What you need
A 24-card deck: 9, 10, J, Q, K, A of each suit. Four players in two partnerships, sitting across from each other.
Setup
- Deal 5 cards to each player.
- Flip the next card face-up in the middle — this is the "up-card." Its suit is the proposed trump.
Bowers (the key twist)
When a suit is trump, the two highest cards are the bowers:
- Right Bower: the jack of the trump suit — highest card in the game.
- Left Bower: the jack of the same-color suit — second highest, and it counts as trump.
So if hearts are trump, J♥ is the right bower and J♦ becomes a heart for the round.
Calling trump
- Starting left of the dealer, each player can order up the up-card suit as trump or pass.
- If everyone passes, the up-card is turned down and players get a second chance to name any other suit as trump.
- If all four pass twice, redeal.
The team that calls trump is the "makers." A player may also choose to go alone — playing the hand without their partner for bonus points.
Playing tricks
Player left of the dealer leads. You must follow suit if you can; otherwise play anything. Highest trump wins; if no trump is played, highest card of the led suit wins. Winner of each trick leads the next.
Scoring
- Makers take 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point.
- Makers take all 5 ("march"): 2 points.
- Makers fail to take 3 ("euchred"): defenders score 2 points.
- Going alone and taking all 5: 4 points.
First team to 10 points wins.
Strategy tips
- Don't call trump without at least 3 trump cards or both bowers — getting euchred is brutal.
- Lead trump early when strong to pull opponents' trumps out.
- Remember: the off-color jack is trump too. Don't accidentally throw the left bower away.