THE RULES
Partners for the entire tournament will be picked at random at check-in
IMPORTANT

IF YOU/YOUR TEAM IS CAUGHT CHEATING (TABLE TALK, HAND SIGNALS ETC) YOU WILL FORFEIT THE CURRENT GAME!!!

 THE TOURNAMENT HOST HAS THE FINAL SAY IN ALL DISPUTES

 NO STEALING THE DEAL

 DEALER MUST SELECT TRUMP IF NO TRUMP IS SELECTED

THE DEAL: The first dealer of the game is decided by dealing out the cards face up until the first Jack is dealt. The player dealt the Jack starts the deal for the game. After each hand is played, the deal passes clockwise around the table. The player who deals must, according to etiquette, offer a cut to the opponent to their right. As for dealing the cards, the dealer should always deal to the opponent to their left first, then proceed clockwise around the table. Cards must be dealt out in two rounds. Each player should have 5 cards in their hand at the end of the 2 rounds of dealing.  THERE WILL BE FOUR CARDS LEFT OVER. This is normal- you didn't screw up somewhere (unless you don't have four cards left over...) When everyone has the right number of cards (by the way, you are allowed to look at your hand), the dealer places the kitty face-down on the table. The dealer then flips over the top card. NO STEALING THE DEAL!

CALLING TRUMP: The suit of the face-up card on the kitty is the first suit proposed as trump. Beginning with the player on the dealer's left, each player gets a chance to accept or decline that suit as trump. To accept the proposed suit, a player tells the dealer to pick up the face-up card. The dealer then adds that card to his hand and discards one card face down on top of the kitty. To decline the proposed suit, a player just passes. If the card flipped on the kitty is declined by all players the card gets flipped and then players in order (starting from the player to the left of the dealer and going clockwise) have the option to choose the trump suit. If trump isn’t selected and it reaches the dealer again, THE DEALER MUST SELECT TRUMP!

GOING ALONE: If you think that your hand is pretty fricken dope (or if your partner is absolutely trash), you may want to consider Going Alone. Just order up the proposed trump or call a suit as usual, then tell your partner to sit back and enjoy. If the person who would have led the hand is sitting out, the next player in the rotation leads, otherwise the hand is played normal, minus one person.

THE PLAY: The player to the left of the dealer leads; they can play any card from their hand. Play then proceeds clockwise. The next player must play a card of the same suit, if able. If not, they may either "trump" or "throw off". The two remaining players, in turn, play a card, following the leader's suit if they can.

Trumping is accomplished by throwing any card of the trump suit. Since even a nine of trump will beat any card of an off suit, this is sometimes a good idea. Throwing off means playing a card which is (a) not trump and (b) doesn't follow suit. REMEMBER - YOU MUST FOLLOW THE SUIT PLAYED. 

Once each player has played a card... The person that played the highest trump card takes the trick. If no trump was played, then the trick goes to the person that played the highest card of the suit led. Remember that in off suits, aces are high. The player who took the trick leads the next round. The rest of the rounds are played in a similar fashion, with the winner of each round leading the next.

FINISHING THE HAND: Once all five rounds have been played, each team totals their tricks. The team which takes the most tricks wins the hand, earning points according to the table below, under Scoring. If the team which called trump takes the most tricks, they earn one point, plus a bonus point if they take all five. If they fail to take at least three tricks, however...

It's not pretty. This is a fun little event known as a Euchre. If this happens, then the calling team gets NO POINTS and the defending team gets two points

SCORING: You can only score 1, 2, or 4 points in any given hand, so it doesn't get that complicated. Here is a quick sum-up:

(The team that called trump is the Calling Team, the other is the Other Team):
Calling Team

0 - 2 tricks: Other team takes 2 point

3 – 4 tricks: Calling team takes 1 point

5 tricks: Calling team takes 2 points

Going Alone

0 - 2 tricks: Other team takes 2 point

3 – 4 tricks: Calling player (team) takes 1 point

5 tricks: Calling player (team) takes 4 points