The Rules to Horse

Horse is a Bid Euchre variant, having some similarities to 500

• similar to Euchre - there are Bauers (unless no-trump is called)
• deck has cards 9 and up, no jokers
• 24 cards with 4 players (i.e. 6 cards per player)

Bidding

• bid for # of tricks (up to 6)
• bidding continues until three passes
• bid winner declares trump (or that there is no trump) after winning the bid
• special bid: "Horse" (== 6, going alone)
  • 6 tricks with a trump (i.e. cannot be no-trump, which is just "6")
  • opponents can double
    • doubling is only for "Horse" bids
    • this means that they are bidding Horse
    • if the double stands, opponents become the bid winners
  • original bidding team can redouble
    • redoubling is only for doubled "Horse" bids
    • only the player who didn't bid "Horse" can redouble
    • this means that person is bidding Horse and choosing the suit
  • bidder asks partner for up to 6 cards from their hand
  • bidder chooses up to 6 losers to drop from their hand before getting new cards
  • bidder hands discarded cards to partner, who puts them face-down
  • partner hands bidder the new cards
  • bidder plays alone against the two opponents
  • the person to the left of the declarer leads off the first trick

Scoring

Making your bid

• 1 point per trick won
• opponents get no points for tricks won
• a bid of 6 (not Horse - e.g. 6 no-trump) = 6 points
• special scoring only for "Horse" bids:
  • 2 points per trick = 12 points if successful
  • if doubled, 4 points per trick = 24 points
  • if redoubled, 8 points per trick = 48 points

Losing your bid

• opponents gain 1 point per trick they take
  • if this pushes their score over 50 they do not win the game
  • only a positive score from making a bid wins the game
• bidder gets -1 point per trick bid
  • -2 point per trick if Horse was bid = -12
  • -4 point per trick if Horse was redoubled = -48

Victory conditions

1. scoring 50 or more by winning a bid
   • scoring 50 or more by foiling a bid will not win
2. opponents score -25 or lower

Bidding Conventions

• If you have only 1 jack and bad cards: pass
• 2 opposite-coloured jacks: bid 2 — if partner has a jack they should bid Horse
• A bid of 3 can be a defensive bid to simply prevent a 2 bid by opponents