[Steve_American]

I was taught a form of this over 55years ago when I was about 12. They called it Bucheuchre. It used a 24 card deck. It is based on Euchre which fiddles around with some of the Jacks, they are called the Right & Left Bower. I added the Joker to let there be 25 cards so you could play with 5 payers. Here I'm adding more cards so each player always gets 8 cards and there are 8 tricks in a “Hand”. This also means that (ignoring the Joker) each player will on average get 2 cards of each of the 4 suits.

A] Starting from a standard deck you will need to create a 24, 32, 40, or 48 card deck and then add a Joker to them.
. . 1] For 3 players you need a 25 card deck with 9 and above (9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace), for 4 players you use a 33 card deck with 7 and above, for 5 players you use a 41 card deck with 5 and above, and for 6 or 7 players you use a 49 card deck with 3 and above, just the deuces (2s) removed. They all include the Joker. Or for 7 players you can add 1 more deuce for each suit (if you have matching deuces) creating a 57 card deck, and then have 8 tricks in each hand.
. . 2] When you deal the cards there will be one leftover. Because someone may have seen it and have an advantage the dealer turns it face up in the center of the table. The winner of the bid can choose to replace one card in his hand with that face up card, discarding (unseen) one card. You can also make bidding more risky and leave it face down until someone wins the bid. New players should start with it face up.
. . 3] When there are 7 players there will be no extra card leftover (unless you create a 57 card deck). So, the bid winner doesn't get that benefit. Each player gets 7 cards. Seven is a lot of players and I incl. it for that rare situation.

B] Like Hearts, Bridge, Pinochle, and Euchre this is a trick based game.
. . 1] The dealer rotates clockwise and deals the cards clockwise. There is one extra card and it is placed in the center, face up.
. . 2] Next you bid to see who gets to declare the trump suit, gets to use the extra card, and makes the 1st lead. The dealer bids last. Players can bid from 1 to 8 tricks. They can pass. They must bid higher than the last player did or pass.
. . 3] The highers bidder wins the bidding and declares the trump suit, gets to use the extra card, and makes the 1st lead. He or she can also declare “No Trump”. In this case the Joker is a 5th suit and the only trump card.
. . 4] The highest card of the suit led or the highest trump card (if any are played) wins the trick.
. . . . a] If there is a trump suit the values of the cards are changed a little.
. . . . b] In the trump suit the order from top down is --- Joker, Right Bower (the Jack of that suit), Left Bower (the other Jack of the same color), Ace, King, Queen, 10, and on down in order of its number. The trump suit has 2 more cards in it than normal.
. . . . c] The other suit of that color now is --- Ace, King, Queen, 10, and on down in order of its number. This suit has 1 less cards in it than normal.
. . . . d] The suits of the other color are --- Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, and on down in order of its number. These suits have the normal number of cards in them.
. . 5] After the 1st trick the winner of the last trick gets to make the next lead. Players must follow suit, if they can. If they can't they can play any card in their hand.

C] After the last trick is played and won, the players all count the number of tricks they have taken.
. . 1] In general each player gets one point for each trick she takes.
. . 2] There are penalties for taking no tricks & not making your bid, and a bonus for making your bid. These depend on the number of players in the game.
. . . . a] The penalty for taking no tricks is -2 or 6 minus the number of players. This number can be varied because when there are 3 players on average each takes 2.67 tricks, but when there are 6 players each takes just 1.33 tricks. So, it is then much more likely that some will take no tricks.
. . . . b] The penalty for not making your bid is that you don't get any points for what you did take and -2 or -(8 minus the number of players). The players agree at the start which one they will use.
. . . . c]The bonus for making you bid is +2.
. . . . d] The correct number is entered for each player in a column, and a running total kept by each player while the cards are shuffled and dealt for the next hand.
. . 3] The game ends when a player gets a certain total of points. This number depends on the number of players in the game. It is 120 divided by the number of players. So, with 3=40, 4=30, 5=24, 6=20, & 7=17. If 2 players go over this number at the same time the one with more points wins, if the same there is a tie. This number drops because with more players the number you will win for each hand is reduced because the 8 tricks are divided among more players.

[Steve_American]

I suppose you could now leave out the Joker because you don't need it for a 5-player game. this makes it more like Euchre.
You only need an extra card for the 7-player game. Then the Joker could be replaced by the 2 (deuce) of Spades.
This makes No Trump really no trump.

[Steve_American]

So many views, and no likes.

Anyway, I thought some more about this game. It seems like the more players the fewer tricks each player can take on average. With 3 players it is 8/3 =2.67, with 4 it is 8/4 =2, with 6 it is 8/6 =1.33, and with 7 it is 7/7 =1. This is not good. There is not that much that can be done about it.
. . . For instance with 5 players the number of total cards {not incl. the Joker} needs to be divisible by 5. I was lucky that 40 was divisible by 5. So, I need to add 10 more cards to that 40 card deck. The only way to do this is to add 8 plus 2 Jokers. This deck is all but the 2 deuces plus the 2 Jokers. This totals 50 cards and so the tricks per hand are 50/5 =10 and tricks per player is 10/5 =2.
. . . We can do the same for 6 players. We can only add 6 cards to the 48 card deck that I originally proposed. This is all 52 cards plus the 2 Jokers. This totals 54 cards. Now. 54/6 =9 tricks per hand and 9/6 =1.5 tricks per player.

This creates the problem of what to do with the 2 Jokers. I don't think they can be high ranking trump cards. Not with 2 of them.
. . . I propose that Jokers be "junk trump". They are trump, but they have no value, so they just protect some other trump card in your hand. If they are the only trump card in a trick they do win the trick because, after all, they are trump.
. . . Alternately, they can be "junk cards". They are useless. You can/should throw them away when you can't follow suite. Jokers have no suite so any card can be played to the trick when they are led. If a Joker is led the the highest card played into the trick takes the trick, in case of a tie, the suits ranks are Clubs {lowest}, Diamonds, Hearts, & Spades {highest}.
. . . Players should discard them so they don't have to lead them. Better to lose the 1st truck and maybe win one later than to certainly lose both.

Edit to add ---
For 4 players you can use a 36 or 37 card deck {37 with the highest trump Joker} or the 40 or 41 card deck {41 with the highest trump Joker}. The 40 card deck provides 40/4 =10 tricks per hand and 10/4 =2.5 tricks per player. Almost the 2.67 tricks per player of the 3 player game with the 24 or 25 card deck.

[Palmyrene]

@Steve_American

I just gave you likes for all your posts.

I don't know the context of this post nor do I care. I am but a man who seeks to help others.

[Steve_American]

Thank you for the gesture.