The Columbus Book of Euchre ISBN 0960489460

The first book published on this exciting card game
since 1905: The rules according to Hoyle, the rules
according to Columbus (Indiana), rules for two-hand-
ed euchre, rules for euchre solitaire, ploys and axi-
oms. Don’t sit between the markers, don’t trump
your partner’s ace, and don’t order up anything you
can’t catch! 90 pages, 19 full color illustrations

by Natty Bumppo

$12 98 postpaid, air-mailed first class, anywhere in the world!
– and now there’s a Kindle version, too

“If you want to learn about euchre strategy, buy The
Columbus Book of Euchre ” – customer review
of another euchre book on an Amazon.com listing

“Thorough explanation . . . ” – The Terre Haute Star

send check, cash or money order to:

Borf Books borf@borfents.com
Box 413
Brownsville KY 42210 U.S.A.  270-597-2187

Advanced: Read Natty Bumppo’s
euchre column archives

Links — and euchre on line
(updated 2020):
Behold the “Stone idiots ”

Euchre tutorial on line

What’s NEW!

Wholesale & multiple title orders Excerpts Hand crafted

Read about spankings the author got
from his mother while learning to play.

“There are two ways to play euchre – the
wrong way, and the Columbus way!
There is no other euchre book!”
– Double’s Euchre Page

“Not only rules, but also plenty of tactics
and tradition” – Card Games web site

“Down to earth and chock full of
information!” – Joe Andrews

“Often wrong, but never in doubt!”
– Jed Taylor, on Euchre Science

“The author hasn’t the foggiest idea ... ”
– Tom (Ten O’Clock) Scolar,
on Euchre Science

“Order The Columbus Book of Euchre now!
You won’t be disappointed!” – Davey Guild
New Appendix: Updates free on line

Reviews of other books on euchre

What’s a “Missouri loner ”?

“The Game of Life”


It’s not just a bumper sticker; it’s a scoreboard!

Other Borf books:


Special for women and children (and certain adult males in Michigan): You can get a special edition of The Columbus Book of Euchre with expletives deleted, at no extra cost! Just specify in your order that that’s what you want.


The new global price is $12.98 – period (U.S. dollars). Postage included. Same for everyone – Columbus to Canberra. The price is slightly higher on Amazon.com, to cover the cost of their bar codes; and Amazon.com will nickel-and-dime you for shipping and handling, too. We won’t.


See changes since original publication in our New appendix – e.g.:

A proposed sanction for exposing your hand – an infraction previously unaddressed in The Columbus Book of Euchre, and virtually unaddressed in all “Hoyle” encyclopedias – was added August 5, 2003.

Two new sections were added to The Columbus Book of Euchre on July 5, 2003 – “End play” and “Finesse” – along with three new definitions: of “end play,” “finesse” and “tenace,” along with a footnote on the definition of “renege” (explaining why the proper term is “revoke”).

    A short section on “going under” was added in 2020.  That’s a provision, recognized in uneducated jurisdictions, for trading nines and tens in your hand (a “farmer’s hand”), or even queens (“bottom bitches”), for the three unseen cards in the stock.

The section on, and definitions of, “doubling” and “redoubling” have been removed. Not many players “double” or “redouble” at euchre these days.


The second edition of The Columbus Book of Euchre (1999, ISBN 0960489460) is a continuation of the 72-page book published in 1982, which was the first book published strictly on euchre since 1905. The new edition has new terms, new ploys, old rules, old axioms, better typography, better color, and 90 pages, with index, reviews of other books on euchre, and a section on computer euchre.


Take a euchre lesson on line from the author

Natty Bumppo gives euchre lessons in real games on line, most Sunday mornings (times vary, and he will even wait until Sunday afternoon for devout churchgoers). The cost is $20 per session. Prepayment and registration are required. You may mail check or money order (payable to Borf Books) to register, or you may pay by PayPal (please use our home page if paying by PayPal).

To register send name, e-mail address, and Yahoo! screen name (if by e-mail, to euchre@borfents.com). State preferred date and time (including time zone. If you cannot play on a Sunday morning, you must say so). You will be notified of acceptance and time of session by e-mail. And if you cannot attend at the designated time, and you give reasonable notice of nonattendance, you will get a “rain check.”

Every tutorial session will last at least two games or one hour, whichever is longer. Registration will be limited to three persons per session, but "alternates" (registrants beyond first three) may kibitz and will be invited to join if registrants fail to appear or bail out.


Hand crafted:

This edition of The Columbus Book of Euchre is a complete desktop publication – composed, printed and bound in our small offices in Brownsville, Kentucky.

One reviewer of another of our desktop books – although he gave it five stars – referred to the printing as “home made,” and the cover as made of “construction paper.” You can call it “home made,” or you can call it “hand crafted”: Whichever, we have found a way to publish – economically in a limited edition – a book high in demand, but not in a mass market.

And because it is not printed in bulk – a typical press run is four copies, and printing runs only slightly ahead of purchase orders – slight additions and corrections can appear in later printings. And any buyer who feels shorted by an earlier printing can get a free update – on line (by clicking New Appendix) – or hard copy by mail, as explained in the back of the book.

And the cover is not made of “construction paper”: It’s 80-lb. red vellum, which costs us more than $40 a ream. It’s not “slick,” but it’s a stock of higher quality than used in the binding of many mass market paperbacks.

The Game of Life John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

There’s a game much in fashion – I think it’s called euchre
(Though I never have played it, for pleasure or lucre),
In which, when the cards are in certain conditions,
The players appear to have changed their positions,
And one of them cries, in a confident tone,
“I think I may venture to go it alone!”

While watching the game, ’tis a whim of the bard’s,
A moral to draw from that skirmish at cards,
And to fancy he finds in the trivial strife
Some excellent hints for the battle of life,
Where, whether the prize be a ribbon or throne,
The winner is he who can go it alone!

When the great Galileo proclaimed that the world
In a regular orbit was ceaselessly whirled,
And got not a convert for all of his pains,
But only derision and prison and chains,
“It moves, for all that!” was his answering tone,
For he knew, like the earth, he could go it alone!

When Kepler, with intellect piercing afar,
Discovered the laws of each planet and star,
And doctors, who ought to have lauded his name,
Derided his learning, and blackened his fame,
“I can wait,” he replied, “till the truth you shall own!”
For he felt in his heart he could go it alone!

Alas! for the player who idly depends,
In the struggle for life, upon kindred or friends;
Whatever the value of blessings like these,
They can never atone for inglorious ease,
Nor comfort the coward who finds, with a groan,
That his crutches have left him to go it alone!

There’s something, no doubt, in the hand you may hold –
Health, family, culture, wit, beauty and gold –
The fortunate owner may fairly regard
As, each in its way, a most excellent card;
Yet the game may be lost, with all these for your own,
Unless you’ve the courage to go it alone!

In battle or business, whatever the game,
In law or in love, it is ever the same;
In the struggle for power, or the scramble for pelf,
Let this be your motto: Rely on yourself!
For, whether the prize be a ribbon or throne,
The victor is he who can go it alone!



“Over hamburgers sold!”