This page describes the rules of Pinochle. For information on how to play JoeDog’s pinochle game, see this page: Pinochle: How To Play

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• Pinochle is a card game played with a 48- or 80-card deck of 9s, 10s, jacks, queens, kings and aces. The game consists of a repeating sequence of bidding (for the right to name the trump suit and optionally to pass cards), melding, and trick-taking. Players score points by melding various card combinations and by taking tricks.
• Your game will start after this ad. By Masque Publishing. Aces around, dix or double pinochles. Score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of cards into melds.
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Pinochle is a classic trick-taking card game for two to five players. JoeDog’s Pinochle currently plays a four-person variation in which teams of two are pitted against one another.

The Deck

A pinochle deck consists of 48 cards. It contains two copies of 9, 10, J, Q, K and A in each of all four suits. Twelve cards per suit times four suits equals 48 cards.

The cards are ranked in a non-standard order. The ten is actually the second highest card. The rank from highest to lowest looks like this: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9

The Deal

The deal is rotated to the left among all players. The player to the dealer’s left becomes the dealer for the next hand.

The dealer shuffles the deck, then deals the cards clockwise until all the cards are distributed evenly between all players. (Except in a three hand option where a kitty of three cards is set aside for the bid winner).

The Auction

After the cards are dealt, each player evaluates their hand and predicts how many points it will earn. In turn each player enters a bid. The highest bidder names trump.

The bid begins with a minimum bid. Each ensuing bid must be higher than the previous bid. If the first bid tops the minimum by one, the next player must top that bid or pass. The auction is complete when all but one player has passed. The highest bidder then names trump which is generally that player’s
strongest suit.

Pinochle Card Games

Passing Cards

In some variations, the winning team is allowed to pass cards to strengthen its hand. Generally, a partner will pass trump and aces to the bid winner. The bid winner will attempt to short suit himself or pass melding cards back.

After trump has been declared by the bid-winner, that person’s partner passes three cards from their hand to them. At this point, the bid-winner has three more cards then everyone else and their partner has three less. At that point, the bid winner must pass three cards back. The pass stage is complete when every player at the table has the same number of cards.

Melding

After the pass phase, players display specific combinations of cards which are worth various point totals. All players meld placing cards face up on the table. When meld is complete, the point values are added to the team score for the hand. The hand total will be the number of meld points plus the number of take points (more on the take below).

The meld groups are as follows:

Rounds
Aces ’round – Two aces in each suit: 100; One ace in each suit: 10
Kings ’round – Two aces in each suit: 80; One king in each suit: 8
Queens ’round – Two aces in each suit: 60; one queen in each suit: 6
Jacks ’round – Two jacks in each suit: 40; one jack in each suit: 4

Marriages and Runs
Trump marriage – King & Queen in trump: 4 points each
Regular marriage – King & Queen in the same suit: 2 points each
Pinochle – Jack of Diamonds and Queen of Spades: 4 points
Double Pinochle – Two Jack of Diamonds and Two Queen of Spades: 30 points
Run (must be in trump) – A, 10, K, Q, J: 15 points
Double run (must be in trump) – A,A,10,10,K,K,Q,Q,J,J: 150 points
Dix in trump – 9 of trump: 1 point for each

Here’s a helpful melding cheat sheet that I stole from Wikipedia:

Playing Tricks

When players play for tricks, there are strict rules which dictate what cards can be played. Computerized versions enforce these rules programmatically. Carbon-based players must police themselves.

Every player must follow suit if possible. If an Ace of Hearts is led, you must play a heart if you have one in your hand. If you do not have a heart, then you must trump the trick, that is, you must play a card in the suit that was named trump by the bid-winner. If you don’t have a card that was led and you don’t have trump left in your hand, then you may play any card.

If trump is led, each ensuing player must play a higher card unless they are unable to beat the highest card on the table. If a queen of trump is led and an ensuing player beats it with a ten, you must play an ace. If you can’t beat the ten, then you may play any card in trump (or any card in your hand if you have no trump)

If two identical cards are played, the first one wins.

Scoring Tricks

In pinochle, points are won based on counters with in the trick. The highest card on the table wins the trick. However, that trick is worth points only if it contains “counters.” A counter is a card higher than queen. Each ace, then and king within the trick counts one point. Everything else is worth zero. We tend to call that garbage.

There is, however, one exception. The last trick is worth one point (or two points in double-deck variations). It doesn’t matter if the last trick contains no counters, points are awarded simply for taking the final trick in the hand.

Introduction

The following description was rescued from John Hay's Rule Book, formerly at Geocities. An archive copy of the original page is also available at reocities.com. I have unfortunately lost touch with John Hay. If anyone knows how to contact him, or what became of his rule book, please let me know.

