This page is based on David Dailey's rules, entitled Pinochle is for Fun!
Note: There are other pages on this site for Double Deck Pinochle and Two Handed Pinochle.
David Dailey writes:
My parents taught me to play Pinochle the summer before my sixth birthday. I have been playing for many years since, and I greatly enjoy this opportunity to share my version of Pinochle with you all.There are many variations of this game. In fact, nearly every aspect of the game is played differently by somebody, somewhere. I call this version "My Family's Pinochle," or MFP for short. I have found Pinochle to be a wonderful game for playing in large groups, and it can be an excellent vehicle for social interaction if you play, as I do, not necessarily to win, but to have fun. I hope you also enjoy playing Pinochle.
Please write me with any comments, questions, or suggestions regarding this document. Additionally, I am working on a paper version of these rules (complete with illustrations!) that will be available for sale. Please send e-mail if you are interested in purchasing a copy. I can be reached at Pinochle@CompassRoseEnterprises.com.
Pinochle is a trick-taking game, like Euchre, Bridge, Hearts, Spades, and even the children's game War. Under Taking Tricks, I'll cover how you decide who leads each trick, how you decide who wins each trick, and what that all means. But before we get to the trick-taking phase of the game, I'll talk about the deck, how it's dealt, how bidding takes place, and all the other pieces of the game.
For those familiar with Pinochle terminology, My Family's Pinochle (MFP) is single-deck, four-handed, partnership, auction, racehorse Pinochle. For those not familiar with these terms, check out the list below:
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My Family's Pinochle is played with a 48-card deck (there are variations). The deck consists of twelve cards in each of four suits - two in each of the ranks Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, and Nine. Note that the rank of cards differs from standard usage: the Ten outranks everything (within its suit) except the Ace. This is likely to be a stumbling block for many people; however, if you are familiar with the bowers in Euchre or the strange role played by the Queen of Spades in Hearts, you should have no trouble with the transition.
In the trick-taking phase of the game, the Aces, Tens, and Kings are worth points, and thus are called "counters." Queens, Jacks, and Nines are not worth points (although they can win tricks [and influence people]), so they are called "non-counters."
The (at first) unusual order of ranks can be remembered by chanting "Ace, Ten, King" over and over, much as a beginning or infrequent dancer (such as myself) chants "one, two, three" while learning to waltz. "Ace, Ten, King" has become something of a mantra at our pinochle parties.
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For the first round of a game, the players select a dealer in whatever manner they choose. At our house, it's generally whoever happens to pick up the cards first. (Throughout this document, a "round" will refer to the entire sequence from one deal to the next; the set of cards dealt to an individual player will be called a "hand.")
The dealer shuffles the cards in whatever manner is convenient to mix them thoroughly. (It is considered good form to offer to shuffle and/or deal for somebody whose hands don't work so well.) The shuffled deck is placed on the table to the dealer's right; the player to that side cuts the deck, preferably toward the dealer.
The dealer picks up the deck (cut portion last) and deals the cards evenly to each players, beginning with dealer's left. Some players insist that the cards be dealt one at a time. I was taught to deal the cards three at a time, and continue to do so. Truth be told, it doesn't matter as long as each player receives twelve cards, the dealer receiving the final card(s). All 48 cards will have been dealt.
It is generally courteous to wait until all the cards have been dealt before picking up your hand. This way, if one player does not have enough cards, they can be re-distributed without having to re-shuffle and re-deal the whole deck.
Once the cards have been dealt, the players pick up, sort, and examine their hands. The next phase is bidding.
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The winner of the bid (hereafter called the "declarer") acquires three rights:
The minimum opening bid is 250 points, and the player to the dealer's left has the first opportunity to bid. Bids are made in increments of 10 (or multiples of 10) points. Unlike Bridge, no suit is named along with the point value - the bid consists of a number only.
Bid passes to the left, and when the bid reaches you, you have four options:
When only one person has not said "pass" (or "pass with help"), that person has won the bid and becomes the declarer. The amount bid is recorded on a piece of paper which is being used as a score pad.
In My Family's Pinochle, the dealer is "under": this means that if the other three players pass, the dealer has taken the bid at 250 points.
