Joe Dog Software

Pinochle Rules

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

Pinochle is a classic trick-taking card game for two to five players. JoeDog’s Pinochle currently uses a four-person variant in which teams of two compete 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 the 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 rotates clockwise 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 each player has an equal number of cards.  (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 places a bid—the highest bidder names the trump suit.

The bid begins with a minimum bid. Each ensuing bid must be higher than the previous bid. If the first bid exceeds the minimum by 1, the next player must either match 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.

Passing Cards

In some variations, the winning team may 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 than everyone else, and their partner has three fewer. At that point, the bid winner must return three cards. 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 that 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's hand score. The hand total is the number of meld points plus the number of take points (see 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 Jacks of Diamonds and Two Queens 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, strict rules dictate which 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 a 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 a subsequent 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 awarded based on the counters 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 a queen. Each ace, then, and a 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 previous trick contains no counters; points are awarded simply for taking the final trick in the hand.