How to play Pinochle
Pinochle is America's great bid-and-meld game, played here in its classic single-deck partnership form: you and Björk against Rúnar and Óskar with a 48-card deck — two copies of A, 10, K, Q, J and 9 in each suit, with the ten ranking above the king. Each hand runs through six phases: deal (12 cards each), bidding, the exchange, melding, trick play and scoring.
Just want the rules? Read the complete Pinochle rulebook.
- Bidding — from 250 up in steps of 10 or 20, each bid promising the points your team will make from melds plus tricks. If everyone else passes, the dealer is stuck with 250. The winner names trump, swaps 4 cards with their partner (partner passes first, the winner returns 4), and leads the first trick.
- Melding — the game automatically lays out your best combination: runs (150), marriages (40 in trump, 20 outside), the pinochle J♦+Q♠ (40), the dix — nine of trump — (10), aces/kings/queens/jacks around (100/80/60/40, ten times that with all eight), double pinochle (300) and the mighty double run (1500).
- Trick play — follow suit and beat the winning card if you can; void in the suit, you must trump (and overtrump). Aces, tens and kings you capture are worth 10 each, the last trick 10 more — 250 points on the table every hand.
- Scoring — make your bid and everything counts; fall short and you go set, losing the whole bid. Take zero trick points and you score nothing at all. First team to 1500 wins — and if both teams cross together, the bidders take it.
Strategy tips that win more hands
- Bid your meld plus honest tricks. Count the meld you can see, add roughly 10 points per sure trick (trump length and aces), and remember the exchange will improve a strong trump suit. Chronic overbidding is how teams bleed 300 points a hand.
- Pass to complete the run. As the bidder's partner, send your best trump and the pinochle halves (Q♠ when diamonds are trump, J♦ when spades are) — completing a 150-point run beats keeping a pretty side suit.
- Feed counters to your partner's winners. When Björk has a trick locked up, "smear" it with an ace, ten or king you would otherwise lose. Points ride on every counter, not on who wins the trick.
- Pull trumps when you own them. After winning the bid with a long trump suit, lead high trumps early so the defenders can't ruff your aces and tens later.
- Watch the duplicate. Two copies of every card means your ace can lose to the other ace played first. Track which copies are gone before banking on a "boss" card.
- Throw in truly hopeless hands. If your bid is more than your meld plus 250, you can't make it. Playing on is only right when you might sweep every trick and blank the defenders.
Frequently asked questions
What cards are in a pinochle deck?
A pinochle deck has 48 cards: two copies of the ace, ten, king, queen, jack and nine in every suit. There are no cards from 2 through 8. Unusually, the ten is the second-highest card — it beats the king, queen and jack in trick play. The full ranking is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9.
What is a run worth in pinochle?
A run — jack, queen, king, ten and ace of the trump suit — is worth 150 points. A run with an extra king or extra queen is 190, a run with a whole extra marriage is 230, and a double run (both copies of all five cards) scores a massive 1500 points, usually enough to win the game on the spot.
What is the pinochle meld?
The meld the game is named after is the jack of diamonds together with the queen of spades, worth 40 points. Holding both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades is a double pinochle, worth 300 points.
How does bidding work in pinochle?
Starting left of the dealer, players bid the points they think their team can make from melds plus tricks. The minimum bid is 250 and each bid must raise the previous one by 10 or 20. If the other three players pass without bidding, the dealer is forced to take the contract at 250. The auction winner names trump, exchanges 4 cards with their partner, and leads the first trick.
How do you score points in pinochle tricks?
Every ace, ten and king captured in tricks is worth 10 points, and winning the last trick adds another 10 — 250 points in all. A team that takes no trick points at all scores nothing for the hand, even losing its meld points. The bidding team must reach its bid with melds plus tricks or it "goes set" and the whole bid is subtracted from its score.
Do you have to take the trick in pinochle?
Yes — this version plays the strict rules used on cardgames.io. You must follow suit and beat the current winning card if you can, even when your partner is winning. If you cannot follow suit you must play a trump, and you must overtrump the highest trump already played if able. Only when you can neither follow nor trump may you throw any card.
More free card games
Enjoy the bidding battle? Try Spades for pure contract play, or the 5-card trump duel of Euchre. Prefer dodging tricks instead of chasing them? Hearts is waiting.