Euchre

About Euchre

Euchre is a fast-paced, classic partnership card game for four players, competing in two teams.

To win, you and your partner must be the first team to reach 10 points. Points are scored by the team that chooses the trump suit for the round. Earn one point if your team takes three or more tricks, two points if you take all five tricks, or four points if a player opts to “go alone” and wins all five tricks on their own! If the defending team wins more tricks than the makers, the makers have been “euchred,” and the defenders are awarded two points for the round.

Put your Euchre skills to the test against Coppercod's AI opponents. Dive into this exciting partnership game and outsmart the competition. Click “Play Online Free!” and begin your Euchre journey now!

Quickfire Rules

After five cards have been dealt to each of the four players, the top of the four remaining cards is turned over to reveal the “candidate card”. The players, in turn, can pass or choose to “order up” the candidate card, which sets the trump suit for the round as the suit of the card. The candidate card is then picked up by the dealer in that round, who then discards a card from their hand.

If all four of the players pass, the candidate card is turned down and each player can, in turn, pass or call a trump suit that cannot be the same as the candidate card suit.

The team that chooses the trump suit is known as the “makers”, and the other team as the “defenders”. The player who determined the trump suit has the option to “go alone” in the round, or play with their partner. If the player goes alone, their partner's cards are discarded before play commences.

When the trump suit is determined, the jack of that suit becomes the “right bower” and is the highest ranking trump. The jack of the same color as the trump suit becomes the “left bower” (for example, when hearts are the trump suit, the jack of diamonds would become the left bower), the second highest trump.

The card ranking for the trump suit becomes right bower, left bower, A, K, Q, 10 and 9.

The card rankings for the other suits stay A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, with the exception of the suit that loses the jack to be the left bower.

Each player then plays one card in turn, following suit if they can. If they cannot follow suit they may play any other card in their hand, including a trump card. The highest card played in the suit, or highest trump card if one has been played, takes the trick. The aim for the makers is to take three or more of the five tricks. The defenders' aim is to take as many tricks as to stop them.

At the end of each round, the makers score either one point by taking three or more tricks, or two points if they take all five (known as a “march”). If the maker has gone alone and takes all five tricks, four points are awarded for the march. If the makers fail to take three tricks, they have been “euchred”, and their opponents receive two points.

The game is won when one team reaches the win target.

Euchre app screenshot 1Euchre app screenshot 2Euchre app screenshot 3Euchre app screenshot 4Euchre app screenshot 5Euchre app screenshot 6Euchre app screenshot 7

Available on App and Play Stores

Euchre Terms

Candidate Card: The card that is turned over after the deal to decide the potential trump suit for the first round of bidding.

Order Up: A player decides that the candidate card should be the trump suit and orders up the card for the dealer in the first round of bidding.

Call: A player decides to nominate a trump suit in the second round of bidding.

Right Bower: The jack of the trump suit, the highest ranking trump.

Left Bower: The jack of the same color suit as the trump suit (so if hearts was the current trump suit, the jack of diamonds would become the left bower), the second highest ranking trump.

Best Bower: The joker. If you choose to play with the joker added to the deck, it becomes the highest ranking trump above the right bower.

Makers: The team that determined the trump suit for the round.

Defenders: The team that must prevent the makers from winning 3 tricks.

Misdeal: If all four players pass both rounds of bidding, the round is passed out and a new round is dealt without playing the current hand.

Trick: Each player plays a card in turn, and the best card played wins that trick. There are 5 tricks in each round.

Trump: Trumps are chosen by the makers and are elevated higher than all other suits. They can be played when a player cannot otherwise follow suit. The joker counts as a trump card if you are playing with one.

March: If the makers for the round take all of the tricks it is known as a march.

Euchred: If the defenders prevent the makers from taking three tricks for the round it is known as being Euchred.

Singleton: A card that you hold that you only have one of in that suit.

Doubleton: Cards that you hold that you only have two of in that suit.

Off-Suit: Any suit that is not the current trump suit.

Void Suit: Any suit that you hold no cards in.

How Your Partner Plays

Playing with a partner you can't communicate with can be frustrating, but here are some tips on their play to help you get along:

  • When leading while defending, your partner will play an ace if the suit is a singleton in an off-suit, an ace if it is part of a doubleton in an off-suit, or any card from an off-suit that is a singleton to create a void suit
  • If they spot that you are void in a suit they will lead that suit to give you the opportunity to trump
  • When you are the makers, they will pull trumps, by leading winning trump cards, where possible to prevent being euchred late in the hand, unless only your team has trumps remaining
  • When choosing to play alone, they will be looking for an expected trick count of 4+ before deciding to do so
  • Your partner will not play alone if you are within 2 points of victory in the game
  • Your partner is looking for an expected trick count of 3 before deciding to order up or call a trump suit

How To Play

Euchre is a classic four-player partnership game using a deck of 24 cards: the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A of each suit.

