Reviewed: February 20, 2003
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Silver Creek Software

Developer
Silver Creek Software

Released: January, 2002
Genre: Cards
Players: 4
ESRB: Everyone

8
6
6
10
8.9

System Requirements

Hardwood Euchre wraps up our coverage for all of the currently available card games from Silver Creek Entertainment. It features all of the same fantasy charm, loveably characters, enchanting graphics, and cool special effects (Fooms) found in the rest of the series. As with the other games, you can download a 30-day evaluation copy, but it won’t take you more than 30 minutes to become hopelessly addicted.

Once you purchase the full license you can enjoy these features:

• Play online and make new friends.
• Express yourself by changing the look of your player character with 31 different designs and 19 backgrounds for nearly endless customization possibilities
• Express your emotions using more than 8 magical Foom Effects
• Chat with friends with the easy to use chat features
• Enjoy Beautiful graphics
• Learn to play Euchre in all its variations with the excellent tutorial
• Enjoy Medieval theme music or add your own MIDI files
• Pick from 4 card decks and 24 card designs in all or build your own unique decks with The Deck Press available as a separate download

These variations include British Rules, which adds a Joker to the deck as the highest trump, Long Game, which extends the basic game to 15 points, a Timed Game that ends after a predetermined amount of time with the highest score winning, and the three-player version of Euchre known as Cut Throat. This mode removes the 9’s and has everyone playing alone with some drastic changes to the point system. All of these variations, as well as the basic game are expertly presented in the tutorial that will teach even non-Hoosiers how to play the game.

The first thing you have to do is create a character. This consists of entering a name and picking from the many character designs and backgrounds. You can choose from several standard settings or customize the colors using a palette sphere for unlimited possibilities. Once you have your character created your stats will be logged for all the games you play.

Once you start the game, three computer controlled opponents are assigned to the N,E, and W positions and the cards are dealt. Pop-up buttons appear that let you Pass, Accept, or Go Alone. You can right-click on the game screen to move the playing area or right-click on your character or an opponent to open the Foom menu.

The computer AI does an respectable job of playing the game, but it does seem to be a stickler for conventional (and predictable) rules. With human players you can implement a bit of tactics by not playing the “expected” card. The computer simply can’t handle illogical gameplay and you can often use that to your advantage.

Chances are if you have a modem and an Internet connection you won’t be playing this game by yourself for long. I’ve logged over 30 hours and have played over 100 games in the past week and only two of them were against the computer. I played two games just to familiarize myself with the gameplay mechanics then I was off to the Online Account creation screen.

Here, you create a login and a password and with a click of a button you will be transported to a community of fun loving Euchre players from all over the world. You start by picking an Area and a Room. I spent all of my online time in Smoot’s Cavern where I could find anywhere from 20-90 people chatting and playing cards. My first game had players from Hawaii, Australia, and England, and since then I’ve played with people from all over the world. Perhaps most amazing was on my third night online I bumped into an old friend from high school who I hadn’t even talked to for more than 20 years.

Playing cards online is perhaps the most addicting thing I have ever done on my computer. I’ve never played games like EverQuest or Ultima Online, but I can certainly see how these games could consume your life. Once you enter a room you get a list of everyone in that room and can freely chat with any of them. In the top window is a list of games currently being played and new games are continually popping up that you can join, or you may choose to simply watch an existing game. There are also plenty of scheduled tournaments you can sign-up for.

This online community is one of the nicest and friendliest places I have ever been to on the Internet. Everyone is nice and out to have fun and play cards. Prepare to learn a new abbreviated language if you plan to do much chatting during a game. Almost any phrase you might use during gameplay is reduced to a few letters. Typing NEP instead of “nice euchre partner” takes a fraction of the time. I was lost for about the first hour and couldn’t find any type of shorthand guide, but you’ll figure it out after awhile and you can always type out the full words.

The more people you have playing a game the greater the chance of someone dropping out, either intentionally or with a loss of carrier. In these cases a substitute player can immediately drop into the game and pick right up and if the original player gets back in time they can assume their previous position. It’s a great system that allows all games to be finished and rankings preserved.

Each online player maintains a ranking. When you first start out you are on a probation of sorts and must play 20 games to get “established”. Once established, you can start your rise through the ranks by beating higher rated players. Your player profile maintains an ongoing list of all of your wins and losses and your current ranking. This profile can be viewed by anyone, and you can even setup a minimum ranking requirement when hosting your own games.

Silver Creek also maintains a web profile for each online player. This data sheet shows all of your personal info, rating, and details for the last 25 games you have played including the ID’s of all the people who played in those games. It’s an amazing service and it’s all FREE.

Along with the near infinite amount of characters you can create there are numerous selections for the card faces and backs and you can even design your own decks using a stand-alone deck designer program available from Silver Creek and images from a scanner or anything already on your hard drive. You could even make a deck of cards with your family members on the face cards.

The playing field is a wood grain finish on a field of bricks and there is an insert window that shows your scores. The status for each player is shown under their image, and there are subtle touches like the trump suit being shown in the gold center of the board and the current player being indicated with a glowing pointer. Everything just blends together flawlessly.

Of course the highlight of the game is the magical Fooms that you can use on yourself or on the other players. These can be used to express your emotions or just for fun. If your partner trumps your Ace you can shoot a fireball at them, or if you want wish somebody good luck you can shoot a batch of four-leaf clovers at them. All of these Fooms are wonderfully animated and very colorful. There are even super versions of some that enhance the effects. A normal lighting bolt might shock the receiver but super-lighting will actually turn them into a shaking skeleton.

Fooms are fun in moderation, but you can easily find yourself stuck in a game where the players are having more fun shooting Fooms at each other than playing cards. On more than one occasion I wanted to have an option for disallowing Fooms in my hosted games.

The rest of the sound is limited to the sound effects for the Fooms, which is all excellent and an alarm sound that lets you know when it’s your turn and when the 15-second timer starts ticking (on the timed games). There is also the nifty sound of cards flipping as they are dealt out to the four players.

This game may lose a bit of its appeal and its value if you aren’t going to be playing it online. It’s still a great Euchre game even if you only play the computer, but you may be better served going with a game like Hoyle Card Games 2003 for the same money and you will get a plethora of different card games along with the Euchre.

Download your free demo of Hardwood Euchre today and check out all the fun. Once you’re online maybe you can be my partner.