SUN CITY – Euchre players really know how to party.
When they pay their $5 annual dues, they are promised a regular weekly schedule of opportunities to play their favorite card game. They also are informed that every four to six weeks, they will have a party featuring an impressive array of food and beverage options.
That’s more than 70 “parties” a year. They probably are one of the busiest and happiest, not to mention well-fed, charter groups in Sun City.
“We want to have fun, and we have goodies at all our events,” said president Linda French. “We put someone in charge of arranging for food and treats at all events, and we make sure that the first thing our members get when they show up is something to eat and drink.”
“This past year, we had an ice cream social, a hot dog and sloppy joe day, a pizza party, a fried chicken event, and even a hot cider and donuts night,” said Jane Schroeder, the club’s vice president and social chairman. “We are so active with treats each week that a lot of people come early to make sure they get in on the goodies. If you’re late, you might miss out on something.”
Karen Richardson, the group’s first president, started the club in the early years of Del Webb in Huntley. “She just invited a few people to her home to play, and the group grew pretty quickly to the required 25 to get a charter,” French said. Richardson remains an active member. Don Glasgow is current treasurer, and Sharon Elder is secretary.
All of this is not to say the game itself isn’t a big part of the fun. The game is a fast, up-tempo trick -taking game that makes it somewhat similar to bridge. But euchre is played with fewer cards (ace, kind,queen, two jacks, and 10s and 9s for 24 total)) and is less complicated and challenging. It is widely believed the game was invented in Germany in the 1960s. It may be closely related to the French game of Ecarte, that was popularized in the U..S. By the Cornish and Pennsylvania Dutch. Variations of the game include Knock Euchre and Bid Euchre, according to some differences in the rules and procedures.
“The game is quite easy to learn, except for one thing” French said. “The jack of the trump suit is the top card (called the right bower), and the jack of the same color (left bower) is the second ranking card. Then it’s the ace, king, queen, 10, and 9. Some people with 8s and 7s. Some players sometimes have trouble remembering that the jack is high in euchre, instead of the ace, as in many other games.”
“I’ve been playing the game for more than 50 years, since I was 16,” French said. My dad taught it to me, my parents played it a lot when I grew up. “It’s a midwestern game, and I think it originated in this area in Michigan, where I came from,” she added. “My parents played the game a lot when I was young, and I picked up my interest from them in the same way,” Schroeder said.
The club now has about 80 members, and 66 came to the group’s Christmas gathering last week. Members pay a dollar to play each week, and that money goes into that “treat” fund that helps generate the goodies that show up in generous amounts at every euchre game day. The group plays at 1 p.m. Thursdays in the multipurpose, or card, room in Prairie Lodge.
Let’s see now, what kind of food goes best with a fast game of euchre? What about a burger and fries day?
