Pinochle

How to play Pinochle

1. Four players play in two teams, and partners sit opposite each other. Playing alone, you and Green, your computer partner, play Purple and Blue. With 2 Players, Orange and Green play Purple and Blue: each person has a computer partner.
2. The deck has 48 cards: two each of the nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace in every suit. Each player gets 12 cards. In every suit the cards rank ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine: the ten beats the king.
3. Bidding. Starting on the dealer's left, each player bids more than the last bid, at least 20, or passes. Once you pass, you're out of the bidding. When three players have passed, the last bidder wins the bid and names trumps. If the first three players all pass, the fourth must bid.
4. Meld. Everyone scores the combinations in their hand (see the table below), and the meld is shown to the whole table.
5. Play the tricks. The bid winner leads the first trick. The rules are strict: follow suit if you can, and beat the best card so far if you can. If you have none of the suit led, you must play a trump, higher than any trump already played if you can. Only with no cards of the suit and no trumps can you play anything else.
6. The highest trump wins the trick, or else the highest card of the suit led. If two identical cards are played, the first one wins. The winner leads the next trick.
7. Count the points. Each ace, ten and king won in tricks is worth 1 point, and the last trick 1 more: 25 in all.
8. Score the hand. A team's meld only counts if it wins at least one trick. If the bidding team's meld and points reach its bid, it scores them all; if not, it loses the amount of the bid. The other team scores its meld and points.
9. The first team to 150 points wins, or 100 for a shorter game. If both teams get there in the same hand, the team that won the bid wins.

Meld

A card can count in different kinds of meld: the queen of spades can be part of a marriage, queens around and the pinochle at once. It can't count twice in the same kind, so the king and queen in a run don't also count as a royal marriage.

Controls

• Bid: tap the smallest bid allowed or one of the bigger ones, or tap Pass. The panel shows the bids so far and your meld for each suit as trumps.
• Name trumps: if you win the bid, tap a suit. Each button shows the meld it would give you.
• Meld: everyone's meld is shown before the first trick, with the cards that make it. Tap Play the hand to start.
• Play a card: tap it. The cards you're allowed to play stand up with a yellow edge, and the line at the top tells you why.
• Keyboard: use ← and → or Tab to move along your cards or the buttons, and Enter to choose.

The score bar at the top shows each team's points, and during a hand, its meld and the points it has won so far. With 2 Players, a cover screen hides the cards whenever the device passes to the other player.

Computer levels

The computer players only know what a person in their seat would know: their own cards, the bids, the meld everyone showed and every card played so far. They never see another hand or the order of the deck. The level you pick is for your two rivals. Your computer partner always plays at Hard.

Tips to win

• Bid on meld and trumps. Meld is points in the bank, and a long trump suit wins tricks. Add what your partner usually brings and stop a few points short of your guess: a missed bid costs the whole bid.
• Mind the ten. The ten beats the king and the queen. An ace and a ten of the same suit are your surest winners.
• Feed your partner. When your partner is sure to win a trick, play an ace, ten or king on it. Players call this smearing.
• Keep counters away from the other team. When they're winning a trick, play a nine, jack or queen if you can.
• Read the meld. The meld shown before the first trick tells you who holds the aces, the long trumps and the marriages.
• Count to 25. There are only 25 points in tricks. Knowing how many are left tells you whether a bid can still be made.

About Pinochle

Pinochle comes from Bezique, an older French card game, and became one of the best-loved card games in the United States after German immigrants brought it over in the 1800s. This version is partnership Pinochle with one 48-card deck and the simple modern count, where aces, tens and kings are worth 1 point each. Older rule books use bigger numbers: an ace counts 11, a ten 10 and a king 4, and each meld is worth ten times as much. The game plays the same either way. Some players pass cards between partners after the bidding, play with an 80-card double deck, or start the bidding higher. Those aren't part of this version.

Questions

Updated 9 November 2026