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This is a great game to play with a small group at home. All you need is a deck of cards. Here is a little background though: Historians say that Euchre probably gets its roots from the game Jucker, a game played in Alsace. Euchre reached America in the early nineteenth century. It is said that this was the game for which the Joker was invented and added to the playing-card pack in the 1850s most likely to serve as the high trump.

How To Play
Euchre is a game designed for four people consisting of two teams of partners who sit side by side. The whole pack of 52 is not used, only a 24-card pack consisting of all four Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, Tens and Nines.

First, a dealer must be chosen, and this is done by any one of the four persons by shuffling the cards and dealing them to each player one at a time until a Jack turns up. That player then becomes the lead dealer.
The dealer gets all the cards, shuffles them again and deals clockwise giving each player two cards, then three - or three and two depending on the dealer or the agreed upon rules before play starts. When all four have received their five cards each, the dealer turns the topmost card of the remaining deck and places them on the table. This deck is called "The Kitty".

Card Hierarchy
Before play, let’s understand the card hierarchy. Once a particular suit is declared the trump suit, that suit’s Jack becomes the Right Bower, or the highest card of the suit. Example: If the Diamond suit is selected as trump, then that suit’s hierarchy is J A K Q 10 9.

The second highest card is the other Jack of the same color or Left Bower. Taking the example above the card hierarchy will then be: J(diamond), J (heart) and A K Q 10 9 (all diamonds).

Beginning Play
Play begins with the player directly to the dealer's left. Immediately after the dealer has dealt every person 5 cards, he places the remaining cards – or the kitty - in front of him. The suit of the top-facing card can be used as the trump, depending on the quality of their dealt hands. The first player can then play any same suited card, until all four have played a card – which completes a trick. If a player can’t follow the suit, he plays any other suit.

Example: If the trump card on the kitty is a 10 of Hearts, the Jack of hearts becomes the right bower, the jack of diamonds the left bower, and the rest are A K Q 9.

Whoever wins the first trick leads the next until all tricks are taken. The object is to take three tricks with an underlying goal of taking all five. If the first player does not like his hand, he can "pass" or choose not to make the showing suit trump. The choice then passes on to the next player. If he wants the turned up card to be trump, he can announce "I assist" or "pick it up", because the dealer is his partner. The turned up card becomes trump and the dealer picks it up and discards another.

If the team that called trump takes 3 or 4 tricks, they score one point. Taking all five is called a “march” and scores two points. If the team takes three tricks, the opposing team are “Euchred” and you take 2 points.

During the start of the game, before calling trump, a player may announce, "I'll play alone" which means he feels his hand is strong enough without the assistance of his partner. The partner lays his hand down and the play continues with the remaining three. When in “Alone play” a player scores four points if he takes all five tricks. He scores one point if he takes 3 or 4, and he is “Euchred” if he takes less than three tricks and the other team scores two points.