The aim of the game is to be the first partnership to reach the win target of 10.

At the end of each round, the makers score either one point by taking three or more tricks, or two points if they take a march. If the makers team has gone alone and takes all five tricks, four points are awarded for the march. If the makers are euchred, their opponents receive two points.

Deal

The dealer is initially chosen at random, and then moves clockwise round the table for subsequent rounds.

5 cards are dealt to each player, and the top of the remaining cards is turned face up to form the candidate card.

Bidding

Players, in turn, can choose to order up the candidate card to set the trump as the card's suit, or pass.

If a player orders up, the candidate card is added to the dealer's hand and they must choose a card to discard before play commences.

If all players pass, each player then takes a turn to call a trump suit for the round or pass again.

If all players pass again, the round is declared a misdeal, and a new hand is dealt from the next dealer.

The team that selects trumps is known as the “makers” for the hand, and the opposing team is known as the “defenders”.

A player who chooses the trump suit can then say if they want to “go alone” and defeat the opponents single-handedly, or play with their partner.

Card Rankings

When the trump suit is determined, the jack of that suit becomes the “right bower” and is the highest ranking trump. The jack of the same colored suit as the trumps suit becomes the “left bower” (for example, when hearts is the trump suit, the jack of diamonds would become the left bower), the second highest trump.

The card ranking for the trump suit becomes right bower, left bower, A, K, Q, 10 and 9.

The card rankings for the other suits stay A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, with the exception of the suit that loses the jack to be the left bower.

Play

Whoever is left of the dealer leads a card to start. Each player must play one card in a clockwise order, following suit where they can.

The winner of each trick is the player who plays the highest card matching the suit of the first card played, unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump will win the trick.

If you cannot follow suit you may play any other card from your hand.

Scoring

At the end of each hand, the tricks the makers collects are totalled.

1 point is awarded if the makers take at least three tricks.

2 points are awarded if the makers take all five tricks.

4 points are awarded if the makers chose to go alone and take all five tricks.

2 points are awarded to the defenders if the makers fail to take three tricks and are euchred.

Settings

Choose from the following settings (defaults shown in italics):

Sound: On, off.

Speed: Normal, fast.

Orientation: Portrait, landscape left, landscape right or landscape free.

Single click play: On, off.

AI level: Easy, medium or hard.

Number of cards: 5, or 7. This determines how many cards are dealt to each player. When playing with 7 cards, the 7 and 8 of each suit are added to the deck.

Play with joker: Off, or on. This determines whether the joker is added to the deck to form the best bower.

Win target: 5, 7, 10, 11 or 15. This determines the score a team must reach to win the game.

Must win by two: Off or on. Determines whether the winners must have two points more than their opponents to win the game.

Stick the dealer: Off or on. When on, the dealer, who bids last, must set the trump suit on the second bid round and cannot pass.

Dealer's partner must go alone: Off or on. When on, you cannot order up when your partner is the dealer. Instead you must “turn it down” and go alone.

Cards: Classic or coppercod.

Deck: Choose from 20 different deck designs for coppercod, 16 for modern.

Mobile cards: Off or on. Only available on phones.

Theme: Blue, green, merlot, dark red, light blue, black, purple, teal, pink, orange, dark blue, dark green or charcoal.

Interface

Home screen:

From the home screen you can access the following options:

  • Start new game
  • Continue game: if there is a game in progress it can be continued.
  • Settings (cog icon, bottom left). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
  • Information (question mark icon, bottom right). Once open you can close it by tapping close or tapping > at the top right.
  • Stats (chart icon, top left).
  • Sound: Tap the speaker icon at the top right of the home screen to toggle between sound on and off.
During a Game

Your cards are displayed face up at the bottom of the screen, your partner’s are face down at the top of the screen, and your opponents’ cards are face down at the left and right. Your cards are ordered first by suit, then low to high from left to right. Your partner’s and opponents’ cards are ordered at random. The kitty is face down in the middle of the screen.

During play, each partnership’s score for the game is shown in front of their hand. A green light is displayed next to your score to display when it is your turn to act. A bid panel is shown each round when it is your turn to bid.

When it is your turn to act, tap on a card from your hand that you want to select, and then tap it again to play the card (or tap it just once if the “single click play” setting is turned on). You can select a different card by tapping on it.

At the end of the hand, the scores each player partnership receives are displayed, as well as the total score for each partnership for the game.

Thank you for playing Classic Euchre!