Registration starts at 6:30pm and playing starts at 7:00pm.
Bid Euchre Rules
Bid Euchre is based on Euchre, but is played with two decks of cards and, in addition to each of the four suits potentially being trump, a player can bid no trump, where aces are highest and jacks are lowest.
Players
Most often there are four players in fixed partnerships, partners sitting opposite.
Rank of Cards
As in Euchre, the highest trump is the jack of the trump suit (right bower), then the other jack of the same colour (left bower), then ace, king, queen. The other suits rank ace (high), king, queen, jack - except that the suit which is the same colour of trumps has no jack. When the bid is 'no trumps', all four suits rank A-K-Q-J.
The game is played with 2 decks using the J Q K A only; that is 32 cards in all, so each of the 4 players is dealt 8 cards. When two identical cards are played to the same trick, the first to be played beats the second.
Bidding
Each player has just one opportunity to bid, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, going around the table clockwise, and ending with the dealer. A bid is a number of tricks that the bidding side contracts to win if they are allowed to chose trumps, and a proposed trump suit or 'no trump' - for example '3 spades' or '4 no trump'.
You can start bidding with at least 3 of a suit or at least 4 no trump, up to a maximum of 8. You also can bid to take all 8 tricks alone, in which case your partner puts his or her cards face down and does not play. These lone bids allow you to exchange one or two cards with your partner. In this case the bidder discards the relevant number of cards face down and the bidder's partner passes an equal number of their best cards face down to the bidder to replace them. Both players must decide which cards to pass before seeing the cards passed by the other. Alternatively, if playing alone, you can opt not to exchange any cards with your partner. That is called “a moon”.
At your turn you must either pass or bid a larger number of tricks than the previous bid, if any. The only exception is if a player bids a loner; then the dealer can win the bid by matching the loner without having to bid higher. There is no rank among the suits, so you cannot outbid a bid in one suit with an equal number of tricks in another suit.
Play
The highest bidder is declared and the trump suit is the suit named in the bid. The high bidder leads the first trick. The rules of play are as in Euchre - you must follow suit, and if void of the suit led you may trump or discard at will. The left bower(s) count as belonging to the trump suit. In double deck versions the first played of two equal cards beats the second.
Scoring
If the bidding side wins at least as many tricks as they bid, each side scores one point for each trick they won.
A bid to play alone is higher than a bid with a partner, and a bid calling for one card is higher than a bid calling for two. The highest bid of all is moon, in which you have to win all 8 tricks alone using the cards you were dealt.
The scores for playing alone are:
call for 2 best cards: 12 points
call for 1 best card: 18 points
moon: 24 points
You win this amount if you take all 8 tricks and lose an equal amount if you fail.
If the bidding side fails to make as many tricks as they bid, they are set, and lose a number of points equal to the number of tricks they bid. The other side score one point for each trick they won. It is possible for a team's overall score to be negative.
The players with the highest score at the end of eight hands of bid euchre are the winners. Usually in a tournament, six rounds of eight hands each are played.
