Rules
Four players in two teams of two, partners sitting across from each other. A 48-card pinochle deck: two each of the ace, ten, king, queen, jack and nine in every suit.
1Set up
- Choose a dealer. It’s just whoever deals — no other significance.
- The dealer shuffles and the player to their right cuts.
- The dealer passes out the cards three at a time, clockwise, until everyone has 12.
Five nines, no aces? Throw it in.
If you’re dealt at least five nines and no aces, you may show your hand and call for a re-deal. You usually should.
2Bidding
Bidding starts with the player to the dealer’s left and goes clockwise. You’re bidding the points you think your team can make this hand — meld plus tricks.
- 250the minimum
- 260up by 10
- 280or more, by tens
- Passyou’re out
- The minimum bid is 250 (150 when playing three-handed). Each bid must raise the last by at least 10, in tens — or pass.
- Once you pass, you’re out of the bidding for the hand.
- The bid that makes everyone else pass is the contract, and that player is the bidder.
- If the first three players pass, the last player is stuck with 250.
3Trump & passing
The bidder names trump. Then, before anyone melds, the bidder and their partner trade four cards each way.
The partner sends the four cards that will help most: trump, aces, and — when trump is diamonds or spades — jacks of diamonds or queens of spades to go for pinochle. The bidder sends four back.
4Meld
Everyone lays down their meld and the points go to their team. Points stack — every combination you hold counts, so one card can score in more than one meld. Examples below use spades as trump.
Rounds
Round of aces
Round of kings
Round of queens
Round of jacks
Nine of trump
All of one card
All 8 aces
All 8 kings
All 8 queens
All 8 jacks
Both nines of trump
Marriages
Marriage
A king and queen of the same suit.
Marriage in trump
A king and queen of trump.
Round robin
A marriage in every suit.
Family
Family
Ace, ten, king, queen and jack of trump.
Family + extra king or queen
A family of trump with a second king (or a second queen). Without the family, three of those four kings and queens are just a marriage in trump (40).
Double marriage
Both kings and both queens of trump — no family needed.
Double family
Every ace, ten, king, queen and jack of trump.
Pinochles
Pinochle
The jack of diamonds and the queen of spades.
Double pinochle
Both jacks of diamonds and both queens of spades.
Points stack
As many combinations as you hold all count toward your total. Hold the queen of spades with a family in spades and a jack of diamonds, and you score the family and the pinochle.
5Playing the hand
After meld, the hand is played out in tricks. The bidder leads the first trick, and whoever wins a trick leads the next.
- The highest trump wins the trick; if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit that was led wins.
- When two identical cards are played, the first one played wins.
- You must follow suit, and you must beat the winning card if you can.
- If you can’t follow suit, you must trump — and over-trump if you can.
- Only if you can do neither may you throw any card.
6Scoring & winning
Counters
Every ace, ten and king you take in tricks is worth 10. The last trick is worth 10 more — 250 points in all.
- A team must take at least one trick to keep its meld.
- Each team scores its meld plus the counters it took.
- If the bidding team makes its bid, it scores everything it made. If it falls short while picking tricks, it goes set and loses its whole bid.
- If the bidding team can’t reach its bid even by taking every trick, the hand ends after meld — the bidding team goes set and the other team keeps its meld.
First to 1500 wins
The first team to reach 1500 wins the game. If both teams cross on the same hand, the bidding team goes out first.