Euchre Terms, in the Order You Hear Them
The euchre terms you hear in every hand are these: "order it up" makes the turned-up card's suit trump, the right bower is the Jack of trump, the left bower is the other Jack of the same colour, a march is all five tricks, and euchred means the side that made trump took fewer than three. Everything else below is grouped by when in the hand you will hear it.
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At the deal
- Up-card, or turn-up
- The card turned face up after the deal. Its suit is offered as trump first.
- Kitty
- The four cards left after everyone has five. The up-card sits on top of it.
- Farmer's hand
- A hand of nothing but 9s and 10s. Where the house rule is played, the holder shows it and either the hand is redealt or they swap three cards with the kitty, which is called "going under". Our tables don't play it.
While trump is made
- Order it up
- Telling the dealer to pick up the up-card, which makes its suit trump. Said by anyone but the dealer in the first round.
- Pick it up
- What the dealer says when making the up-card's suit trump themselves. They take the card and discard one.
- Assist
- Ordering it up when you are the dealer's partner, which puts a trump in your own side's hand.
- Pass
- Declining to make trump.
- Turn it down
- What happens when all four pass in the first round. The up-card goes face down and its suit cannot be named in the second round.
- Next
- Calling the other suit of the same colour as the turned-down card: diamonds after a heart, clubs after a spade. An Indiana and Ohio table term.
- Cross
- Calling a suit of the opposite colour from the turned-down card.
- Stick the dealer
- If everyone passes twice, the dealer must name a suit rather than throw the hand in. Also called "screw the dealer". Our tables play it.
- Makers and defenders
- The side that named trump are the makers. The other side are the defenders.
The cards that decide it
- Bower
- A Jack that has become a trump. From the German Bauer, farmer. There are two in every deal.
- Right bower
- The Jack of the trump suit. The highest card in the hand, always.
- Left bower
- The other Jack of the same colour. It becomes a trump for the hand and ranks second, right below the right bower. If hearts are trump, the J♦ is a heart: it is not a diamond in any sense, and you cannot follow a diamond lead with it.
- Trump ranking
- Right bower, left bower, A, K, Q, 10, 9. There is no Jack in the middle; both are at the top.
- Off-suit ace
- An ace in a side suit. The most useful non-trump card you can hold, and the reason a hand with two of them is often worth a call.
During play
- Going alone, or a loner
- Playing the hand without your partner, who lays their cards down and sits it out. Declared before the first lead. Taking all five tricks alone scores 4 instead of 2; three or four still scores the normal 1. At our tables only the maker can go alone.
- Defend alone
- A house rule where a defender also plays without a partner, often only against a lone maker. Our tables don't offer it.
- Railroading
- A house rule where the partner of a player going alone passes over their best card face down. The lone player decides, before looking at it, whether to discard a card and take it.
- Renege
- Failing to follow suit when you could have. Usually penalised, and most often done by a beginner playing the left bower as its printed suit.
When the hand is scored
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Makers take 3 or 4 tricks | 1 |
| Makers take all 5: a march | 2 |
| Makers take fewer than 3: euchred | 2 to the defenders |
| Lone maker takes all 5 | 4 |
First side to 10 points wins, which is the North American standard. British games usually play to 11.
Keeping score with spare cards
Euchre leaves most of the deck in the box, so many tables keep score with two of the unused low cards per side, covering and uncovering pips to show the count. Which two depends on where you learned: a 4 and a 6 in Ohio and Indiana, two 5s of one colour in Canada, Michigan and Nebraska, the 2 and 3 of one suit in Western New York and Ontario, and a spare 5 and 6 in British play. Our game keeps the score for you.
Three terms that trip people up
- The left bower is not its printed suit. If spades are trump, the J♣ is a spade for the whole hand. On a club lead it cannot be played to follow suit.
- "Going alone" is not the same as a march. A march is all five tricks with your partner; a loner is a declared attempt without them, and only a loner pays 4.
- "Euchred" describes the makers, not the defenders. You get euchred by failing your own call, not by losing tricks in general.
Keep reading
- How to Play Euchre: the rules, in the order a hand is played.
- Euchre Strategy: calling, leading and going alone.
- Euchre Variants: three-hand, British euchre, bid euchre and the house rules.
- Going Alone in Euchre: loner rules, scoring and defence.
- Euchre for 2 and 3 Players: 3-handed cutthroat rules and 2-handed euchre.