- Number of Players: 2–4
- Materials Needed: Pinochle deck, pen and paper for scoring
- Objective: Earn the most points by playing card combos called “melds” and by winning cards during each round.
Setup
Make a Pinochle deck with 2 copies of the face cards, aces, 10s, and 9s. Choose 2 decks of cards that have the same design on the back, and remove the 2s–8s of each suit. Keep the 2 sets of aces, kings, queens, jacks, 10s, and 9s so you have a 48-card Pinochle deck for your game. Alternatively, purchase a Pinochle deck that already has all the cards you need to start playing.
Deal 12 cards to each player. Pinochle works best as a 2-player or a 4-player game with teams of 2. Shuffle the Pinochle deck and deal cards clockwise around the table, starting with the player to your left. Deal 3–4 cards at a time to each player until everyone has 12 cards in front of them. If you have any leftover cards, place them face-down in the middle of the table. If you’re playing in teams of 2, sit across from your partner. You cannot look at your teammates cards. 2-player rules: After dealing out hands to each player, flip over the top card of the deck to reveal the “trump” suit, which is the most powerful suit for the rest of the round. 3-player rules: Deal 18 cards to each player instead. Set 3 cards face-down in the middle of the table. These cards may be won by a player during the next part of the game.
Card Point Values
Melds Melds are specific combinations of cards that earn points if you have them in your hand. During a 3- and 4-player game, you’ll count points from all of your melds before you play the cards in your hand—this informs how high your bid can be in the bidding portion of the game. In a 2-player match, you’ll be able to play a meld if you win a turn during the round (since 2-player Pinochle doesn't have a bidding round). There are 3 types of melds, and each card can only be used in 1 meld of each type. Some melds depend on the trump suit. The melds are: Type 1 Royal Marriage (K and Q in trump suit): 40 pts Common Marriage (K and Q in non-trump suit): 20 pts Dix (9 in trump suit): 10 pts Bare Run (A, 10, K, Q, and J in trump): 150 pts Run with extra king (A, 10, K, K, Q, and J in trump): 190 pts Run with extra queen (A, 10, K, Q, Q, and J in trump): 190 pts Run with extra marriage (A, 10, K, K, Q, Q, and J in trump): 230 pts Double Run (A, A, 10, 10, K, K, Q, Q, J, and J in trump): 1,500 pts Type 2 Jacks Around (1 J of each suit): 40 pts Queens Around (1 Q of each suit): 60 pts Kings Around (1 K of each suit): 80 pts Aces Around (1 A of each suit): 100 pts Double Jacks Around (2 J of each suit): 400 pts Double Queens Around (2 Q of each suit): 600 pts Double Kings Around (1 K of each suit): 800 pts Double Aces Around (2 A of each suit): 1,000 pts Type 3 Pinochle (1 jack of diamonds and 1 queen of spades): 40 pts Double Pinochle (2 jacks of diamonds and 2 queens of spades): 300 pts
Tricks A "trick" is a single turn during a round of Pinochle where each person plays 1 card. Someone wins the played cards each turn and adds them to a trick pile for scoring. After you play through all the cards in your hand, you’ll tally up points from the cards you won. Aces, 10s, and kings are all worth 10 points when they’re in your trick pile. Queens, jacks, and 9s are worth 0 points. There are a total of 240 points from winning tricks.
Bidding
Place bids on how many points you think your team will earn. Count up the total number of melds you currently have in your hand and estimate how many points your hand is worth (in addition to your partner's). Use this number to decide how high or low you're willing to bid for the round. The player to the left of the dealer starts with a minimum bid of 250 points. Continue clockwise around the table either raising the bid in increments of 10, or passing. Once a player makes a bid and everyone else passes, the player with the highest bid wins. 2-player rules: Skip the bidding phase of the game. If you’re playing a 4-player game, you and your teammate make separate bids based on your individual hands. Don’t try to outbid your teammate because you may have trouble earning that many points during the round.
Select the trump suit for the round if you had the highest bid. The trump suit is the most powerful suit during a round of Pinochle. Look at the cards in your hand and look for the suit that you have with the most cards. State the suit out loud once you decide.
