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The rules of Euchre scoring seem like they
should be a fairly short, simple topic. There are only four
never-changing conditions under which you can score in the card
game, each of which will be discussed below.
Euchre Scoring Variations
However, as a game Euchre is interesting, because there seems to be a huge number of variations in how to play. Some of these variations in Euchre scoring are regional, some are national, and some vary from house-to-house. The end result is that Euchre scoring can get really complex very quickly once all of the various optional scoring rules start to come in effect. In the end, what this means is that unlike Spades or Hearts, which have a fairly set scoring system, it�s possible no two players will agree on how exactly the game should be scored and, more than likely, they will all argue that their way is the right way.
How to Keep Score in Euchre
So that you can determine which way you think is the right way, we will first look at the basic, unchangeable rules of Euchre scoring. Then we can examine some of the variations in scoring that can make figuring out just how many points you scored a whole lot tougher.
At its most basic, there are four ways to earn points in basic Euchre scoring, each of which depend on which team is the maker and which is the defender. Quickly to recap, the maker is the team that ordered up the trump or selected a trump during the bidding process. Of course, that makes the other team the defender.
In basic scoring, if the maker team gets three or four tricks (they have the highest card in the round), then they earn a single point. If the maker team is able to take every single trick in one round, then the maker earns two points. (This is called slamming your opponent and is technically not part of the original rule set, but few if any players maintain that a slam is not worth two points.) On the other hand, should the defender team set the makers by taking three or more tricks, then they earn two point for their team. Even if the defenders take all five tricks, in standard Euchre scoring rules, they only earn two points. These are the three most common Euchre scoring conditions in the game.
The fourth condition happens far less often in Euchre scoring, but when it does, it is very dramatic. This is when one player decides to go it alone (play without a partner) and �shoots the moon� (a Euchre terms for taking all the tricks in the hand.) In this case, shooting the moon is worth not two points, but four.
These are the four conditions which remain constant for player-to-player, region-to-region, and country-to-country. After that, things start to change rapidly.
Euchre Scoring Changes & Variants
One scoring change that is seen only rarely, but certainly makes the game a little fairer is allowing the defenders to earn four points if they take all tricks. This actually makes the rules less congruent with the scoring advantage that the maker gets if they score all their tricks, but it does give the defenders a bonus for excellent play. This is a pretty easy rule to add to your Euchre scoring scheme since it should rarely happen (as in never if the makers know anything about the game or unless you are playing stick it to the dealer.)
Similarly, there are optional rules which can get added to a Euchre game where a defender can choose to go it alone. Normally there is no reason to do so since it puts them at a distinct disadvantage (and is only done if one of the defenders is showing off.) However, some people will play the game so that if a defender goes alone and shoots the moon, then he earns four points and a significant moral victory for his team. Again, this should not happen very often and when it does, it�s probably because the dealer had to pick a suit and just had a very poor hand.
Lapping
There is also something called a �lapping� in the ranks of optional Euchre scoring rules. Lapping is when excess tricks carry over from one hand to the next for the purposes of scoring. So for instance, if you earned four tricks as the maker team, you only need three to earn yourself one point. That means you have one trick �left over� that you can use to score in the next hand. Depending on how your group manages lapping, that trick can be used for scoring purposes the next hand, setting a defender, or getting five tricks for two points.
Of course, lapping can make things get very weird where a defender could have enough tricks to set the maker team who would have had enough tricks to earn a point. For this reason, lapping should be discussed amongst all players before instituting it in the game.
Winning
There is also some question as to how many points a game should be played before a winner is declared. In the United States and Canada, Euchre card games are normally played to ten points (meaning that shooting the moon as defenders or makers can make a dramatic impact on the game.) However, in England, the game is markedly different. In England, games are traditionally played to eleven points, which in and of itself is not a big deal.
However, along with the game being played to eleven, in England, the deck grows by four cards (the eight of suit is added and a single joker becomes the highest bower in the game.) While this changes the probabilities of the various hands, it also changes how much shooting the moon is worth. When playing to eleven, shooting the moon is worth five points, which can make even more dramatic swings than shooting the moon when it is worth four points.
Jokers
Sometimes in the United States and Canada, the joker is added to the deck as the highest trump and the game is then played to eleven points. However, in these cases it is left to individual play groups to determine whether shooting the moon earns four or five points.
Hardwood Euchre
Euchre Scoring
Euchre Strategy
Euchre Tips
Euchre Tournaments