John Hay wrote: I put the rules in the form below from information provided by George Klemic and Andrew Lipscomb, to whom I owe a huge thank you.

Players, cards and deal

Pinochle Card Game Free Download

Number of Players: 2

Deck: Standard Pinochle deck of 48 cards consisting of 2 each of all cards 9 and above (including aces).

Deal: Each player is dealt 12 cards, the next card is turned up to determine trump for the hand and the remainder of the deck (the stock) is placed crosswise on this upturned card. Deal alternates between players.

Bidding: There is no bidding in this game.

The game is played in two phases, described separately below.

Play

Phase 1: As long as cards remain in the stock, thegame is in Phase 1. The non-dealer leads to the first trick, the dealerthen plays any card from their hand to the trick (not required tofollow suit or trump). The winner of the trick takes the top card ofthe stock and puts it in their hand, the loser of the trick then takesthe next card from the stock and places it in their hand. The winner ofthe trick is now allowed to meld if they wish. (See section on meldingbelow.) The winner of the trick then leads a card to the next trick(the card led can be in their hand or on the table as part of a meld).Play continues as above until their are no cards left in the stock.When the stock is down to one face down card and the remaining trumpcard, the winner of the trick may choose which card to take. Afterpicking up these last two cards the winner of that trick may still meld.

Phase 2: Once there are no cards left in the stock,the rules change. There is no longer any melding. Each player picks upany meld they have and place it in their hand. The winner of the lasttrick from Phase 1 leads to the next trick. The second player mustfollow suit if able. If not, they must trump if possible. The secondplayer must win the trick if they are able to. The winner of the trickleads to the next trick. Play continues in this manner until all cardshave been played.

Melding

In Phase 1, when a player wins a trick theymay place any meld they have face up in front of them and receivepoints for it. The various combinations that may be melded and thepoints they receive are listed below. When a player melds, it iswritten down on the scoresheet immediately.

Run - A 10 K Q J in trumps - 150 points

Marriage - K Q in same suit - 20 points

Royal Marriage - K Q in trumps - 40 points

Aces around - A in each suit - 100 points

Kings around - K in each suit - 80 points

Queens around - Q in each suit - 60 points

Jacks around - J in each suit - 40 points

Pinochle - J of Diamonds and Q of Spades, - 40 points

Pinochle Card Game Rules

Double Pinochle - 2 pinochles - 300 points (Note: A Double Pinochle isthe only meld which gives a bonus for having more than one, all othermelds simply count twice. e.g. Double aces around count 200 points.)

9 of Trumps (Dix) - 10 points

Special rule concerning Dix: The first Dix to be melded is done so byexchanging it for the face-up trump card at the bottom of the stock(even if it is the other Dix). The card taken from the bottom may beused immediately in meld if desired.

Special notes concerning melding:

A player mayuse a card in more than one meld provided it is used to make adifferent type of meld. (e.g. A player melds a marriage in spades. Ifboth cards are still on the table on a later turn, the player may addthe other 3 kings for kings around, the other 3 queens for queensaround, or the Jack of Diamonds for a Pinochle. They may not addanother single King of Spades for a second marriage.)

If aplayer has melded a Royal Marriage and they later add the A, 10, and Jor trumps for a run, they only score an additional 110 points insteadof 150.

If a player has melded a Pinochle and they later addanother Pinocle for a Double Pinochle (while the original Pinochle isstill down), they only score an additional 260 points instead of 300.(If the first Pinochle had already been broken up, they would onlyscore 40 points for the second one.)

Scoring

In addition to any meld a player scoredduring the hand they also receive 11 points for each ace, 10 points foreach ten, 4 points for each king, 3 points for each queen, and 2 pointsfor each jack they captured in play. The player who captures the lasttrick also gets ten points. (Total of 250 points to be taken in play.)The first player to get a total of 1200 points wins the game.

Variations

Game may be played to 1500 or 1000 points instead of 1200.

An optional scoring method for cards taken in play is to count each Aceand ten 10 points, and count each king and queen 5 points.

Another scoring method is to simply count each ace, ten, and king 10points. If this scoring method is used, then all scores in the gamewill end in a zero. Since this is the case, the zeroes can be droppedoff the end of the score, effectively dividing all possible scores by10.

In phase 2 the second player is only required to take the trick if possible if trumps were led.

Any of the 'Special notes concerning melding' could be ignored, exceptfor the rule that a player can use a card that has already been meldedin additional meld.

'Mouse' has contributed rules for an interesting variant played by his family which features larger hands, more melds, and 'glups' which are scored for losing several consecutive tricks by following suit.

Software

A shareware 2-player Pinochle program which supports network and offline play is available from Meggiesoft Games.

Another shareware 2-player Pinochle program for Windows is available from Card Games Galore.

The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a Two-Player Pinochle program, along with many other popular card games.