The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (36 page)

harder to deduce what anyone else has got. Typical y, each receives

three cards and aims to win at least one trick, or five cards and aims

to win at least three, or bids to win a minimum number. The

bidding element has given rise to more advanced games of skil

such as Euchre, Nap, and Five Hundred. This family may be traced

backto the fifteenth-century game of Triomphe, known in England

as Trump, or French Ruf , to distinguish it from English Ruf , the

ancestor of Whist and Bridge. It is large and rather dif use, some of

its members having apparently interbred with other types such as

Al Fours (Pitch). Many are associated with particular countries or

regions: Euchre with Cornwal and Devon, Five Hundred with

Australia, Twenty-Five with Ireland, Ecarte with France, Bourre

with Cajun country.

Euchre

4 players (2 × 2), 25 cards

To win two tricks signif]es nothing, to win three or four wins but

one, but owin five is the winning of five.

Cot on (on French Ruf ), The Compleat Gamester (1674)

Besides being the ‘national’ game of the West Country, especial y

Cornwal , Euchre is widely played in Canada, some north-eastern

States in the USA, and New Zealand, while Five Hundred, its close

States in the USA, and New Zealand, while Five Hundred, its close

relative, is the national game of Australia. It was especial y popular

in America in the nineteenth century, having been brought thither

by those German immigrants stil referred to as the ‘Pennsylvania

Dutch’. Its ultimate origin appears to lie in an Alsatian game cal ed

Juckerspiel, referring to its two top trumps. (Jucker means Jack. So

does Bower, which rhymes with ‘flower’, and comes from the

German Bauer = ‘farmer’ or ‘peasant’.) Despite its spel ing, which

one can only guess to have been inexplicably influenced by

‘eucharist’, Euchre and Jucker are pronounced almost identical y –

the J like an initial Y, and the whole probably rhyming bet er with

‘cooker’ than with ‘snooker’. The word Jucker may also have

influenced the choice of the term Joker, an extra card introduced in

the 1860s to act as the topmost trump or Jack, original y in a

variety of designs, but only from about 1880 in the now wel -

established guise of a court jester. Our modern Joker therefore has

nothing to do with the card cal ed the Fool in Tarot packs, as so

often claimed. Rather, it is a fifth Jack, and was specifical y

invented for the game of Euchre. Another of this great game’s

legacies is the verb ‘to euchre’, meaning to force someone into a

situation or action they would rather avoid.

Euchre is and has been played in many dif erent versions for

various numbers of players. We start with the four-hand partnership

game as played (with minor variations) on a tournament basis in

the West Country.

Preliminaries Four players sit ing crosswise in partnerships receive

five cards each (3+2 or 2+3) from a 25-card pack consisting of

AKQJT9 in each suit, plus one Joker. Lacking a Joker, substitute a

black Two. Lay the other four face down and turn the top card for

trump preference. If it is the Joker, dealer must announce trumps

before looking at his cards. Game is any agreed number of points

(such as 10, 11, 21) over as many deals as necessary.

Rank of cards Trumps cards rank downwards as fol ows:

Benny, or Best Bower (Joker)

Benny, or Best Bower (Joker)

Right Bower (Jack of trumps)

Left Bower (other Jack of same colour as trumps)

A-K-Q-T-9

In other suits, cards rank AKQ(J)T9.

Bidding Unless the Joker is turned (see below), there is a round or

two of bidding to decide which side wil undertake to win at least

three tricks with the turned suit trump, or, if al decline, with

another suit. A bidder who thinks he can win three or more from

his own hand may of er to play ‘alone’.

Each in turn, starting with eldest, either passes or accepts the

turned suit as trump by saying ‘Up’ (short for ‘I order it up’) and

adding ‘alone’, if applicable. Any acceptance ends the bidding. In

some circles the dealer’s partner may only order it up if playing

alone.

If al pass, the turn-up is turned down and each in turn may now

either name another trump suit or pass. (Choosing the other suit of

the same colour is to ‘make it next’; choosing either of the other

two is to ‘cross it’.) If anyone names a suit, the bidding ends. As

before, a bidder may of er to play alone. If al pass, the hand is

annul ed and the deal passes on.

Whichever side chose trumps are the ‘makers’. If they are playing

in the turned suit, the dealer may, before play, take the turn-up into

hand and make one discard face down in its place (unless his

partner is playing alone).

If the Joker is turned, the dealer’s side automatical y become the

makers, and dealer must name a suit before looking at his hand.

