Progressive euchre rotation charts and tally cards
Everything to run a euchre party: a seating chart where nobody partners the same person twice, a filled-in tally card for every guest, and a sheet for each table.
Make your party kit
Rotation chart
Tally cards (one per player, already filled in)
Table score sheets
How progressive euchre works
Number everyone. Give each guest a player number and their tally card. Set out one table, one 24-card pack and one score sheet per four players.
Play a round. Sit where the chart says: "1 & 2 v 3 & 4" means 1 and 2 are partners against 3 and 4. Play a set number of hands (8 is common, so everyone deals twice), or play for 15 to 20 minutes and finish the hand in progress.
Write it down. Each player writes their partnership's points for the round on their own card. Many parties add a star for every lone hand that marched.
Move. When every table is done, everyone moves to their next seat.
Add up. Each player totals their own card. Highest total wins; ties are often broken by the most stars. Prizes for the top score, most stars and a booby prize are traditional.
Announce any table options (stick the dealer, game length, defending alone) before round one, and leave a note of them at each table. Stick the dealer is popular at parties because it keeps every table moving at the same pace.
Other numbers of players: winners move
No chart is needed for the older club method. Number the tables, with table 1 as the head table. After each round the winning pair at every table moves up one table; at the head table the winners stay and the losers go down to the last table. Everyone else who lost stays put. Then the two pairs at each table split up, so everyone has a new partner. It works for any multiple of four.
With one or two extra players (9, 10, 13 or 14): the extra players sit out round one. After each round, the losers at the head table sit out instead of going down, and the players who sat out take the empty seats at the last table. With just one extra, only one head-table loser sits out (whoever has sat out less), and the other goes down with the returning player. A player who sits out scores the average of their other rounds.
About these charts
The 8-, 12- and 16-player charts come from the rotation engine behind The Euchre Companion's party kit, which searched for schedules where nobody partners the same person twice and everyone meets everyone else as an opponent as evenly as possible. With 8 or 12 players, every pair of players are partners exactly once and opponents exactly twice over the full chart. With 16 players, the 10-round chart repeats no partner and every pair meets as opponents once or twice. The page recounts all of this as it draws the chart.
Players change partners and tables every round, following a rotation chart or the winners-move rule. Everyone writes their own points on a tally card, and the highest individual total at the end of the night wins.
How many hands are in a progressive euchre round?
Most parties play 8 hands a round, so everyone deals twice. Others play for a fixed 15 or 20 minutes and finish the hand in progress when time is called.
Can you play progressive euchre with 10 or 11 players?
Yes. With 11, use the 12-player chart with player 12 as a ghost: that table sits out each round and everyone sits out once. With 9 or 10, use the winners-move method with one or two players sitting out each round.