« Assorted links | Main | Are European nations free-riders when it comes to fiscal policy? »
Questions that are rarely asked
Is euchre making a comeback?
I played frequently as a child, as I was taught by my partly Irish grandmother. No one else in my grammar school knew the game. Then I heard nothing about it for more than thirty years. Now, twice in the last month, I've heard the game mentioned in public, "on the street" as it were. What is up?
The alternative is that the question is rarely asked because, in fact, euchre is not making a comeback.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on April 14, 2009 at 02:20 PM in Games | Permalink
Comments
Euchre has remained some degree of popularity throughout the Midwest. When I was a boy in Upstate New York, we would frequently play at school during lunch and formed a bridge club when we grew tired of playing euchre so much.
Posted by: MM at Apr 14, 2009 2:25:04 PM
I first encountered euchre in Indiana back in 2005 among a group of teenagers. The game became extremely popular in the midwest and has since expanded.
It was especially popular among religious kids, but has become so popular that that no longer really holds.
Posted by: Ray at Apr 14, 2009 2:27:08 PM
I learned to play it in college in upstate new york about 5 years ago. It was easy to pick up since I had played bridge before. I recently played with some people were from NC as well. Google trends doesn't seem to indicate anything going on recently.
http://www.google.com/trends?q=euchre
Posted by: DRB at Apr 14, 2009 2:30:35 PM
I'm a euchre fan, although claiming to be one among friends has led to ridicule.
Posted by: brayden at Apr 14, 2009 2:36:59 PM
It's always been very popular in Indiana, except the further north you go, the more popular Spades gets. In any case, very few people here don't know how to play it, and most people's decks of cards are already sorted into euchre decks. You know...so you can get playing faster.
Posted by: Chris S. at Apr 14, 2009 2:37:01 PM
Euchre has always been popular in the Midwest, esp. Indiana I think. Some of my friends from college have taught east coasters the game, but I still don't think it's very popular.
Posted by: John at Apr 14, 2009 2:38:46 PM
I know this much, it was very played with enthusiasm by a small group in a freshman dorm
at Cornell in the early 1990s.
Posted by: TIE at Apr 14, 2009 2:42:21 PM
In central Illinois and Indiana it's not uncommon. I recall that bars in Lafayette IN even had Euchre tournaments when I spent a summer there a few years ago.
Up in Chicago, Bid Whist and Spades are quite popular in some African-American neighborhoods. Not the same thing as Euchre, but close.
Posted by: Ben Kalafut at Apr 14, 2009 2:43:06 PM
I grew up in Michigan, and all of my friends and family (without exception) know how to play. Pinochle is also pretty popular (as it's basically more complicated Euchre), but less so.
In college, it seemed that fellow Midwesterners knew the game, and almost nobody else did.
So, no. I don't think it's making a comeback, but I also don't think it went anywhere (at least in the Midwest). The question is how you learned to play it growing up on the East coast.
Posted by: d.cous. at Apr 14, 2009 2:45:25 PM
I also played it at Cornell 99-03.
Posted by: josh at Apr 14, 2009 2:45:27 PM
Easy to explain. The exodus of Michigan residents causes its culture to be spread across the nation. Be on the look out for Bell's Beer and Faygo Rock & Rye to be sold in a store near you.
http://www.mackinac.org/10274
Posted by: James Hohman at Apr 14, 2009 2:46:57 PM
I grew up in Michigan and Euchre was easily the most popular card game at my high school and at my dad's workplace, even more than poker, blackjack, hearts and bridge.
Now I live in Central New York and few people here have even heard of the game.
Posted by: Steve R at Apr 14, 2009 2:49:42 PM
Euchre is definitely a regional game. Midwesterners seem to know of the game more than others. I grew up in Western PA and have played Euchre since I was young. When I moved to DC many folks never even heard of it. Again, depending on which part of the country they were from.
Posted by: Matt at Apr 14, 2009 2:54:44 PM
It was played in Indiana when I was there (96-98). I preferred pinochle. I'd like to learn more bridge, since I haven't found more than 2 other young people who play pinochle.
Posted by: nelsonal at Apr 14, 2009 2:54:48 PM
Another Hoosier who played euchre here. It does certainly seem to be a Midwestern game. I now go to school in New England and the only other people who have even heard of it are fellow Midwesterners.
I would add that one regional difference that seems rather well-defined is that 5's are used for scoring in Michigan whereas 6's and 4's are used in Indiana. Each side, of course, considers what the other one does to be the height of silliness.
Posted by: AS at Apr 14, 2009 3:09:11 PM
I played a lot in high school and college in the Midwest. It's like bridge for drunks and people with short attention spans. A number of Chicago bars host tournaments. I know this because my sister-in-law once won one of these tournaments, and it evidently ranks up there with Sir Edmund Hillary in terms of historical significance.
Posted by: david at Apr 14, 2009 3:11:23 PM
wow, i wasn't aware of the euchre/indiana connection until now. but i sure played it a lot in high school.
-- babar, fort wayne in, northside high, '82
Posted by: babar at Apr 14, 2009 3:13:11 PM
I played in high school during chemistry class (2000-01). It remains popular among youth in the Monongahela valley near Pittsburgh.
Posted by: matt at Apr 14, 2009 3:17:39 PM
One more voice here to emphasize Euchre's midwestern basis. I currently live in Michigan, where all my students know it (and some play it online obsessively), and I grew up in Indiana, playing it in the same region and same time as babar above. Any time you want to play, Tyler, you're welcome to come visit.
James H., Heritage High, '83
Posted by: James Hanley at Apr 14, 2009 3:21:48 PM
The game was very popular at the Air Force Academy when I was there in the late 90's and early 00's. Mostly it was played at the on campus bar on nights when students couldn't go off campus to drink.
Posted by: db at Apr 14, 2009 3:29:52 PM
I went to college in Minnesota and my wife's family is from Iowa. Both my classmates and my massive extended in-law family (they're a catholic farm family) play euchre. It was probably the most popular game in college.
Posted by: richard at Apr 14, 2009 3:30:27 PM
Mahjong, anyone? Canasta?
Posted by: Edward Burke at Apr 14, 2009 3:31:51 PM
The other odd thing is that most New Englanders are totally unwilling to learn how to play the game. However, the few that do always seem to really like it and try unsuccessfully to teach it to other New Englanders.
Posted by: Andrew Fischer at Apr 14, 2009 3:32:55 PM
I must ask since this is turning in to a euchre forum. What did people
find to be most common: stick-the-dealer (we called it bee-doink), or let
the dealer pass? I always wondered if this was a sub-regional tweak or
if most people played stick-the-dealer since that is what our family always
played?
Posted by: Chappy at Apr 14, 2009 3:54:57 PM
Euchre, introduced to me as "Bridge for people with ADD" is the perfect game for the age of Twitter.
Posted by: Trevor at Apr 14, 2009 3:58:32 PM
