Euchre is a quick partnership game played with only 24 cards, so hands take a couple of minutes each. Its signature quirk is that the two jacks of the trump colour outrank everything else, which surprises everyone the first time they see it. A full game takes about 20 minutes.

What You Need

Players: Exactly 4, in two partnerships sitting across from each other.
Deck: 24 cards - the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A of each suit. Strip out everything from 2 to 8.
Extras: Pen and paper, or the traditional pair of spare cards used as a score marker.

Key Terms

Trick: One round where every player plays a single card. The best card wins all four.
Trump: The suit that beats all other suits for this hand.
Right bower: The jack of the trump suit. It is the single highest card in the game.
Left bower: The jack of the same colour as trump. It becomes a trump card and is the second highest, no longer counting as its printed suit.
Makers: The partnership that chose trump. They are the ones on the hook.
Euchred: Failing as the makers to win at least 3 tricks. The other team scores for it.

Setup

Sit so partners are opposite each other.
Deal 5 cards to each player, clockwise, usually in packets of 2 and 3.
Place the remaining 4 cards face down and turn the top one face up. That card is the candidate for trump.

How to Play

Choosing trump

Starting to the dealer's left, each player may "order it up" - accepting the face-up card's suit as trump - or pass.
If someone orders it up, the dealer picks that card into their hand and discards any card face down.
If all four pass, the card is turned down. Going around again, each player may name any other suit as trump or pass.
If everyone passes a second time, the hand is thrown in and the deal moves to the left.

Trick play

The player to the dealer's left leads any card.
Everyone follows suit if they can, otherwise plays anything.
Remember the left bower counts as trump. If hearts are trump and a diamond is led, the J♦ is not a diamond and cannot be used to follow suit.
The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played. The winner leads next.

Going alone

Whoever chose trump may declare they are going alone. Their partner sets their hand face down and sits out the hand entirely, which raises the reward for winning all five tricks.

Scoring & Winning

Makers win 3 or 4 tricks: 1 point.
Makers win all 5 tricks (a march): 2 points.
Makers going alone win all 5: 4 points.
Makers win fewer than 3 tricks (euchred): 2 points to the other team.
First team to 10 points wins.

Example

Hearts are trump. J♥ is the right bower and beats everything. J♦ is the left bower, counts as a heart, and beats the A♥.

Variations

Stick the dealer: if everyone passes twice, the dealer is forced to name a suit rather than throwing the hand in.
Benny (or the Joker): add a joker as the highest trump of all, above the right bower.
Three-handed (cutthroat): each player plays for themselves and the two non-makers form a temporary alliance.

Tips for New Players

Count the two bowers as trump when you judge your hand - a hand with both bowers is close to unbeatable.
Ordering up a weak trump suit is how teams get euchred. Three solid trump cards or two trumps plus an off-suit ace is roughly the minimum.
Watch which cards your partner throws away. A discarded high card usually means they are void in that suit and ready to trump it.