How to Play Partnership Pinochle

Pinochle is the card game of union halls, church basements and long Sunday afternoons. It looks complicated the first time, because a hand has three parts: an auction, a showing of "meld", and then the play of the cards. Once you have seen each part once, it all fits together, and the game rewards both good luck and good memory.

This page explains the four-handed partnership game played by our free online Pinochle. Families play many versions; where yours might differ, we say so, and the rule variations page covers the most common house rules.

What You Need

• Four players in two partnerships. Partners sit across from each other.
• A 48-card Pinochle deck: two copies each of the ace, 10, king, queen, jack and 9 in all four suits. You can make one from two ordinary decks by keeping only those cards.
• A score pad, since the totals run into the hundreds over a game.

The Order of the Cards

The one thing that surprises everybody: in Pinochle the 10 ranks just below the ace.

The aces, 10s and kings are called counters, because they are the cards you count after the play. Since there are two of every card, two identical cards may land in the same trick. When that happens and they are the best cards in the trick, the one played first wins.

The Deal

The dealer shuffles and deals out all 48 cards, so each player gets 12. Most people deal three or four cards at a time. The deal moves one seat to the left after every hand.

The Bidding

Before anyone knows what trump will be, the players bid for the right to name it. A bid is a promise: "My side will make at least this many points this hand, from our meld and the counters we take."

• The player to the dealer's left speaks first, and the bidding goes around to the left.
• The lowest bid is 25. Every bid must be higher than the one before.
• Instead of bidding you may pass. Once you pass, you are out of the bidding for the rest of the hand.
• The bidding goes around as many times as needed until three players have passed. The last one left wins the bid.
• If the first three players all pass, the dealer is "stuck" and must take the bid at 25 (or bid higher).

Bidding to your partner. You are allowed to bid over your own partner. Many players do this to tell their partner "I have meld too", or because their hand is the stronger of the two. But every point you bid is a point your side must make.

Naming Trump and Passing Cards

The winner of the bid, called the bidder, names any suit as trump. Then comes the pass, which is what makes the partnership game special:

1. The bidder's partner chooses 4 cards and passes them face down to the bidder. Good partners send trumps and aces.
2. The bidder, now holding 16 cards, chooses 4 cards to pass back. Usually these are cards the bidder doesn't need: not trumps, and not part of any meld.

The other side does not pass. Everyone is back to 12 cards before the meld.

Meld

Now every player lays their scoring combinations face up on the table so everyone can check them. Each side adds its two players' meld together. After the meld is counted, the cards go back into the players' hands for the play.

Can one card count twice?

Yes, as long as the two melds are of different kinds. The queen of spades can be part of a spade marriage, of queens around and of a pinochle all at once. What you can't do is use a card twice in the same kind of meld. In particular, the king and queen inside a run are not also a royal marriage. If you hold a run plus an extra king and queen of trump, that extra pair is a royal marriage worth 4 more.

A meld example

Hearts are trump and you hold A♥ 10♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥, 9♥, K♠ K♣ K♦, and Q♠ J♦. You have a run (15), a dix (1), kings around (8, using the K♥ from the run too) and a pinochle (4): 28 points of meld.

Playing the Tricks

The bidder leads to the first trick. After that, whoever wins a trick leads the next. The rules for each card you play are strict:

1. Follow suit if you can.
2. Head the trick: if you are following suit, you must play a card that beats the one currently winning, if you have one. (If someone has already trumped the trick, any card of the suit led will do.)
3. If you can't follow suit, you must play a trump. If a trump has already been played, you must over-trump it if you can.
4. Only if you have neither the suit led nor any trump may you play any card.

The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins. Of two identical cards, the one played first wins.

In our game: when it's your turn, the cards you are allowed to play are outlined and raised. Tap any other card and the game tells you why it isn't allowed, for example "You must play higher than the K♥ if you can."

Counting and Scoring

When all 12 tricks are played, each side counts its counters: every ace, 10 and king it took is worth 1 point, and whoever took the last trick adds 1 more. That makes exactly 25 points in every hand.

One more rule: a side's meld only counts if it takes at least one counter during the play. Meld without a single counter is lost. Scores can go below zero after a set.

The first side to reach 150 wins. If both sides pass 150 on the same hand, the bidding side counts first and wins.

A Worked Example Hand

West deals. North opens at 25, East bids 26, you pass, West passes, North bids 27, and East passes. North wins the bid at 27 and names clubs.

You pass North your two clubs and two aces. North keeps them, completes a run in clubs, and passes you back four low cards. In the meld, North shows a run (15) and a pinochle (4); you show aces around (10). Your side has 29 in meld, already more than the 27 you bid, so you only need to take one counter to save it. West and East show 9 between them.

In the play your side takes 15 counters and West and East take 10. You and North score 29 + 15 = 44. West and East score 9 + 10 = 19. Had North needed more than the 44 you made, say a bid of 46, your side would have been set and gone down 46 instead.

Common Questions at the Table

Do I have to play a counter if I can? No. You must follow, head and trump as described, but inside those rules you choose freely.

What if I hold two identical aces? Lead one: if the trick isn't trumped, it wins, even if someone else holds the other copy, because yours was played first.

Classic scoring. Older score pads count aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2, with 10 for the last trick: 250 a hand. Every meld is then worth ten times as much (a run is 150), bids start at 250 and the game is 1,500. It is exactly the same game with bigger numbers, and you can choose it in Settings.

Helpful Features in Our Game

• A bar above the table always shows trump in large letters, the bid, the card order and each side's counters.
• Big bidding buttons: the next bid, and jumps of 1, 5 and 10, plus Pass. The Hint estimates your meld and counters and suggests a bid.
• When naming trump, each suit button shows how many cards you hold and what your meld would be.
• After the pass, everyone's meld is laid out in named groups with points, and your own is explained in plain words.
• Tap Why? next to any computer move to see its reason, and Show All Hands after each hand.

Ready to sharpen your game? Read the Pinochle strategy guide, or if you like trump games with fewer cards, try Euchre.