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Euchre Baron Pro app for iPhone and iPad


4.5 ( 6125 ratings )
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Developer: Great Game Products, Inc.
0.99 USD
Current version: 1.3, last update: 7 years ago
First release : 25 Nov 2009
App size: 9.44 Mb

Euchre Baron defeated Keyon Beckley and Dino Nobilucci by three games to two, winning the 2011 World Series of Euchre Human-Computer Championship. Beckley and Nobilucci had just captured the 2011 World Series of Euchre Partners Championship title by finishing first in a field of 96 players in the main event of the 12th Annual Grand Prix Tournament in Westerville, Ohio
Euchre program for iPhone / iPod / iPad with adjustable partnership agreements for:
- When to make trump
- Donating
- When to lead trump
- Preventing opponents loners

Euchre Baron Pro was developed in consultation with Joe Andrews, author of The Complete Win at Euchre.

At the world Series of Euchre Brent Spivak ( The 2009 World Series of Euchre champion) commented about Euchre Baron and human opponents :
"Rock solid program. Beats 75% of the competition."

- 16 adjustable partnership agreements for each side
- Powerful computer players
- Every possible Euchre deal.
- Play to 10, 11, or 15.
- Optional "stick the dealer".
- Option for whether dealers partner may order up (Canadian rule).
- Take back your calls and plays.
- Get a hint at any time.
- Review the hands for the previous deal.
- Five game speeds, from very fast to very slow.
- Optionally play meaningless tricks automatically.
- Continue game if interrupted by a phone call.

Euchre Baron is different from other euchre software in several ways. Most other euchre software works primarily on the basis of what artificial intelligence researchers refer to as expert systems: collections of rules designed by humans to compute decisions about trump-making, the discard, and play of the cards. We developed Euchre Baron to compute decisions primarily by using what artificial intelligence researchers refer to as search: projecting the hypothetical result of playing out the deal.

To make a decision on whether to make trump or pass, what card to discard as dealer, or what card to play to a trick, Euchre Baron imagines possible hands for the other players, based on its hand and the actions that all players have taken so far. Based on these possible hands, it constructs dozens of possible complete deals.
Then, for each of these deals, the program projects the hypothetical score for playing out the deal, depending on what decision it makes. The program then makes the decision that leads to the best score on these dozens of deals.

Great Game Products has been publishing card-game software for over twenty years, including Bridge Baron, our popular software for the card game bridge. The Euchre Baron developers brought their expertise to the Euchre Baron project after honing their skills through their years of experience at Great Game Products developing Bridge Baron and other card-game software.

Pros and cons of Euchre Baron Pro app for iPhone and iPad

Euchre Baron Pro app good for

I agree the partnership agreements are nice. Now, you can protect against loners. Excellent program.
Pros: Nice interface, simple and realistic (who needs animations?) Intelligent, tough AI (at least the opponents) Customizable themes and RULES! Agreements are nice (but lacking) Scoring is accurate, no bugs Rewind button if you touch the wrong card accidentally (but this doesnt happen too much) Advice button (for novices only) History screen (mostly to figure out what your partner was THINKING when he called that...) Only one glitch Remembers game after exiting Cons: Partner is a moron with calling (Ive had R,L,A,K,Q of hearts and he calls clubs with L,10...) especially when you/he dealt Partner is a moron with leading (Has led 9,10,Q of trump multiple times) Opponents always seem to be short-suited (maybe Im biased) Advice button gives bad advice (Ive tried following it and have been Euched, tried against it and have won) --GLITCH of when its your turn to play a card, accidentally shaking the device causes the hand to be skipped - has restarted GAME on occasion-- Card spread makes selection slightly difficult (but rewind button solves it) Summary: Great game if youre willing to deal with an incompetent partner. Suggestions: Remove the shaking "feature"/make it optional at least! Add more-specific agreements about calling (who dealt, whats been turned down & buried, do you have MORE THAN TWO NON-BOWERS?) Add optional "bottoms/farmers" rule Add landscape mode feature There probably isnt any good way to implement these, but stacking the deck, cutting, stealing the deal, table talking, looking at eachothers hands, and reneging are all part of the game where I play. Please dont try to include them in the game, but I think that since this is such a good simulation to teach the "kosher" way to play, novices should learn how to use the "cheats" that are accepted in person.
The program plays well, but the interface is a bit dodgy. This is the only application Im aware of that not only doesnt have a landscape mode, but wont even rotate the display 180 degrees. The cards and buttons are smaller than they need to be--the extra real estate on the iPad isnt well used. But if the quality of the play is the issue, youll soon forgive the klunkiness. The AI doesnt cheat, but because it plays differently than human players do, it can sometimes seem that way. Another reviewer concluded that the program was cheating based on a single hand in which the AI did something he didnt understand. If hed thought, for a moment, about the hand, he might have learned something. At many game scores, many of the hands that are properly made "alone" are lacking a single control--either one of the bowers, or an ace in a side suit covered by a king (or, of course, missing no control at all). If the missing control is one of the bowers (or if the maker is not missing any control), the opening lead doesnt matter, so you dont worry about those hands when choosing a lead. Leading a singleton King insures that you wont find the suit with the missing ace, so you should lead something else. That the lead in this particular hand succeeded by finding partners void rather than the missing ace simply makes the logic of the lead harder to see. Now, Im not very good a euchre, and I didnt realize this until I started thinking about the problem. But then if I thought that euchre was a game in which a simple rule like "always lead your highest non-trump" was optimal, I doubt that Id be playing euchre in the first place. If youre not interested in playing euchre well, I suggest you choose a stupider program. But if your play well, or if you want to play well, this is the one for you.
I am a new player to the game, and I have found that this is a great way to learn the basics of Euchre. I love the Back feature as it allows me to learn when and how to bid. I have recomended this game to my friends and family.

