The Midwest of the United States is a glorious place. It's the land of Michigan's Great Lakes (sorry, Wisconsin, but it's Lake Michigan) and enhanced licenses that allow 19 year-olds to go drink legally in Canada. It has Chicago from Illinois, cheese curds from Wisconsin and all of the awe-inspiring natural landmarks and tourist sites of the Great Mitten State.
Oh yeah, and I guess Ohio does have a thing or two.
In Michigan, though, the ability to play the card game euchre (pronounced "yoo-ker", in case you don't know) is arguably one of our favorite indications of a person whose blood runs deep in the Midwest. It's this way for a few reasons:
Euchre can be busted out at any time.
Euchre had been a staple in my life . I was first taught by my parents at the dinner table when I was in my young teens. After that, I had to have my friends re-teach me a few times before I finally got the hang of it. But once I knew how to play, games started springing up all over the place. I've played at family parties and I've played in the middle of Jazz Band class. As long as somebody had a deck of cards (which, if somebody plays euchre, they usually do) and we had four people, euchre was a solid possibility. However, it's also a solid possibility that somebody playing is going to expect everyone to be on thier level of speed with each hand - every euchre player knows one of those.
Note to self: stop playing with this guy.
It's something that we bond over.
Ultimately, we play the game because it's something that we, as people in/from the Midwest, like to use to bond with each other and others that want to learn. My friends and I played euchre quite frequently when we were in high school. We taught each other and we played together. At our Senior All-Night Party, we borrowed a deck of cards to play euchre in the casino hall they had set up. At the end of the night I happened to not return the cards and I still have the cards with me in my backpack, two years later. I like to think of it as a the theft of the century, but I really just had no clue who to give them to and didn't want to bother asking anyone. Laziness makes memories.
"See, mom? I'm not wasting my time browsing Amazon for Webkinz."
The rules are maddening, but the game is rewarding.
Teaching somebody how to play euchre can be aggravating for both parties because the game looks very complicated when you first try to understand it. I've been told that's why it's stayed in the Midwest, for the most part. Someone deals and people go around in a circle knocking on the table or saying "pass". Then there's something called "trump" and people won't stop talking about these longed-for items called "bauers". There are also slight variations that each group of people can twist the game with to fit their style of play. Overall, the game can be complex, but playing through your first game and winning a few hands (aka "tricks") is a fantastic experience, mostly because you're playing with your friends that dragged you through learning this crazy game.
But before learning, just know not to trump your partner's ace. Or else, well...After a few good hours of learning at various times in my life, I've come to love euchre and be decently okay at it. In Michigan, people know how to play like it's poker or blackjack. It's a type of game that I'd stay up until the AM playing, while eating Olga's on Lake Michigan with some Traverse City cherries, Mackinac Island fudge and a can of Faygo Rock and Rye. But I guess that's just Michigan for you.
