What is 32-card deck?
The standard game here uses 24 cards, the nine to the ace of each suit. This variant adds the seven and eight of every suit, ranked below the nine, for a deck of 32 cards.
Each player is still dealt five cards, and play, bidding and scoring don't change. The difference is in what stays out of play: twelve cards wait in the kitty instead of four, and only the top one is turned up. With 20 of the 32 cards in the players' hands, a bower or an ace you are counting on may well be lying unseen in the kitty, so it is harder to be sure how strong a hand is.
The sevens and eights are the lowest cards of their suits, trumps included, so they rarely win a trick, but they still count for following suit.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Euchre | 32-card deck |
|---|---|---|
| Deck | Standard Euchre24 cards: nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit. | 32-card deck32 cards: the seven and eight of each suit are added. |
| Deal and kitty | Standard EuchreFive cards each; four stay in the kitty, the top one turned up. | 32-card deckStill five cards each; twelve stay in the kitty, the top one turned up. |
| Card order | Standard EuchreTrumps: right bower, left bower, ace, king, queen, ten, nine. Other suits: ace down to nine. | 32-card deckThe same, with the eight and then the seven below the nine in every suit, trumps included. |
| Cards in play | Standard Euchre20 of the 24 cards are dealt, so most high cards are in someone's hand. | 32-card deck20 of the 32 cards are dealt, so any high card may be out of play in the kitty. |
| Three players | Standard EuchreCutthroat, the maker against the other two, with nine cards in the kitty. | 32-card deckThe same, with seventeen cards in the kitty. |
| Other options | Standard EuchreThe joker, the Canadian loner, Bid Euchre and the target score can be chosen. | 32-card deckWorks with the joker (33 cards, 13 in the kitty, 18 with three players), the Canadian loner and every target score. Bid Euchre always uses 24 cards. |
History
Euchre has been played with more than one size of pack. The earliest surviving rules, published in 1844 in Thomas Mathews's The Whist Player's Handbook, used a 32-card piquet pack, and today a pack of 24, 28 or 32 cards is used, 24 being the North American standard.
The 32-card game adds the eights and sevens as the lowest cards of each suit, which makes it more uncertain whether the high cards are in play, and 32-card Euchre is the usual version in New Zealand. The 28-card pack is not offered here.