Exchange 3 cards with your partner in a 4-player game if you win the bid. After you win the bid, your partner chooses 3 cards from their hand that will help you with your hand. Once you receive the 3 cards, choose 3 of your cards to give back to your partner. Pass cards in the trump suit first to make your partner’s hand more powerful. After that, then pass aces, 9s, or 10s. Try to avoid passing cards that are not the trump suit if you’re able to. 3-player rules: If you’re the highest bidder, take the 3 cards in the middle of the table and add them to your hand. Then, select 3 cards from your hand to set into a trick pile to score at the end of the round.
Making Melds
Lay out and count points from the melds in your hand. Check your hand for any possible melds that you have and lay them out in front of you for all the players to see. Each card can be used in multiple melds as long as they’re not of the same type. Tally up the combined points of your melds and write them down on a piece of paper. These points aren’t part of your score yet but will be added at the end of the round. After you count the points from melds, put the cards back in your hand. Example: If you lay out an ace of each suit as well as a king, a queen, a jack, a 10, and a 9 of the trump suit, you’d earn 250 points (100 for Aces Around and 150 for a Bare Run). 2-player rules: Do not lay out your melds yet. Instead, you’ll have the opportunity to make a meld each time you win a trick.
Playing Tricks
Play 1 card from your hand to the trick. Whoever made the highest bid (or the player that didn’t deal cards in a 2-player game) starts the first trick. Choose a card from your hand to lead the trick, and play it to the center of the table. Go clockwise around the table adding a card to the trick, playing a higher rank of the same suit if you’re able to. Once every player adds 1 card to the trick, the turn is over. Cards rank from highest to lowest A, 10, K, Q, J, and 9. If you’re not able to play a card matching the lead suit of the trick, then you must play one in the trump suit if you have one. Otherwise, you’re able to play any card from your hand. If you’re leading the trick, try to play the highest-ranked card in the trump suit you have to guarantee the win.
Win the trick for playing the highest-ranked card in the starting or trump suit. Compare the rank of the cards that were played during the trick. If any trump cards were played, the one with the highest rank wins. If there aren’t any trump cards, then the highest-ranked card of the lead suit wins. Take all the cards played during the trick and place them face-down in a pile in front of you. Example: Diamonds are trump. If the cards played in order are king of clubs, ace of clubs, 10 of diamonds, and 10 of clubs, then the 10 of diamonds will win because it’s the trump suit. 2-player rules: After winning a trick, both players draw a card from the deck. Then, lay out a single meld and score the points. Keep the cards on the table until you play them during a trick.
Continue playing tricks until you’ve used all 12 cards in your hand. Whoever won the last trick leads the first card of the next one. Continue playing through your hand until you run out of cards and end the round. If you win the last trick, add 10 points to your score. 2-player rules: Once you run out of cards in the deck, pick up any melds you laid out. Continue playing tricks until you run out of cards, but do not score any more melds.
Scoring
Add the points from your tricks to the points from your melds. Go through the trick pile for you (and your teammate) and count how many aces, 10s, and kings there are. Give yourself 10 points for each of these counter cards and add them to the score from your melds. In a 2-player game, the total point value is your final score for the round.
Score negative points if you didn’t meet your bid. If you’re the person or team that won the bid at the start of the round, compare your point total to the bid amount. If you met or exceeded your bid, then you get to keep all your points for the round. If you got fewer points than your bid, you score 0 points from melds and counter cards. Instead, subtract your bid amount from your total score. If you’re not the player or team that placed a bid, you score points as long as you won 1 trick during the round.
Winning the Game
Shuffle and redeal the cards to start a new round. The player to the left of the last dealer becomes the dealer for the next round. Collect all of the cards from the previous round and shuffle them together to form a new deck. Deal out 12 cards to each player, place bids, and continue playing the game.
Continue playing until a team reaches 1,500 points and wins. At the end of each round, add the total you earned to your previous score. If you or your team ever reach 1,500 or more, you win the game! If all players or teams cross the point threshold during the same round, whoever placed the bid for the current round wins.
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