Euchre

    Why the Joker Was Best Bower

    You just learned that Left hops. The jack of diamonds is a heart for one hand. That is the whole trick. This page is the one-page why: why the jack runs trump at all, and why the extra card in a modern pack used to sit above Right.

    What Left is tonight stays on euchre bowers. First-night rules stay on how to play euchre. Words people actually say Thursday sit on the euchre glossary. Then practice seeing the hop: open-hand euchre practice.

    Bower is Bauer. Bauer is the jack.

    People say bower like it is a made-up euchre word. It is Bauer. In German that is a farmer, and it is also the jack. The jack is the farmer in the pack. When euchre crossed into English, the farmer kept the job and the name came with it: bower.

    So the jack runs trump because euchre made the farmer the boss of the suit. Not because a kitchen table in Ohio invented a house rule last Thursday.

    Euchre put the jack on top, then pulled Left in

    Euchre is an Alsatian and German-American trick game. It did a strange thing with that farmer. It made the jack of the named suit the highest trump. Then it pulled the other jack of the same color in as a second trump. Right is the named jack. Left hops into that suit for the hand. Both outrank the ace.

    That hop is still Thursday. Hearts trump, jack of diamonds is Left, and it does not follow a diamond lead as a diamond. The print is lying for one hand. The rules for that lie are on bowers. This page is only why the jack got the job.

    Best bower was an extra card above Right

    Some American tables in the 1800s wanted a card even higher than Right. They added an extra card that did not belong to any suit — an undecked extra, a blank, then a printed one — and ranked it above the jack of trump. They called it best bower.

    That extra card is the ancestor of the joker. It sat down in euchre, on top of trump, one rank above Right. Later the extra card was printed as the joker. CardPractice did not invent this. The pack did it for euchre.

    Early written euchre had no extra card. Right was the top, and some writers still called that jack best bower because nothing sat above it yet. The extra card came after, as a way to put one more trump over the farmer.

    Kitchen euchre dropped the extra card. The jack still runs trump.

    Midwest kitchen euchre usually stripped that extra card back out. Twenty-four cards. Ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9. No joker. Right is still the top. Left still hops. You do not need the extra card to have bowers. The farmer still runs the suit.

    Some euchre tables still add a joker and call it best bower, ranked above Right. That is a variant, not the Thursday pack in most American kitchens. If your table plays it, agree before the first deal. Do not assume the extra card is in.

    Five Hundred kept the extra card: joker as the top bower, then Right, then Left. There is a trainer at Five Hundred if that is the game you sit. This page is still euchre.

    This is why Left hops. Practice seeing it.

    The jack is Bauer. Euchre made it trump, then same-color Left, then sometimes an extra best bower that became the joker. Kitchen euchre dropped the extra card and kept the hop. That is the whole through-line.

    Watch Left hop with every card visible. Send the table /euchre/practice?from=sms. Then sit closed Thursday. What Left is tonight is still bowers.

    Frequently asked questions

    What is a joker in euchre?

    In some euchre packs the joker is the extra card ranked above Right, called best bower. It is always the highest trump that hand. Standard North American kitchen euchre does not use it. The jack of trump is still the top card.

    Did euchre invent the joker?

    Euchre is the game that put the extra card into the pack. American euchre in the 1800s ranked an undecked extra card above the Right bower. That extra card is the ancestor of the joker in a modern deck. CardPractice did not invent this.

    Does kitchen euchre use a joker?

    Usually no. Midwest kitchen euchre is a 24-card pack: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 in each suit. No joker. Right is the jack of trump. Left is the same-color jack. Both still outrank the ace.

    What is best bower?

    Best bower is the extra card some 19th-century American euchre packs ranked above Right. Later that card was printed as the joker. In kitchen euchre tonight, there is no best bower. Right is the highest card. Some variants, and Five Hundred, still play a joker as the top bower.

    Why is the jack trump?

    Bower is the English of German Bauer: farmer, and also the jack. Euchre, an Alsatian and German-American trick game, made the jack of the named suit the highest trump, then pulled the other jack of the same color in as Left. That hop is still the rule Thursday. The extra joker card came later, sat above Right, and most kitchen tables dropped it.

    Practice this with all cards visible on CardPractice.

    Sit at an open-hand euchre table and watch Left hop. The joker is not in this pack. The jack still runs trump. Then text the same table to the group chat. Play closed Thursday.