Players:
Four people in teams of two. Your partner should sit across from you.
Materials:
A pinochle deck or the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine in all four suits from two regular decks of cards. This means each card will have a duplicate of itself. If you are already confused perhaps you should play Memory with them instead. You also need a pen and paper for scorekeeping purposes.
Helpful Terms:
Bid: Amount of tricks that must be taken. A bid is a number in a particular suit or no-trump [high or low].
Trick: Four cards, one from each player’s hand.
Trump: The most powerful suit for a particular hand. Trump is determined by bidding before each hand is played.
No-trump: A bid of High or Low means that the highest card that follows suit in a trick takes the trick.
Bowers [right, left]: In a Trump bid, bowers are the jacks of color. the Right Bower is the Jack of the suit bid, the Left Bower is the jack of the other suit in the same color. Ex: If Spades are Trump, the Jack of Spades is the Right Bower and the Jack of Clubs is the Left Bower. There are two Right Bowers and Two Left Bowers in Double Bid Euchre.
Reneg: Failure to follow suit.
Euchre: When the team without the bid prevents the team with the bid from getting the number of tricks they bid upon. This is also called ‘going set.’
Object:
To score 52 tricks.
Rules:
- A player must always follow suit. Failure to do so results in a reneg and loss of the hand.
- A team wins if and only if they score 52 tricks or more by winning their bid or by euchreing the opponent.
- The person who wins the bid has the lead.
- The person who takes the trick has the lead.
- The last trick may be looked at by any player; provided that no cards have been played since it was taken.
- The first instance of any card takes precedence over the other instance. Ex: If both Right Bowers are played in the same trick, the first one played takes precedence.
- Play proceeds clockwise beginning with the person who has the lead.
Gameplay:
The dealer offers a cut to the person on their right and then deals card three at a time clockwise around the table. When each player has twelve cards, the player to the left of the dealer offers an initial bid. Bidding also proceeds clockwise until it comes to the dealer who has the last bid. The highest bid is then marked down and the person who made the bid leads.
Trump rank is determined in this way: If Trump is Spades the Jack of Spades [Right Bower] is the highest card, the Jack of Clubs [Left Bower] is the second highest and in descending order of importance Ace, King, Queen, Ten, Nine. Trump beats any card in a non-trump suit. Thus a nine of Spades beats any off-suit Ace. If no trump cards are played in the trick, the highest card in the led suit takes the trick.
Scoring:
The number of tricks each team has taken at the end of the hand is added to previous hands. If a team is euchred they lose points in the amount that they bid. The score can be negative.
Tomorrow: How to Play Double Bid Euchre Part II: Strategy
How to Play Double Bid Euchre Part III: How to Really Play Double Bid Euchre
hmm very interesting. I knew how to play single deck Euchre and how to play double and single deck pinochle. I might have to take this one up as well now.
its a grillion times better than those games.
Double Bid Euchre: The Midwest’s best game… on crack!
I dunno, you’ve never played double deck pinocle with my extended family.….
We play with 8 tricks and no 9’s and 10’s and only play to 32. With a Chicago Stlye of shooting it with 2 cards from your partner.
That sounds cool. I’ll have to try it next time I play.
In Coshocton Ohio we call this Hausey.…and just like the guy from Chicago said…you can try and take all of the tricks and trade two cards face down with your partner — or one card hausey.…There are card clubs all over Coshocton playing this !!! it’s great…I never did understand why someone would waste their time playing euchre…
Can someone help me ? My husband and I are avid euchre and bridge players, and are always looking for new card games. A few days ago, I met a lovely group of ladies from Coshocton playing Hausey at The Inn at Honey Run in Millersburg. I understand the play and the rules, but I need to ask 1 bidding question and 2 scoring questions. When a person bids, does he also name his suit (as in bridge bidding) or does he bid only a number (as in euchre bidding)? When the declarer passes 4 cards to his partner in exchange for 4 others, and then plays the hand alone, how many points does his team score if he takes all the tricks? Likewise, if the declarer plays the hand alone (without passing and receiving cards from partner), how many points are scored? Thanks for the help on this. I can’t wait to play this game with my friends back home.
