives 4 for all five and 1 for three or four. Makers who take fewer than three give the defenders 2.

• Count trump before you order up, and count the bowers separately: the two of them change a hand more than any ace.
• Your position relative to the dealer matters. Ordering up when the dealer is on your team hands them a card; doing it against them gives the other side a free pickup.
• Do not take a trick your partner is already winning. Five tricks is a short hand and a wasted high card is usually the difference.
• Going alone needs more than a good hand: the partner sits out, so a single missing stopper turns four points into two for the other side.

Common variations add a joker as the highest trump, play stick the dealer so the dealer must name a suit rather than pass, or allow defenders to go alone. Arcadia plays none of those: no joker, stick the dealer off, and only the maker may go alone.