Deer Park Euchre
A variation of Buck Euchre, contributed by Tom Bennett and co-inventors Tom Matlock and Jason Haley.
The ideal number of players is three but it can be played with more.
One person is designated as the scorekeeper and everyone starts with 20 points. The objective is to be the first to reach either 0 or 50 points. No declaration is required of which goal you are aiming for and you may switch at any point without announcement.
The deck consists of 20 cards - 10 through Ace of each suit. (Add nines if four play, nines and eights if five play, etc). Five cards are dealt one at a time to each player. The remaining cards are stacked face down to form the kitty and its top card is turned face up.
If a club is turned up, clubs are automatically trump and the dealer must take at least two tricks. If the turned up card is not a club, normal procedure applies for calling trump.
- On the first round only the suit of the turned up card can be chosen. If it is chosen, the dealer picks up the turned card and may discard any card (including the card just picked up).
- On the second round any suit can be chosen as trump.
If someone voluntarily calls trump, they must take at least three tricks. If everyone passes twice, the dealer must call trump and take at least two tricks ("stick the dealer").
There is no option to sit out a hand ever in the game. Normal rules for Euchre play apply.
Scoring:
- If trump is called voluntarily, the trump caller must take at least three tricks or go up 5 points
- If clubs is turned up, or if the dealer is forced to choose trump because everyone passed twice, and the dealer does not take two tricks, he or she goes up 5 points.
- Everyone other than the trump caller must take at least one trick or go up 5 points, which could be advantageous for those trying for the high score.
- The first person to 0 or 50 points wins.
When a person reaches 45 points, he or she is not allowed to call trump unless he or she is the dealer and the option to call trump is passed by the other players twice.