November 17, 2024

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Two-hand Euchre

 Deck

A 24-card deck is used (the 9, 10, J, Q, K and A in all four suits). Some players prefer a 32-card deck (adding the 7 and 8 of each suit). British Euchre uses 25 cards (the 24 listed above, plus a joker).

 Card Values

The general rule is that Aces are the most valuable cards and 9s are the least valuable.

There are two exceptions. The Jack of the trump suit is the "right bower," and it's the most valuable card. The other Jack of the same color is the "left bower," and it's the second most valuable card. Both bowers are part of the trump suit.

For example, if clubs is the trump suit: the Jack of clubs is the right bower (most powerful) and the Jack of spades is the left bower (second most powerful). In this example, the third most powerful card would be the Ace of clubs.

Setup

Each player is dealt five cards. The remaining cards are placed face down in the middle of the table. The top card is turned face up; this card initially sets the trump suit.

First Bidding Round

Players bid, starting with the non-dealer, on whether or not to use the face-up card's suit as trump. Players have the following choices:

  • The player to the left of the dealer may pass or say "I order it up." If he does, bidding ends.
  • If the non-dealer passes, the dealer may pass or say "I accept." If he accepts, he takes the face-up card, replacing it with a card from his own hand (face down). The suit of the face-up card becomes trump.
  • If both players pass, a second round of bidding will take place (see below).

If the non-dealer says, "I order it up," the dealer has the option of picking up the face-up card and discarding one from his hand, face down. Whether or not the dealer picks it up, the suit of the face-up card becomes trump.

Second Bidding Round

If both players pass in the first round of bidding, the face-up card is turned face down and a second bidding round occurs.

In the second bidding round, the first player who names a suit has chosen trump. If no player bids, all the cards are shuffled together and the next player deals a new hand.

The player who chooses the trump suit in either bidding round is known as the "maker." The other player is known as the "defender." 

Gameplay

The non-dealer leads first by playing any card from his hand.

Players must play the suit of the card led if possible. If not, they may play any card. (The highest trump is the jack of the trump suit, called the "right bower." The second-highest trump is the jack of the other suit of the same color called the "left bower." (Example: If diamonds are trumps, the right bower is J♦ and left bower is J♥.) The remaining trumps, and also the plain suits, rank as follows: A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9 (and 8 and 7 if you're playing with those as well). If a Joker has been added to the pack, it acts as the highest trump.)

The highest card played in the lead suit wins the trick, unless one or more trumps were played, in which case the highest trump card wins the trick.

If a player does not follow suit when he is able to (usually by playing a trump card instead), it is considered a renege and cheating, and the opposing team is rewarded two points if it is caught in later tricks of the same hand.

The player who wins the trick leads to the next trick.

Scoring

The maker scores 1 point for taking three tricks and 2 points for taking all five tricks. If the maker fails to take three tricks, he is "euchred" and the defender scores 2 points.

Winning

The first player to score 10 points wins. Use the fives to keep score, starting with the bottom 5 facing up and the top 5 facing down, then just move the card to indicate total points, flipping over the top card when you have more than 5 points.


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October 01, 2024

Background Noises • Ambient Sounds • Relaxing Music | myNoise

https://mynoise.net/

A great site (with mobile apps) and an infinite number of soundscapes, because you can configure them yourself!

From the site: "Discover a world of immersive and customizable soundscapes that can enhance focus, relaxation, and sleep. Choose from noise generators, nature sounds and ambient music to create your perfect audio environment. Explore our vast library of interactive sound generators and find your audio haven!"

June 27, 2024

This Is How I Fixed the Windows Update Error 0x80070643

https://www.howtogeek.com/this-is-how-i-fixed-the-windows-update-error-0x80070643/

(For Windows update  KB5034441)

As of this writing there's a typo in the instructions: toward the end it says to use this command:

formatquick fs=ntfs label="Windows RE tools"

But "formatquick" should be two words: "format quick". So the correct command would be

format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows RE tools"

It is correct in the screen capture.