Euche 'Em!

I may have said this before, but I grew up in Michigan, and went to school in Kalamazoo.  With that kind of background, it's inevitable that I know, and love, the game of Euchre.

Euchre is a card game, somewhat like a truncated form of Bridge.  Four players are arranged in two pairs; partners sit across from each other, and cannot see each others' hand.  Table talk is, er, frowned upon (back when I played in college, it was worth a swirly....).  The players only use half a deck, the 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A of each suit, and the 5s are kept as score cards (each team uncovers a dot for each point earned).  The object of the game is to score 10 points.  Points are earned for winning at least 3 out of 5 tricks in each hand.

At the beginning of a game, one player chooses the trump suit.  There are various rules on how this player is selected; he can be the guy to the left, right, or across from the dealer.  In any case, the lead position rotates around the table with each hand.  When a player leads, he can call a trump and play card, or pass.  When a suit is trump, its cards are the highest ranking on the table, in order of rank, with one exception: the Jack of trump and opposite-trump (the other Jack of the same color) are the bowers.  The right bower, the Jack of trump, is the highest card on the table; the left bower, the other Jack of the same color, is the second-highest.  Because 4 players only receive 5 cards each from a total of 24, there are always 4 "mystery discards" to figure into your calculations.

I won't say too much more about the rules, mostly because I haven't played in 15 years.  That'll change soon, though, because I just found free flash Euchre games at Yahoo Games.  You can check them out at this link.  I like the simple graphics layout, the basic game rules, and the interactive nature of the site.  It's a good place to learn, or re-learn, the game of Euchre.