♠️ Euchre

🎯 The idea

Four players in two teams — you and Sam against Robin and Kit. Five cards each, five tricks, and one suit is trump. The team that chooses trump has to take at least three tricks.

🃏 The two jacks that matter

The jack of trump is the highest card in the game — the right bower.
The other jack of the same colour is the second highest, and here is the strange part: it becomes a trump card. If hearts are trump then the jack of diamonds is a heart — you cannot play it on diamonds, you must play it on hearts, and it beats the ace of trump.
That is the whole trick of Euchre. Once you have it, you have the game.

🔨 Choosing trump

One card is turned face up. Going round once, anybody can order it up — that suit becomes trump and the dealer takes the card into their hand.
If everyone passes, you go round again and can name any other suit — except the one that was turned down.

🔢 Scoring

The team that chose trump takes 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point. All 5: 2 points.
If they take fewer than 3 they are euchred and the other team scores 2.
🕴️ Alone: play without your partner. All five on your own is 4 points.

🙂 Levels

🌱 Sprout: no going alone, first to 5.
🧭 Scout: alone allowed, first to 10.
🏆 Ace: alone, and stick the dealer — if everyone passes twice the dealer must name something.

🤖 Auto

Tap 🤖 Auto at the top and the game plays your hand too — the bidding, every card, and on into the next hand — at the same pace as everyone else. Handy when you need to put the phone down. Tap it again to take over; the game finishes the card it is on and then waits for you.

It plays for keeps. It will order it up, name trump and even go alone if the hand is worth it, and whatever that costs — a euchre is 2 points to the other team, 4 if you were alone — lands on your score. It plays like an opponent at your level and sees only what you see. The button stays lit the whole time, so it is never a mystery who is playing.

📜 The rules

🖨️ A card for the table

Print the rules on one sheet, fold it into a card and keep it in the deck box. One side, no scissors. Open the printable rules card

🔎 What everything means