Lower Euchre

A game using the 26 cards left over from a 52-card pack with two jokers when the AKQJT9 are used for Euchre and the 5's for scoring. Contributed by David Longhurst of the 'Lower Euchre Council' (founders: Andrew Douglas, Scott Guppy, David Longhurst; others: Luke Allen, Adam Kropf).

Note - words in italics can be found in the glossary at the bottom.

THE CARDS
2,3,4,6,7,8 of diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs with two Jokers.  One Joker is called Horse, or Right Bower and the other Maverick, or Left Bower.

THE PEOPLE
3 players, every man for himself.

THE DEAL
Deal 7 cards to each player and flip the top card of the kitty face up. 
If a Joker is turned up, the dealer must name a suit for it to represent before looking at his/her cards.

THE ORDER
The order of the cards highest to lowest is:  Horse, Maverick, Eight - two of trump, and then all other cards Eight - two.

THE OBJECT
You try to take the majority of tricks in the hand.

THE PLAY
You start by dealing the cards.  Then each player either “passes” or “orders up” the turned-up card.  If the card is “ordered up”, then the suit it represented is now trump.  If no one orders it up and the dealer doesn’t want it then they go around once more.  Each person either “passes” or “makes trump”.  A dealer is allowed to throw in the cards to re-deal a maximum of 3 times during the game.  After that, Stick the dealer rules are strictly enforced.  Then the person to the left of the dealer leads any card they want to. Each player must play according to suit and cannot renege.  If a player does not have any of the suit led then they must trump the trick.  The player with the highest card in the trick wins it.

SCORING
You score up points based on what tricks you took.
* Points directly equal the number of tricks taken.
* Maker of trump MUST numerically defeat both opponents.
* If euchred, maker loses points = number of tricks taken by opponents. (Example: Johnny [the maker] takes 3 tricks, Marty takes 3 tricks, Betty takes 1 trick, Johnny did not beat Marty, so Johnny loses 4 points, the total points that Marty and Betty received.)
If all 7 tricks are taken, 14 points is recorded by that player.
Important note: If Johnny (the maker) takes 3 tricks, Marty takes 2 tricks, and Betty takes 2 tricks, Johnny beats both Marty and Betty.  Johnny is not euchred.
Game ends at 70 points.  If 2 or more players are tied at 70 or above, game continues until one player is the clear winner.
 
GLOSSARY
Here is a list of terms

Kitty - remaining 5 cards after 7 cards are dealt to each person.  The top card must be flipped face up.
Horse, or Right Bower - Highest trump card
Maverick, or Left Bower - 2nd highest trump card
Trump - Cards that are played when you can’t follow suit.  Trump beat everything except a higher trump.
Tricks - The 3 cards played each turn (one from each player)
Hand - The 7 tricks. After the hand, the points are tabulated.
Lead - To start a trick
Renege - Not playing according to suit when you could have
Let - Chances for the dealer to pass a second time in a hand.  Occurs a maximum of 3 times for each player.
Stick the Dealer - Dealer is forced to make trump.
Horse Shyte - Called when a player has both bowers.
The Whole Stable - Called when a player has both bowers, and the 8 and 7 of trump.
Split the Vote - The situation described above where the opposing players fail to euchre the maker, but get a majority of the tricks (3-2-2). (Canadian Electoral first-past-the-post reference)
Split the Boat - The same as above, a 3-2-2 hand.  The term is a result of an auditory misunderstanding.