Some bad moments

This app is slow and needs a lot of work...total waste of money! Want my money back!
This was the biggest waste of money Ive ever spent on the App Store. Euchre Baron Pro is extremely slow and glitchy, and Im playing it on an iPhone 4. It sounds cool with all its features, but it looks like garbage, and playing it is next to impossible with all of its lag and sudden catchup bursts of speed. Id demand a refund if I thought there was any hope of getting one.
The app could be good but it needs a lot of work. 1. When you order your partner up you should have to go alone, never heard of assisting 2. The computer partner is dumb, playing trump on tricks already won by me and then laying an off suit the next trick that gets stomped on. 3. Way too many alone hands that.
Stick to Hoyle this is either slow or doesnt work and this is 2016! Somebody over at Great Game Products need to wake up and fix this game or refunds are in order!!
This game is just OK. It plays well, but for $20 it should have a lot more options. The way it is, it should sell foe about $2.99.
Edit: Forget everything written in the product discription, the AI is tough because the AI cheats!!!! Heres the hand in question. I was the dealer. I had J-Spades, 10 Clubs, Q Hearts, 10 Hearts, A Diamonds. J Clubs was face up on the table. I pick it up and discard the 10 Hearts. Opponent had the following hand: K Diamonds, 9 Clubs, A Clubs, J Hearts, 10 Spades. He leads with the K Diamonds (obviously the best choice for the opponent to lead) which I win with the A Diamonds. I then take the next 3 tricks with trump, and finish with the Q Hearts (opponents had nothing but Spades left, and my partnet takes the trick with the A Hearts). Great! We get 2 points. I notice that I would have won all the tricks going alone. So I cheat and go back and go alone. This time, the opponent leads with the Jack of Hearts instead of the King of Diamonds. That move makes no sense. You want to take one trick to prevent your opponent from getting them all and getting 4 points. So, you should lead with your stongest non trump. That would be the King of Diamonds. There is too great of a possibility that I would be able to trump of play a higher Heart to play the Jack when you have a non trump king in your hand. The ONLY reason I can think of to play the Jack of Hearts is because the AI knew that his partner had to hearts and could trump, and that I had hearts and could not. So, with this lead, I only get 4 tricks and 1 point. If anyone can explain a valid strategy as to why the defenders would play a non trump King during normal play, and a non trump Jack when defending a lone player, please explain it to me. But, the only way this stategy works in my mind, is that the AI looked at the other hands before leading. This isnt a good strong AI, it just cheats. What a joke. Original Review: For starters, the "Regular" price of $19.99 for one card game is insane. I picked this up on "Sale" for $4.99 (which is still overpriced). The good: a good AI with lots of partner presets. This alone should make it worth the $5. The Bad: -Should have a difficulty level. Presets dont affected level of difficulty. An AI for an app of this pricepoint should work well for novices and veterans. -Graphics are awful. Looks like an upscated iphone version. Lots of sceen space on the ipad-make use of it. More card graphics and options needed. Some animation and BASIC sound effects (look at almost any card app to see what Im talking about. Enhanced graphics to show who is winning/won the trick and whose lead. -No landscape mode?? On a $20 card app? Seriously??? Unfortunately, some basic and simple things (graphics, sounds, animation, landscape mode) are putting me off from a game that clearly has a great AI. These are things that should be fixable pretty easily. An adjustable level of difficulty is also critical. Pity, I love Euchre and would love a great app, but I still havent found one...