Pinochle is a bidding, melding and trick-taking card game, best known as a game for four players in two partnerships. Free online play is coming soon; meanwhile, here is the full guide.
Where Pinochle Comes From
Pinochle belongs to the family of games that mix melding with trick-taking. It is usually traced to the French game Bezique, first described in print in Paris in the 1840s and popular in England from 1861, either directly or through the Swiss and South German game Binokel. Which route is correct is still debated.
German immigrants brought Binokel to the United States in the later nineteenth century, and the name was anglicised into Pinochle. The queen of spades with the jack of diamonds, the combination now called a pinochle, matches the Bezique meld. Today Pinochle is mostly American, and the four-player partnership auction is the standard.
How to Play Pinochle: Basic Rules
The classic Pinochle deck has 48 cards: two copies each of the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace in all four suits. Cards rank ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9, so the ten beats the king. In the four-player partnership game each player gets 12 cards and partners sit opposite. A hand has these stages.
- Bidding: starting left of the dealer, each player bids higher or passes, and a player who passes cannot return. A bid promises how many points your side will score. A common opening bid in the 48-card game is 150, and games often run to 1,000.
- Trump and meld: the highest bidder names trump, then each player shows melds, which are scoring combinations in their own hand.
- Tricks: the bidder leads, everyone plays one card, and the highest card of the led suit wins unless a trump is played, in which case the highest trump wins. The winner leads next. Players must follow suit when they can.
- Counting: aces, tens and kings are the counters. A simple count is one point each, plus one for the last trick.
- Scoring: the bidding side adds meld to counters. If the total reaches the bid, it keeps the points. If not, it is set: the bid is subtracted from its score and its meld is usually lost.
- Winning: the first side to reach the agreed target score wins.
Pinochle Meld Chart and Scoring
Meld is the heart of Pinochle scoring. These are common values for the 48-card partnership game; house rules vary.
A run is the ace, 10, king, queen and jack of trump, worth 150; a double run is worth 1,500. A king and queen of one suit is a marriage, worth 40 in trump and 20 elsewhere. The nine of trump, a dix, is worth 10. A pinochle is worth 40, and a double pinochle, both pairs, is worth 300.
Arounds take one card of each suit: a hundred aces scores 100, eighty kings 80, sixty queens 60 and forty jacks 40.
Pinochle Strategy: Bidding and Card Play
Good Pinochle means estimating what your partnership can reach together, then protecting that promise.
- Count your meld before bidding, because meld is the only part of the bid you control; the rest depends on tricks.
- Bid only to a level your hand supports, since being set costs the full bid.
- Choose trump for length and strength together; a long suit with ace and 10 wins tricks and protects counters.
- Lead aces and tens when you control trump, so counters land in your pile instead of the opposition pile.
- Feed aces and tens to a trick your partner is already winning; it is the main way to lift the total.
- Track trump as it falls, because with two copies of each card you can tell when the top trump is gone.
Double Deck, Three-Handed and Two-Handed Pinochle
Double-deck Pinochle uses 80 cards, two decks with the nines removed, so each card appears four times. Four players get 20 cards each, one common rule set opens bidding at 50, and games often go to 500. Meld values differ, so check your chart.
Three-handed Pinochle is every player for themselves: 15 cards each, with three in a kitty for the bid winner. Two-handed Pinochle, closest to Bezique and Binokel, deals 12 cards each and leaves a stock to draw from.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many cards are in a Pinochle deck?
A standard Pinochle deck has 48 cards: two each of the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace in four suits. Double-deck partnership games use 80 cards, two decks with the nines removed, so each card appears four times.
What is a pinochle in the game?
A pinochle is a meld of the queen of spades and the jack of diamonds. It scores 40 in the common 48-card tables, and a double pinochle, both pairs, scores 300. The combination echoes the Bezique meld.
What happens if the bidder cannot make the bid?
The bidding side is set. In the usual 48-card rules its bid is subtracted from its score and its meld is generally lost, so a side can fall below zero. Opponents keep what they scored.
Do you have to follow suit and beat the card in Pinochle?
You must follow suit if you can. Older rules also require you to beat the current winning card when possible and to trump when void in the led suit. Newer competitive rules relax the duty to win, so confirm the table rules.
How is Pinochle different from Bezique?
They are close relatives. Bezique is the older French game, and Pinochle grew from it, possibly via Binokel. Two-handed versions are almost identical; the main difference is the deck, 48 cards from nine to ace for Pinochle against two 32-card packs for Bezique.
Will online Pinochle be free?
We plan to offer Pinochle free in your browser with no sign-up, and intend to add games with friends and computer players. This page is a placeholder until the game opens, so for now use it to learn the rules.