Is there a download for double euchre? I tried Scott Alber’s but it won’t work on an XP operating system.
I have no idea if there is a double euchre game available. I wish there was, because no one in Cleveland has even heard of the game.
Thanks Adam for your prompt reply. I appreciate it.
I think my dad invented this game ! Just kidding. He did play it almost every night at the local pool hall in the small town where I grew up in Ohio. My cousins all live in Holmes County. We call the game Haussey, short for Haussenpheffer (sp?) The bidding starts with the person to the left of the dealer when playing “partners” ( there is a 3 handed version as well, more later), the low bid is 6 tricks going up from there. There is only 1 round of bidding, so high bidder gets to call trump. When you bid a “Haussey”, you are claiming you can take every trick, and you go it alone, except your partner can pass you 2 of his best cards before play begins, at which time you lay 2 of your worst cards aside, and start play. Your partner bows out for that hand. If you get all tricks, you get double the amount of points.
When you play 3 handed Haussey, you deal all the cards except 3 ( this is called the widow hand) bidding starts at 8, whoever gets the bid gets the widow hand, and discards 3 of the worst cards, play begins, scoring is the same as partners, in essence everyone plays without a partner in 3 handed, you can still bid a haussey, and get all the tricks and double the points. I love this game, grew up on it, and wish I could find someone here in Boise who knows how to play ! Feel free to email me if I can help.
Diana (Clark) Roskens
formerly of Warsaw, Ohio
hi could you help me out please, when playing bid eucher and your partner gets the bid on no trump high when he calls out an ace clubs and l have the other ace or king do l give these out so he knows where they are in other words do l always give my best cards to my partner in no trump high. low no trump is new to me when playing it do you always get rid of your highest cards regardless who has the bid. could you send me an answer to my e‑mail it would be greatly appreciated.thank you barb
by ‘calls out’ do you mean leads ? I can’t think of any instances where you would not play your worst (ie an ace in low no trump) when your partner already has the trick. In high and low no trump especially there is a concept of the ‘stopper’. Many times the bidder has one big suit, say 6 or more of a suit beginning with, say, 9/9/10 in low. They hope to play thethe 9/9/10 to clear out the other low cards, then play all their higher ones. If you have say A/A/K/10 you can stop them at 3 tricks by playing the higher cards first, saving your 10. Also, if you are the person with that bid, it is wise to have stoppers in the other suits, so even if you get ‘stopped’ in your main suit you can get back to it. Or pray that your partner saved his ‘stoppers’. One way to do this is when you are out of the suit played, discard cards in the suit(s) where you have no potential stoppers, and save all the cards in the suit (like that A/A/K/10 .….) for later use. Your partner will appreciate it.
We play a version with 6 players. The dealer deals cards to only 5 players with a “widow” of 3 cards. the dealer sits out for that hand. You can also get a “partner”. The 1st person to play the Ace of trump is automaticaly the bidders partner for that hand. Kind of a two edged sword cuz the partner gets the same score as the bidder if the bidder makes their bid or “go’s set”
Our family plays a version of Haazie (?)we call Baltic Haazie. Don’t ask me why we just have always called it that. We use only face cards and two decks. Four players-two teams. We deal 3 cards‑2 cards‑3 cards…no one card deals. We bid by the number of tricks we think we can get starting with a 4 bid as the lowest you can bid. If you win the bid you call suit (including no-trump) and lead first. If you want to bid a “little” one you can request two of your partners cards in the suit you have made it. If you get all the tricks you score 16 points…if you do not get all the tricks you go back 8 points. The opposing team scores the number of tricks they took to set you. If you win the bid by bidding a “big one” you have to play your own cards with no help from your partner. If you take all the tricks, you score 32 which is the game. If you fail to take all the tricks your score is minus 16. At any time a person bids a “little one” or a “big one” that bid may be taken by the dealer. If a player bids a “little one” the only way another player can win the bid (Other than the dealer) is to bid a “big one”. We have played this for years…I hate to play regular Euchre because it is so boring!
