Buck Euchre♠

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Aim and equipment

Four play individually, without partners, clockwise. Keep 24 cards: A K Q J 10 9 of each suit. Trump order is its own J, the other same-colour J, A K Q 10 9. That second jack belongs to trump for every purpose. Plain suits rank A K Q J 10 9, omitting the reassigned jack. At no-trump all jacks are ordinary.

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Setup and deal

Choose the first dealer randomly, then rotate left. Shuffle and have the right neighbour cut. From the left deal 5 each in packets of 3 and 2; expose the next card. The other 3 remain unused. Everyone starts at 25 and aims for 0. A club upcard automatically makes clubs trump: all play and nobody undertakes 3 tricks. In this profile that automatic upcard remains outside hands, an explicit clarification where the source does not specify an exchange.

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Bidding and contracts

With a nonclub upcard, each from dealer’s left passes or orders that suit. On an order dealer takes the upcard and discards 1 of 6 face down; the ordering player, not necessarily dealer, undertakes at least 3 tricks. Dealer may accept personally. After all pass, turn down the indicator; a second circuit permits only another suit. All pass again: play no-trump, everyone stays and nobody undertakes 3.

After a player establishes trump, everyone else in turn from that player’s left stays or drops. Droppers set hands aside concealed and neither score nor suffer penalties. Maker cannot drop. Automatic clubs and no-trump allow no dropping. This is the Ohio profile, excluding numerical Dirty Clubs bids and the three-player widow.

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Legal actions

First active player to dealer’s left leads; skip droppers. Play 1 card, following suit if able, otherwise anything. Trumping and overtaking are optional. With hearts trump, J♦ cannot follow a diamond lead but must follow a heart lead if it is your only heart. Highest trump, otherwise highest led-suit card, wins and leads next. No draws or exchanges during play; complete 5 tricks.

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Scoring

Normally subtract 1 per trick from your personal score. But maker with fewer than 3 adds 5 instead of subtracting tricks; another staying player with 0 adds 5. Never charge both penalties to one person. Droppers do not change scores. In automatic clubs and no-trump everyone subtracts tricks normally or adds 5 for no tricks.

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Ending the game

Anyone taking all 5 wins the match immediately from any score. Otherwise after scoring a player at 0 or below wins. If several qualify, the most negative total wins; exact equality shares victory. Deal again only if nobody has won. Zero is the target, not a penalty for excess tricks.

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Context and variants

This is a North American individual branch of Euchre. The main profile was recorded from an Ohio player; related Dirty Clubs and three-player forms document variable family practice, not a single invention date. Automatic club trumps distinguish it from ordinary partnership Euchre.

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Worked example

Hearts trump and all stayed. K♥–J♦–A♥–10♥ is won by the second player: left bower J♦ belongs to hearts and outranks ace. In a separate deal maker takes 2, others 2, 1, 0. Starting from 25 each, new totals are 30, 23, 24, 30. Maker does not subtract the 2 because the promised 3 failed.

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Common questions