Pinochle

Partner game of melds and tricks.

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How to play — Pinochle

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  1. In short

    Pinochle is a card game for four players in two partnerships, with your partner sitting opposite. You score points for melds, which are combinations of cards in your hand, and for cards taken in tricks. The pair that won the bidding must score at least its bid.

  2. Deck and deal

    The deck has 80 cards: four identical copies of A, 10, K, Q, J in each suit. Everyone gets 20 cards. The order of strength is A, 10, K, Q, J.

    From the strongest: ace, 10, king, queen, jack.

  3. Bidding and the trump

    Bidding starts at 50. Up to 60 you may raise by one or more, and above 60 bids must be multiples of five. A pass withdraws you from further bidding. After three opening passes the dealer must take 50. The winner chooses the trump only from the suits in which they hold a king and a queen. Having no such pair means losing the bid points at once. The bidding pair commits to scoring at least its bid.

  4. Melds

    The game itself shows and counts the melds. One run of A, 10, K, Q, J of trumps scores 15 points, an additional K–Q pair of trumps 4, and a pair of another suit 2. The jack of diamonds with the queen of spades scores 4. Four aces of different suits score 10, kings 8, queens 6, jacks 4. A card can belong to different kinds of melds. A king and a queen used in a trump run do not score again for the same pair.

    The jack of diamonds and the queen of spades: 4 points.

  5. Multiple melds

    Two, three or four full trump runs score 150, 225 or 300 points. A double, triple or quadruple jack of diamonds–queen of spades scores 30, 60 or 90. Two, three or four sets of all suits score, respectively: aces 100/150/200, kings 80/120/160, queens 60/90/120, jacks 40/60/80. The interface shows the calculated total, so you do not have to count it by hand.

  6. Tricks and winning

    The bidder leads. You must follow suit, and without it play a trump if you have one. Among the allowed cards you must beat the current highest one when possible. With identical cards, the one played earlier wins. Aces, tens and kings taken are worth 1 point each, and the last trick gives an extra 2. The bidding pair gets the actual total of melds and cards, or loses its whole bid if it does not reach it. The other pair gets its points. The pair that reaches the set threshold of 250, 500 or 1000 wins. If both reach it at the same time, the bidding pair wins.

  7. When someone leaves

    There is no resigning. Leaving a game in progress, or running out of time, is a forfeit by the leaver's pair and ends the game for the whole table, and the other pair wins.