Play Before play, either of the defenders may of er to defend alone,

whether or not one of the makers is doing so. In a lone bid, the

loner’s partner lays his cards face down before the opening lead,

which is made by the player at loner’s immediate left, or his

partner if the lat er is playing alone. Otherwise, the opening lead is

made by eldest hand. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

made by eldest hand. Players must fol ow suit if possible, otherwise

may play any card. The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit

led, or by the highest trump if any are played, and the winner of

each trick leads to the next.

Score The makers score 1 point for winning three or four tricks, 2

for the ‘march’ (al five), or 4 for the march if played alone. If they

fail to win three they are ‘euchred’, and the opponents score 2,

regardless of any lone hands.

Variations In North America the Joker is usual y omit ed. In New

Zealand, and occasional y in America, Euchre is stil played with its

original 32-card pack (AKQJT987, Joker optional).

Euchre for two or three

As for four, but each bids individual y and the player who makes

trump plays alone against the other two acting in concert. If the

turned suit is trump, dealer takes the turn-up in exchange for a

discard. Eldest leads to the first trick. The maker scores 1 for point,

2 for the march, or, if euchred, deducts 2 from his score. Game is

5,7 or 10, by prior agreement.

Euchre for two

As for three, but one player short. Or play Ecarte instead.

Bid Euchre

Original name for the game of Five Hundred (q.v.).

Cal -Ace Euchre

Four players use 24 cards, five 28 (AKQJT98), six 32 (AKQJT987),

plus Joker as Best Bower. Bid as in the basic game. Before play, the

maker names any suit, and the holder of the highest card of it

becomes his silent partner, revealing this fact only by the way he

plays. The maker may elect to play alone, and may even

unwit ingly prove to be his own partner. Each member of a side

scores the points due to his side as a whole. Note: If the absolute

highest card of a cal ed suit is undealt, it is the highest card in play

that counts.

Jackpot Euchre

Four use 25, five 29, six 33 cards, including a Joker as Best Bower.

Each plays for himself, chips one to the pool and receives five

cards. Turn the top of the undealt cards for trump. The maker is not

obliged to win three tricks. Instead, each player draws a chip from

the pool for each trick he wins, or pays one chip if he wins none.

The pool is swept by the first player to win a march.

Auction Euchre

Best for five. Use 28 cards, deal five each and leave a blind or

widow of three face down (or use 32, make a blind of five and

leave two cards out of play). Each in turn has one opportunity to

bid at least three tricks using a named trump, or to overcal a

previous bid. A bid of 5 is overcal ed by a bid of 8, which is an

undertaking to play a lone hand after exchanging cards, and that by

a bid of 15, which is to play alone with the hand as dealt. The

maker, before play, first takes the widow and discards any three

cards from his hand (unless he bid 15); he then cal s for an al y

(unless playing alone) by naming any specific card not in his own

hand. The holder of that card becomes his silent partner, revealing

that fact only by his play.

Six-hand Euchre

The Cornish version has two teams of three, each player flanked by

an opponent. The cards are either 33 (AKQJT987 + Joker) or 50

(2 × AKQJT9 + 2 Jokers). In the double-pack game, the second of

two identical cards played to a trick beats the first, though if the

Jokers are of dif erent colours then the one matching the trump

colour prevails.

One member of either or both sides may play alone, in which case

the other two lay their cards down. The loner may make one

discard face down and ask one of his partners for a replacement,

which that partner must furnish at his own discretion and without

consultation.

Almonte Euchre

The Canadian six-hander uses a 31-card pack consisting of

AKQJT98 in each suit, plus three Jokers represented by low-

numeral spades. Trumps rank downwards 4 3 2 Right, Left, A-

K-Q-T-9-8. Each receives five cards, leaving one turned for

preference. If it is a Joker, dealer names a suit before looking at his

cards. (In some circles, this obliges him to become the maker in the

nominated suit should al five others pass.) The score for a march or

a euchre is 3 instead of 2, or 6 if played alone. Game is 15 points.

Pepper (Hasenpfeffer)

4 players(2×2),24cards

Hasenpfef er (‘Jugged Hare’) was an early step in the direction of

improving the skil factor of Euchre by reducing the number of

undealt cards – in this case by dealing them al out. The modern

undealt cards – in this case by dealing them al out. The modern

version, currently popular in Iowa and Ohio, is now cal ed

‘Pepper’.

Preliminaries Four players sit ing crosswise in partnerships receive

six cards each, dealt singly from a 24-card pack ranking AKQJT9.

As at Euchre, the top trumps are the Right and Left Bowers. In a no-

trump bid cards rank AKQJT9 in al suits.

Auction Eachinturn, starting witheldest, eitherpassesorbidsanumber

of tricks he would commit his partnership to winning, given the