Pinochle

Seat two partnerships and prepare the deck

This guide uses the four-player, single-deck partnership format described by David Dailey as My Family's Pinochle: a four-card partner exchange, bidding from 250, his run bonuses, and the obligation to beat the winning card whenever possible. It is a particular complete ruleset; other Pinochle tables may use different rules. Keep the choices below for the whole game.

Partners sit opposite each other. Use 48 cards: two copies of each A, 10, K, Q, J and 9 in spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. A purchased Pinochle pack works, or take those ranks from two matching ordinary decks. Remove all other ranks and jokers. Card strength, high to low, is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9. Each card stays in its printed suit.

Put paper and a pencil within reach. Make two team columns with space for each deal's bid, meld, captured points and running total. Start both teams at zero. Keep the meld list below available to everyone.

Choose a first dealer. Shuffle; the person to the dealer's right cuts. Deal clockwise from the dealer's left, three cards at a time, until everyone has 12. The dealer receives the last packet. All cards are dealt: there is no stock, kitty or drawing during play. Check hand sizes before anyone starts bidding. The deal moves one seat left after each completed or conceded deal.

Bid for trump, then exchange four cards

The player left of the dealer acts first; continue clockwise. Say a number or pass. The first bid is at least 250; bids are multiples of 10, and a later bid must exceed the current bid by at least 10. Jumping higher is allowed. A bid names points only, not a suit. Passing removes you from this auction; you cannot return later. Keep circling the players who have not passed until only the highest bidder remains. If the other three players pass before anyone bids, the dealer must take the bid for 250.

The winning bidder, called the declarer, commits their team to at least that many points from meld and captured cards combined. Record the bid. Declarer now announces any one suit as trump: even a low trump beats any non-trump card. You do not need a marriage to name that suit in this format.

Declarer's partner selects exactly four cards and slides them face down to declarer. Declarer adds them to their hand, chooses exactly four cards from the resulting 16, and returns those face down. Cards just received may be returned. Both players finish with 12 cards; the other team exchanges nothing. The partner is trying to help with trump strength or combinations, not simply dispose of four unwanted cards.

Dailey's rules also permit saying 'pass with help': you leave the auction while telling your partner that you can supply four useful cards whatever suit they choose. It does not reveal their ranks or suits. For a first game, ordinary passes are enough; do not assume an unfamiliar table allows this convention.

Show combinations in each player's own hand

After the exchange, each player places the cards needed for their meld face up. Each combination must be held by one player. Partners cannot combine cards across their hands. Add the two players' individual meld totals for each team and record them. Meld is counted once before trick play; there is no later melding as cards are played.

Runs, marriages and trump nines: A run is A, 10, K, Q and J all in trump, worth 150. In this exact format, a run plus a second trump K is 190; a run plus a second trump Q is also 190; a run plus both a second K and second Q is 230. A double run, two of each of those five trump ranks, is 1,500 instead. A K and Q of the same suit form a marriage: 40 in trump, 20 in another suit. Each trump 9, also called a deece, is 10; two are 20.

Pinochles: Q of spades with J of diamonds is 40. Both copies of the Q of spades and both copies of the J of diamonds form a double pinochle worth 300 instead of two single pinochles.

Arounds: One ace of each of the four suits is 100; one king of each is 80; one queen of each is 60; one jack of each is 40. Both copies of that rank in all four suits give a double around: aces 1,000, kings 800, queens 600, jacks 400. The double replaces the two singles. There is no around award for tens or nines.

A card may count in different families: runs/marriages, pinochles, and arounds. For example, Q of spades may belong to a spade marriage, a pinochle and queens around. Within the same family, do not reuse a card to create another award. A run already includes its marriage: score the appropriate run total above, not that total plus another 40 for its K and Q. Two separate marriages of a suit need both kings and both queens. Double combinations replace their contained singles.

For example, with hearts as trump, A, 10, K, Q, J, a second heart K and a heart 9 score 190 for the enhanced run plus 10 for the nine: 200. A non-trump A, 10, K, Q, J is not a run, but its K and Q still score a 20-point marriage.

Subtract declarer's team meld from the bid to find the captured points needed. Only 250 captured points are available. If the gap is more than 250, the bid is impossible and the hand is conceded. Declarer may also concede if they judge the hand hopeless. For either concession, subtract the bid from their running total; the other team adds its own meld. Play no tricks and award no captured points. Otherwise, let everyone inspect the displayed meld, then return it to the players' hands.

Play twelve tricks

Count valuable cards and settle the bid

Each captured A, 10 and K is worth 10 points, regardless of its suit. Captured Q, J and 9 are zero. The team winning the last trick gets another 10. There are 24 valuable cards, so the two teams' captured totals must add to 250. Count the cards, not how many tricks each side won.

If declarer's team has meld plus captured points at least equal to its bid, add its entire earned total to its running score. If it falls short, it scores neither meld nor captured points and instead subtracts the full bid. Scores can go below zero. For a bid of 350, meld of 190 and captured points of 170 give 360 earned points: add 360. Capturing only 150 would give 340, so subtract 350 instead.

The other team normally adds its own meld plus captured points. To keep its meld, however, it must capture at least one valuable card or win the last trick. Winning only zero-point tricks is insufficient. If it captures no points, it scores no meld, with this ruleset's exception: when its only meld is one or both trump nines, that 10 or 20 is still scored. A conceded hand follows the earlier concession rule: the opponents score their meld without needing tricks.

Finish at 1,500

Settle both teams' scores after the entire deal. If only one team has reached at least 1,500, it wins. If both have reached at least 1,500 on the same deal, the declaring team wins, even if its total is lower. A tied score below the target is no finish: deal again. There is no mid-deal declaration of victory in this format.

If neither team has finished, gather all 48 cards, move the dealer left, shuffle and deal again. Partners stay together for this game. For another game, reset scores to zero and decide whether to keep or change partners.

Help a new table keep the rules straight

Before the first deal, say: 'Ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine. We pass four, count meld once, and must beat the winning card whenever possible.' Keep the meld list visible. Separate a combination's meld value from a card's captured value: a queen can help score meld but is worth zero in the captured pile.

For a first session, this guide suggests one unscored teaching deal with everyone showing their hands. Walk through the auction, exchange and meld, then ask which cards are legal before each play. Finish all 12 tricks and compare the captured total with 250. Shuffle and start the real game at zero afterward. This is a teaching suggestion, not an official competitive rule.

Read bids aloud and write the winning number before passing. Have both opponents confirm meld totals before cards return to hands. Explain why a bid is plausible through a likely trump suit, existing combinations and useful high cards; a large amount of meld alone does not ensure control of tricks.

This guide's table agreement is to use spoken bids and cards played for game information, rather than coded taps, emphatic card slaps or gestures to a partner. Ask for rules clarification without revealing private cards. Agree on this before the first scored deal; familiar family signals may surprise a new player.

If an illegal card is spotted before the next player acts, this guide's house remedy is to put it back and choose a legal card. If an error is found later, or an accidental reveal prevents a fair continuation, cancel that deal with no score change and redeal with the same dealer. Use the same remedy for either team. These are casual-table remedies, not a universal Pinochle penalty. Check disputed meld before pickup and use the printed suit and rank to settle duplicate-card ties.

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