It is typically a partnership game for four players, played with a 24, 32 or 36-card pack, or two decks of 24 cards each.

Variations of the number of cards dealt, scoring values, and winning requirements exist, and are agreed to before game play.

Starting at the person to the left of the dealer, each player "bids" how many "tricks" he or she thinks it is possible to get in partnership with his/her partner (sitting across the table).

At the end of bidding, the winning (or "contracting") bidder makes the opening play and may lead any card.

If the contracting side fails to take all six tricks, it is set back 14 or 12 points (for big and small peppers, respectively).

If the defensive side does not get any tricks in a small or big pepper, it loses six points.

[d] Other variations of the game do not use a winning number and instead allow players to set a time limit such as one or two hours, at the end of which time the team with the highest point total wins.

When the bell rings, players at each table finish their current hand and record their team score on an individual tally.

This allows for a strategy of either forcing teams to have to make bids or to "stick the dealer.

If the declaring team takes all six tricks, they get six points and the opposing players are "set."

If the declaring team takes less than the number of tricks bid, they too will set, lose five points and also receive a hickey.

If the declaring team fails to take all six tricks, they are set, lose ten points, and receive two hickeys.

In all cases, the opposing team simply scores one point for every trick they take.

Hasenpfeffer, also called Pepper, is a four-player partnership variation of Euchre played with a 24-card pack plus the Joker.

Six cards are dealt in batches of three, and the rest are laid face down to one side.

The skunked team has the number of the winning trump bid subtracted from their score.

One variation is that a player who takes no tricks is bumped (penalized) five points regardless of his bid.

When this rule is in place, the players are usually given a chance to drop out after trump is called.

(E.g., Bottoms, Ace No Face, end-of-game scoring, terminology, et al.) A deck of 24 cards containing A, K, Q, J, 10, 9 of each suit (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) The card rankings are the same as for Euchre: Trump suit: “Jack” (a.k.a.

The first cards go to the player to the left of the dealer, and the deal proceeds clockwise around the table.

A key difference from Euchre is that the up-card never gets "picked up"; rather, it stays on the top of the pile for the entire hand.

Another method for deciding who deals first is to deal the cards one at a time, face-up and clockwise around the table — the first player to receive a black jack (or any other agreed-upon card) begins as dealer.

After the bidding auction concludes, the high bidder calls the trump suit.

(This is another difference from Euchre, where players cannot call trump in the suit of the up-card.)

Players may not call Bottoms, Ace No Face, or 4 Of A Kind misdeal.

If the opponents elect to play the hand (not sit out), the winning bidder leads to the opening trick.

If the bidders took fewer tricks than their bid, they are set, and 5 points are added to their score, up to a maximum of 20.

As with many/most borderline situations in Clubs, close calls are left to the discretion of the players at the table and any respected observers on hand.

The player's hand may afford the option to call either misdeal or Bottoms -- in this case, the decision is left to the player, who may elect to kill the hand then & there (via misdeal) or test Lady Luck by calling Bottoms.

Scoring is the same as in 24-card pepper above, with a forced declaration by the dealer losing only half (rounding up) if not made.