Card Games

The boys learned this bizarre game called 'euchre' when they were in Scouts. Apparently it is a midwestern game, originally from Pennsylvania but really taken hold in Michigan/Indiana/Ohio. I'd heard of it, of course, but never seen so many people so totally obsessed with it.

I tried it. Didn't really like it.

But we are attempting to play more team-based games, so it seemed like the right thing to do. Teaching the game to the kids, I mean. Well, the boys already know it, but the girls haven't played it before. They know "Go Fish". And "Old Maid".

Instead of going right out and playing euchre from the get-go, I decided to go back to the basics. So in preparation for our euchre-fest, I decided to have a little training session. Tonight was designated as That Session.


We started by playing a simple game (not euchre) of full-deck, player bids & tricks: All cards out, aces low, high card takes the trick. Each player makes a bid, lead sets the suit. First round was easy. Second round, same rules ... except with partners. Now partners are supposed to support each others' bids. That made for a bit of fun and frustration!

Third round was a repeat of the second, just to get them used to it (and give their partners a chance to redeem themselves). Fourth round, threw a bit of a curve by switching to the "standard" aces-high play.


Scoring is always fun with these games. To keep things simple, we just multiplied the number of tricks taken by ten, then added the number of 'extra' tricks taken. And for any team which didn't make its 'book' (number of tricks bid), they lost a number of points equal to the number they had bid.

Next session, we review the concept of 'trump'.