Best Card Games Like Euchre

The best card games like Euchre are other trick-taking games, such as Hearts, Spades, and Bridge. These games feature similar mechanics and involve throwing cards into the center to see who wins the pile in the middle also known as the 'trick.'

These trick-taking games are played with a standard fifty-two-card deck that may have some cards removed, depending on the game. While playing at home with friends is fun, the game can take a while. Players who want a quicker experience can try free Hearts games online.

If a player is familiar with one of these games, they can learn the others fairly easily. The biggest difference is that Euchre only uses twenty-four cards, and the rest use all fifty-two cards except in certain circumstances.

Spades

Like Euchre, Spades is a team-based game. Four players are split into two teams that sit across from each other. All fifty-two cards are dealt, leaving each player with thirteen cards. Next, starting to the left of the dealer, each player will 'bid' on how many tricks they think they can win. The players of each team add their bids together, so if the members of Team A bid three and five, they need to win eight tricks. 

Failure to win at least the number of tricks bid means a loss of ten points for each trick short of the goal. Teams that meet or exceed their tricks are awarded ten points for each trick up to their bid and one point for each trick over. The game is typically played over several rounds until one team reaches 500 points.

The game is called ‘Spades’ because Spades is the trump suit that beats all other suits, but Spade-suited cards may not be played unless someone led with a Spade or the player does not have a card of the lead suit.

Hearts

Hearts is one of the most popular sit-down games for senior citizens. It is not a team game like Spades and Euchre, but it shares the same trick-taking mechanics as the other games.

The primary difference is that rather than a trump suit like Spades in Spades, in Hearts, Hearts are sort of like an anti-trump suit. No one wants to take a trick with a Heart card in it. Hearts are worth one point each and the Queen of Spades is worth thirteen points.

Winning points sounds great, but not in Hearts. The game lasts until one player has at least one hundred points, but the winner is the player with the fewest points. The goal is to strategically dump Hearts onto other players’ tricks without winning the trick by having the highest card.

Bridge

Bridge is considered by many to be the most complex of the trick-taking games. Once again, four people are split into two teams and each player gets thirteen cards. The biggest difference between Bridge and other games is its complicated bidding system. 

Even players familiar with Hearts, Spades, and Euchre will likely take quite a few rounds to begin to comprehend the rules of Bridge. Understanding the consequences of their actions as the game progresses adds a level of complexity that can take all evening to understand.

Respected Bridge teams will have played thousands of hands together. Communication and understanding is essential during the opening bidding phase where one wrong bid can lose a team significant points. Players must intimately understand their teammate's playstyle to avoid mistakes.

Which Is Best?

Games like Bridge are a delight for some and a headache for others. Players who enjoy advanced strategy will like the complexities Bridge offers. Others may find it overly intricate and confusing.

For more casual players, Spades and Hearts are easy to learn and most people understand the game after a single round. New players will still have questions like, does the Queen of Spades ‘break hearts?’ The simplicity of rules leads some to think these games are easy–when they are anything but. The best games are, after all, easy to learn but hard to master.