Euchre is a four-player partnership trick-taking game played with just 24 cards. You and the player across the table team up against the other two. Each hand, one team names trump and promises to win at least three of the five tricks. Make it and you score; fail and you've been euchred. First team to 10 points wins. Free in your browser, no sign-up.
Goal: win the bid when your hand is strong, take at least three tricks, and reach 10 points first.
The Jack of trump is the right bower, the strongest card in the game. The Jack of the same color is the left bower — the second-strongest trump, and it counts as a trump card, not as its printed suit. With hearts as trump, the order runs J♥, J♦, A♥, K♥, Q♥, 10♥, 9♥.
Three AI difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) from the menu. The hard AI weighs its seat at the table before ordering up, creates voids with the dealer's discard, and goes alone on strong hands. Stick-the-dealer is always on, so every hand gets played. Install it as an app from your browser menu to play offline.
Euchre reached America in the 1840s with German settlers, most likely from the Alsatian game Juckerspiel, and spread along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. For decades it was the most-played social card game in the United States, and it introduced the Joker — invented around 1860 as the "best bower," a card above both Jacks. Today it remains a fixture of the American Midwest, Ontario, and pubs across Australia and New Zealand.
For the complete rules, including both bowers, ordering up, stick the dealer and going alone, read the full Euchre guide.
The two strongest cards. The Jack of the trump suit is the right bower; the Jack of the same-color suit is the left bower. The left bower counts as a trump card for the whole hand, so with hearts as trump the Jack of diamonds is a heart.
Your team named trump but won fewer than three of the five tricks. The defending team scores two points for stopping you. Getting euchred twice often decides a game, so weak hands should pass rather than order up.
When your hand can win five tricks without help — typically both bowers and the ace of trump, plus an off-suit ace. Your partner sits out, and taking all five tricks scores four points instead of two. Anything less usually earns the same one point as playing together.
A common rule, always on in this version: if all four players pass twice, the dealer must name a trump suit rather than throwing the hand in. It keeps every deal alive and forces interesting decisions on weak hands.
The game descends from old European games played with stripped decks. Removing everything below the 9 leaves five cards per player, a four-card kitty, and almost no filler cards — nearly every card in your hand can win a trick under the right trump.