THE EUCHRE FAMILY.
This family embraces four of the best known and most popular games in the world, each of which has been considered the national game in its own country: Écarté in France; Napoleon in England; Spoil Five in Ireland; and Euchre in America.
It has always been the custom to trace the origin of Euchre to a variety of Triomphe, or French Ruff, probably introduced to America by the French of Louisiana; and to claim Écarté as its cousin, and the French survivor of the parent game. In the opinion of the author, both the game and its name go to show that Euchre is of mixed stock, and probably originated in an attempt to play the ancient Irish game of Spoil Five with a piquet pack. “Euchre” is not a French word, but the meaning of it is identical with “Spoil Five”; both names signifying that the object of the game is to prevent the maker of the trump from getting three tricks. In the one game he is “spoiled;” in the other he is “euchred.” In the old game of Triomphe, in Écarté, and in the black suits in Spoil Five, the order of the court cards in plain suits is the same, the ace ranking below the Jack. But in Euchre the Jack ranks above the ace when the suit is trumps, exactly as it does in Spoil Five. In the latter game the five is the best trump; but as there is no five in a piquet pack, that trump was probably disregarded, leaving the Jack the best. Taking up, or “robbing” the turn-up trump, is another trait common to both Spoil Five and Euchre.
Spoil Five and Triomphe are mentioned in the earliest works on card games. Triomphe can be traced to 1520, when it was popular in Spain; and the origin of Maw, the parent of Spoil Five, is lost in the mists of Irish antiquity. It was the fashionable game during the reign of James I.
The old Spanish game of Triomphe, now obsolete, seems to have undergone several changes after its introduction to France. At first it was played either by two persons, or by two pairs of partners. If one side had bad cards, they could offer to abandon the hand, and allow the adversaries to count a point without playing. If the adversaries refused, they were obliged to win all five tricks or lose two points. It was compulsory to win the trick if possible, and to trump, over-trump, or under-trump if the player had none of the suit led. This peculiarity survives in the games of Rams and Loo, which also belong to the euchre family.
After a time we find a variation introduced in which any number from two to six could play, each for himself, and the player first winning two tricks out of the five marked the point. Later still we find the ace ranking above the King, thus becoming the best trump. If the ace was turned up, the dealer had the privilege of robbing it, or the holder of the ace of trumps could rob the turn-up, discarding any card he pleased, just as in Spoil Five. But in Triomphe the dealer turned up another card, and if that was of the trump suit the holder of the ace could rob that also, and so on until he turned a card of a different suit. This did not alter the trump, but merely stopped the robbing process. Whether or not Triomphe borrowed this feature from Spoil Five or Maw, it is now impossible to say.
Whatever its origin, Euchre has always been the most respectable member of the family, and the game of all others that has best served the card-playing interest in social life. Spoil Five probably comes next in point of respectability; but Écarté has often fallen into evil hands, and the very name is in some places regarded as synonymous for gambling. The same is true of Napoleon, but in less degree. Euchre, unlike the other members of the family, is not essentially a gambling game, but belongs rather to the intellectual group of card games; a position which we hope it may long maintain.