The winner of the bidding names the trump suit.
Go to bidding tactics
Go to tactics of choosing trumps
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When the bidder has named trump, the bidder's partner selects four cards to pass across the table. Exactly four cards must be sent; no more and no fewer. Once you've selected your four cards, place them in one stack face down on the table in front of you, and slide them across to your partner.
The bidder picks up these four cards and sorts them into his or her hand and chooses four cards to send back across the table in the same way. These may include some of the cards just received.
Go to tactics for passing cards
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Now that the cards have been passed back and forth across the table, all four players lay down their meld. My dictionary calls meld "a combination of cards declared, especially by putting them face up on the table," and that definition is appropriate. Each combination is called a piece of meld, and each piece is worth a particular number of points.
There are three types of meld, and an individual card may belong to several different pieces of meld as long as they are of different types. Each player places face-up on the table only those cards necessary to show the value of their meld.
In My Family's Pinochle, the various pieces of meld are worth the following numbers of points:
Runs (all cards must be in trump-- non-trump runs do not count) Bare Run (A, T, K, Q, J) ............................. 150 Run with Extra King (A, T, K, K, Q, J) ............... 190 Run with Extra Queen (A, T, K, Q, Q, J) .............. 190 Run with Extra Marriage (A, T, K, K, Q, Q, J) ........ 230 Double Run (A, A, T, T, K, K, Q, Q, J, J) ............ 1500 Nine of Trump (called the deece) ...................... 10 Marriages (King and Queen of the Same Suit) Royal Marriage (in Trump) ........................... 40 Common Marriage (non-Trump) ......................... 20
Pinochle Single (one Jack of Diamonds and one Queen of Spades) ....... 40 Double (both Jacks of Diamonds and both Queens of Spades) ... 300
Arounds One of Each Suit Both of Each Suit Aces ............... 100 ................. 1000 Kings .............. 80 ................. 800 Queens ............. 60 ................. 600 Jacks .............. 40 ................. 400
Although it seems arbitrary, Tens Around is worth nothing. Nines Around, if you really want to meld it, is (facetiously) worth 10 points, because you automatically have the deece.
When all four players have laid down their meld, both teams count their points and record them on the score pad. Here's where it starts to get interesting: There are only a total of 250 points available during the trick-taking phase of the game. If the amount that was bid is more than 250 points above the amount melded by the declarer's team, there is no way that team can make their bid. They are not "on the board," and they will "go set" for this hand. (See the Taking Tricks section for what happens when you've "gone set.")
If the difference between the amount bid and the amount the declarer's team has melded is 250 points or less, the hand can be played out. However, if the declarer feels there is absolutely no chance of making the required points, he or she can "throw in the hand" and the consequences are the same as if that team had not been "on the board". General courtesy calls for all players to wait until the declarer picks up his or her own meld; then they may pick up theirs. This gives the declarer a fair chance to see what he or she is up against.
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Once all players have picked up their melded cards, the declarer leads to the first trick. Proceeding to the left, each player plays a card on the trick (following the rules outlined below). When four cards have been played to the trick, the highest-ranking card of trump - or, if there is no trump in the trick, the highest-ranking card of the suit led - wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest-ranking card, the trick is won by whichever of the equal cards was played first. The player who played the winning card leads to the next trick, and so on until twelve tricks have been played.
There are some rules about what must be played on the trick. The first, or lead, card, may be anything in the leader's hand (although some plays are smarter than others). The basic rules of engagement are as follows:
Notes:
Once all four cards have been played to a trick, it should be clear which player has won the trick. Each team should designate one partner to "pull" the tricks, or gather them from the center of the table. For the declaring team, this is usually the non-declarer (giving the declarer time to concentrate on what to lead next). The puller collects the cards, turns them face-down, and places them in a stack in front of him or her on the table. As a courtesy, the puller shows the cards to the other players (especially the declarer) before they are turned face-down.
Go to tactics of playing tricks
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Once all twelve tricks have been played, both teams collect their stacks of pulled cards and count the Aces, Tens, and Kings (the "counters") collected during the round. Each counter is worth 10 points. The final trick, in and of itself, is worth an additional 10 points. This make 250 points total: 240 for the twenty-four counters in the deck, plus 10 for the final trick.
