Doesnt cheat

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.

Readingaloud about Euchre Baron Pro