Euchre, a card game we played on the Mekong river

Euchre is a whist game, for four players, split into two teams of two.  There are various versions, but the one described below is how it was taught to me by two Australians on our trip on the Mekong in Laos.  Our version was fun to play, but I'd like to try some of the other versions, too.

Alternative rules can be found at: http://boardgames.about.com/cs/euchre/a/euchre_rules.htm

The game is played with a pack of 23 cards, including all the cards from Nine to Ace, apart from the Nine of Spades.  Suits are ranked in the order: Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs and Spades, Diamonds being the highest.  The dealer deals one card in the middle (to the 'kitty'), then three to the first player, two to the second, three to third and two to the fourth.  After dealing another card to the kitty, he deals two, three, two and three to the four players, followed by the final card to the kitty.  Each player thus has five cards, with three in the kitty.

Starting with dealer's edge, the players then bid, as a partnership, for three, four or five tricks.  A player who has bid may bid again, but a player who passes must remain silent in the bidding for the rest of that hand.  Suit order determines who wins the contract (e.g. three Hearts beat three Clubs, but four Clubs beats three Hearts).  With the exception of no trump bids (explained below), all bids are in a suit, that suit forming the trump.  There is one peculiarity with the order of the cards, for the trump suit only, which is as follows: Jack of the other suit of the same colour, Jack of the trump suit, followed by Ace, King, Queen, Ten and Nine of the trump suit.  For the non-trump suits, the order is Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine, except that if the trump suit is in the same colour as this suit, the Jack will not be included, since it has become the top card in the trump suit.  Also, for Spades, there is no Nine.

Unlike bridge, whoever makes the winning bid plays the contract and will make the first lead.  However, before he leads, he first he picks up the three cards in the kitty and then discards any three cards, face down, leaving him with five cards.  Players must follow suit if they can.  The tricks are then played as in standard Whist, except with the order of trumps stated above.  If, say, Hearts are trumps then the Jack of Diamonds is treated in every respect as a Heart (the highest trump) and cannot be played as a Diamond, if someone leads Diamonds, except if the player has no Diamonds, in which case it can be played as a trump.

A no trump call can be made at any time in the bidding, but must always be for five tricks.  It is the highest possible call.

Scoring is one point for making three or four tricks and two points for making five tricks, provided, in each case, that the contract is made.  Two points is scored for defeating a contract.  As an unusual feature, scoring is done by each side using a Five and a Six and exposing as many pips as points have been scored.  Of course, paper may be used (and is probably more reliable).

An extended version of the game, called 500, uses a larger card set.