The scores obtained by each side are recorded on the score pad.
If the declaring team "makes the bid" (earns enough points, through melding and trick-taking combined, to meet or exceed the amount bid), all the earned points are added to the team's previous score. If they do not, they "go set". This means that they do not score any points melded, they score no points taken in the tricks, and their previous score is reduced by the amount bid.
If the non-declaring team fails to earn points while taking tricks (that is, they pulled no counters and failed to capture the final trick), they do not score any points that were melded. (It is said that they failed to "save their meld.") The exception is that if their only meld was one or both deeces, the points are scored. Nines of trump are said to "save themselves". If the non-declaring team does capture points in tricks, the meld is added to their previous score, along with any points earned in tricks.
If the declaring team were not "on the board" (their meld fell short of their bid by more than 250 points) or they decided to throw in the hand without play, they lose the amount of their bid, and the opponents score their own meld. The cards are not played, so there is no score for cards won in tricks. Note that if the declaring side have no chance of making their bid, it is advantageous for them to throw in the hand, as this prevents the opponents from scoring for cards taken in the play.
It is a great coup for the declaring team to take all 250 points during the trick-taking phase of the game. It is also a great coup for the non-declaring team to steal enough points that the declaring team cannot make their bid. This tension, and waiting to see how it will be resolved, is part of the great fun of Pinochle.
My Family's Pinochle is generally played to 1500 points when there are only four people playing (and if both teams exceed 1500 on the same round, the declaring team wins regardless of the actual score). If we have several more people, however, we call four rounds a game and switch partners and/or tables. Pinochle is a lot of fun when you can play with four or five different people during the course of an evening - plus, you build up a lot of stories about "the big one that got away".
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Some play that no extra points are scored for a single extra king or queen added to a run. This is probably more usual than the way of scoring meld described in the main account. A-T-K-K-Q-Q-J of trumps would score 190 for a run plus a marriage in trumps.
The rules of play given in most card game books published since 1945 are somewhat different from those give in the taking tricks section of this page. According to these rules:
The older rules, as given on this page, require players to beat the highest card in the trick whenever possible, even if a non-trump was led, and many players, perhaps the majority, still observe these older rules.
Many players divide all the scores by 10 - so a pinochle is worth 4, a run is worth 15, each counter (A, T, K) taken in a trick is worth 1, and so on.
Robert J Gauen reports a different method of scoring frequently used in the Pacific northwest of the USA. This uses chips. Each team is allotted 14 colored chips (one team red, the opponents blue) representing 100 points each and 10 white chips representing 10 points each. One player from each team is assigned to hold the chips at the start and pass them to partner as points are scored. At the conclusion of each hand one colored chip for each hundred points won and one white chip for each ten points won is passed across to the partner. The first side to pass all chips to the opposite side of the table wins. There is one notable difference in scoring. When the bidding partnership "goes set" on a hand (fails to make the points for their bid), they do not lose points; instead, the other team scores the failed bid in addition to the points which they made on meld, and the counters they took in their tricks. This method of scoring makes for a much faster game.
Steve Birnbaum's Stonebridge Pinochle site describes a different version of Single Deck Partnership Pinochle, with plenty of useful information on strategy and the meanings of bids. Some key differences in the rules there are:
Associated with this page is a separate page on Pinochle Tactics (for the single deck partnership game) and a Pinochle Glossary. The material for both of these was also contributed by David Dailey.
B.J. Herbison's Playing Pinochle page describes a variation of Single Deck Pinochle, and a detailed set of suggested bidding conventions.
There are separate pages on this site for:
Eventually, more types will be covered.
Free Canasis.com is an online pinochle site that offers the most variations of pinochle including both single deck and double deck styles, both the old and new rules, and most of the variations described above. With a pleasing wooden theme and many other features, Canasis is definitely worth a long look.
Pinochle can be played online free at AOL games (formerly games.com / Masque publishing).
The collection HOYLE Card Games for Windows or Mac OS X includes a partnership single deck Pinochle program, along with many other popular card games.