I forgot to say that when you receive two of your partner’s card you must discard two from you own hand before picking up the two cards from your partner..sorry!
I don’t know exactly how to spell it,but we played “hausey” all the time as a kid in southeastern PA.I thought it was some kind of PA Dutch game.In our “version” when you called HAUSEY,which meant that you were going to try to take all of the tricks,you could call no trump(if you wanted)and just have all aces high.
Love this game! We play here in Coshocton all the time with fmily & friends. Anyone know of an online version of this game to download?
Has anyone plyed 5 handed haussey?
Try this scoring variation that we used in College:
Ten points for every trick won up to the number bid, then only ONE point for every trick over and above the bid. Play the game to 500 points instead of 52 tricks. This adds incentive to bidding high.….. 🙂
If you get set you lose a multiple of ten points times your bid.……and your opponents get ten points for every trick that they win.
Happy dealing -
We learned the basic game called “Hausey” here from Ohio (Newark) retirees in Florida–so we call it “Newark Rules” euchre. We play to 41 (for no particular reason) and a team can win with defensive tricks. We call the “going alone” versions “Big Moon” (no card from the partner) and “Little Moon” (one card from the partner). The scoring on that is plus-32 for a successful Big Moon, plus-16 for a successful Little Moon. If set on one of these, it’s minus-16 for the Big Moon and minus‑8 for the Little Moon.
We don’t name trump in the bidding, and it’s interesting from these posts to see that some versions of the game use trump-naming bidding. In a Big or Little Moon situation, you ask your partner for “your best (whatever trump will be)” or “your best card” if playing No Trump. Even if you have a run to play No Trump, you can’t name the suit, and if you don’t get an ace, things get dicey.
Whatever the variation, these are all great games. We play them a lot (now retired in North Carolina), along with another equally-interesting game, Spades.
We play at the Sr. Center in Dresden,O. My question is: how many points do you get if you go Hausey with no help from your partner and take all the tricks? We currently get 32 points for loners. I always thought it was more.
Our rule for “shooting the moon” was 24 points; double the number of tricks.
I’m a 72 yr. old woman from Newcomerstown, Ohio and have been playing haussy for over 50 years. I’ve been in a haussy club for over 40 yrs and love the game. Have started playing euchre at our local Sr. Center, but it can’t compare to haussy. We play with all face cards, (no nines or tens) and use a double deck, with the bidding starting at 4, 5, or 6, and if you can bid six, you should be able to go haussy and get two or one card from your partner. You can bid in suit or no trump, (Ace high). If you bid 4 and take 4 tricks you have made your bid and get a point for each trick you took. If the other team took tricks, they get a pt. for each trick they take. If you bid and make a haussy, you would get 16 pts. and if you get “set” (don’t take all the tricks), you go back 8 pts. If you go a “loner” playing by yourself with what you have in your hand, you get 32 pts., which means you have won the game and if you get “set” on this hand, you go back 16 pts. This is how we play the game in Newcomerstown, Ohio.
I learned to play Hausey in Coshocton, OHIO and belonged to a club there. All my highschool class mates played this game when ever we got together. I have since forgotten. Now live in Pennsylvania and here they play “500” and Euchre. Like all card games, Bridge included.…
Question for you, if you bid say ( 5 High ) and make 6 do you score what you bit or the hands you’ve taken.
I believe you should only score what you’ve bid. That would make the game a lot more interesting and make you push yourself to be a better bidder of the real strength of your and and partners hand.
Linda, we always played that you get however many tricks you take. Getting only your bid sounds like a good house rule though!