Two-handed Euchre.
The players having cut for deal, five cards are dealt (by twos and then threes, or vice versâ, at the pleasure of the dealer) to each player. The eleventh card is turned up by way of trump. If the non-dealer thinks his hand good enough, with the suit of the turn-up card as trumps, to make three tricks, he says, referring to that card, "I order it up." This fixes that suit as trumps. The dealer discards the worst card of his own hand, placing it face downwards under the pack, and the turn-up card is thenceforth considered to form part of his hand. He does not, however, actually take it into his hand until the first trick has been played.
If the non-dealer does not consider his hand good for three tricks, or is of opinion that he would be likely to gain by a change of the trump suit, he says, "I pass," and the dealer examines his own cards from the same point of view. If he thinks his hand is good enough with the subsisting trump suit to make three tricks, he says, "I take it up," and proceeds to place, as before, one card under the pack. If he does not think his hand safe for three, he says, "I turn it down," and places the turn-up card below the rest of the pack. This annuls the trump suit, and the non-dealer has now the option of saying what suit shall be trumps. He considers what will best suit his hand, and says, "Make it hearts" (or otherwise, as the case may be), accordingly.
If he decides to "make it" of the same colour as the previous turn-up card (e.g. spades in place of clubs, or hearts in place of diamonds), he is said
to "make it next." If otherwise, to "cross the suit."
If, even with the privilege of making the trump what he pleases, he doubts his ability to win three tricks, he again "passes," and the dealer "makes it" what best suits him. If he too has such a bad hand that he thinks it safer to "pass" again, the cards are thrown up, and the deal passes.
The trump suit having been "made" by the one or the other player, the non-dealer leads a card, and the dealer plays to it, the two cards constituting a "trick." The second player must follow suit if he can, subject to the qualification that (as already stated) if the Left Bower be led, a trump must be played to it. The higher card wins, trumps overriding plain suits; and the winner of the trick leads to the next.
The player who has "ordered up," "taken up" (save in obedience to order), or "made" the trump, thereby tacitly undertakes to win at least three tricks. If he makes less than this number, he is "euchred," and his opponent scores "two." If he makes three tricks he wins "the point," and scores one. Four tricks are no better than three, but if he make all five he wins a "march," which scores two. The non-challenging player is not under any obligation to win, but scores if his adversary fail to do so.
Five points constitute "Game."