March 31, 2017
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Looking Euchred
Growing up in Indiana I learned at a young age to play Euchre. Lunch time would be spent playing Euchre with friends. We would have tournaments. And we would laugh. Euchre is a game of many rules. Some are determined by Hoyle (my father was a stickler for playing "according to Hoyle") and others are not. We would play "No Face, No Ace" which meant you could call a misdeal if you had no face cards and no aces. Others would allow a misdeal even if you had aces. Sometimes they would play a version referred to as "Low No" in which there was no trump suit and the low card would win the hand. In addition to funky rules we had our own set of superstitions. You never cut the cards - "cut your luck" and the score cards were only the 4 and 6 of spades and hearts - never the clubs and diamonds. As for score cards it was considered bad luck to have "the horse riding the jockey" that is the 6 on top of the 4. A "loner" hand is when you play and your partner and their cards don't. The advantage is that if you get all the cards then instead of getting 2 points you get 4. That is a big deal when you are only playing to 10. Some people would gloat a bit which was OK but you never wanted to be mean about it because Karma will make you pay. Which is what happens when you make a suit trump by "ordering up" the card the dealer turned up on their deal and then failing to get 3 tricks. That is called being Euchred and the winning team gets 2 points! When the other team was on the verge of winning, needing only one more point, they would announce (with great bravado) that the barn door was open and the cows were coming home. When they would win, especially if by a substantial margin, they would "milk the cow". This is of course a silly thing but it is done nonetheless - one partner laces their fingers together with their thumbs pointing down and the other pulls on the dangling thumbs. You would think I'm describing the antics of middle school card players but YOU. WOULD. BE. WRONG!
We played in the church Euchre Tournament. Each person is given a number and must rotate to another table based on your number. That way you have a different partner every game. They play 8 games and you record the points your team won on your score cards (you also have to turn in the table score card). At the end of play they tally up the scores and a tournament winner is determined. The entry fee is a $10 gift card. The winners (1st, 2nd, 3rd place) are given gift cards and the lowest score is given a prize too. The person with the most "loners" gets a prize as well. Sparky came in second place and I tied for 3rd place. Sparky got a $25 gift card to Martins and a $25 gift card to Starbucks! I got a $25 gift card to Bath and Body Works. But even more importantly, we had fun and we laughed. I got to play with some people I'd only seen at church and had never talked to. That made it even better!
If you have never played Euchre (pronounced you-cur) there is a good description at Euchre for Dummies
Comments (12)
I've never played it. I've never played Canasta either and a group of my lady friends are organizing a play date for us grown ups later this month. I love the social interaction of table and card games so I am up to learn.
My grandmother played canasta - had a regular group that got together to play. I always thought of it as Michigan Rummy on steroids.
I've lived here since 1975, and have never played euchre. My older kids have played it.
I prefer word games to card games. Mother and I used to play Upwords often. Tom never liked to play games. My brother doesn't either and he blames it on me. When we were little we'd play chinese checkers, and since I was 3 years older, I always won. One time he threw the board with all the marbles on the floor. We both had to pick them up, so he didn't do that again. It never occurred to me to let him win once in awhile.
Hehe! I can just see his frustration at losing all the time. I however never wanted to win because someone "let" me. I wanted to win on my own merits. I like scrabble and Go Bananas but it is hard to get people to play board games anymore. Everyone wants to play video games...
I've never played euchre, but have been in and out of bridge over the years. Love card games as a catalyst for conversation, laughter, serious thought, and all manner of other positives!
My parents were in a Bridge club for years! I would watch and try to figure it out. I understood the play but the bidding eluded me. I tried to learn in college but I never got the hang of it. I learned Pinochle but I've not played in so long (40 yrs?) that I have forgotten nearly everything I ever knew.
Congratulations on your and Sparky's wins! I enjoy euchre, and I knew about going loner, but hadn't heard of a bunch of those other things. My favorite card game is double canasta, which requires four people, four decks of cards and probably about four hours, including breaks for food and "uh-er".
Hehehehe! You are picking up some of our lingo! hehe! I've never played double canasta and my regular canasta playing consisted of sitting in while my grandmother ran out to uh-er. She was never goon too long... I'll bring some cards to GWXV and we can maybe play a game of Euchre!
We used to play years ago ~ wonder if I would remember how.
Euchre isn't hard - like Bridge or Pinochle. I bet you could pick it up quickly with a couple of "refresher" hands...
I've never played it either.
It is a fun game that is easily learned!