Pinochle online against the computer

How pinochle works

Pinochle is a trick-taking game for four players in two teams. The classic deck has 48 cards: two each of the A, 10, K, Q, J and 9 in every suit. The ten ranks just under the ace, above the king, which catches almost everyone at first. Each player gets 12 cards.

Every hand has three parts:

1. Bid. Players bid how many points their team will make, starting at 25. The high bidder names trump.
2. Pass and meld. Partners swap four cards, then everyone lays down meld: card combinations worth points.
3. Play the tricks. Aces, tens and kings you capture are worth a point each, and the last trick earns one more.

If the bidding team's meld plus trick points reach the bid, they score it all. If not, they're set: the bid comes off their score. The first team to 150 wins a classic match.

The main melds

One card can count in different kinds of meld at once, so a queen of spades can sit in a marriage and a pinochle together. You don't have to add any of this up yourself: the game lays out and counts every meld on the table.

Learning with the bid helper

Bidding is the hard part of pinochle, so we built a helper for it. For each possible trump suit it shows your meld, a fair guess at the trick points you can expect and what June's meld and the pass usually add, then suggests a top bid. When you pass cards, a Suggest button picks a good set and shows how your own meld changes. Once you have the feel for it, hide the helper in Settings.

Your very first hand is guided by June step by step, and the rules and meld chart are always one tap away.

Single deck or double deck

Classic single deck is the default. Double deck uses 80 cards with no nines, deals 20 cards each and plays to 500, with much bigger melds. It's one tap away in Quick match, along with Easy, Normal or Hard opponents, the target score and how many cards partners pass.

Ways to play

• Quick match: set the deck, the table and the rules the way you play at home.
• Porch Tour: ten stops around a lake, each with its own pair of neighbors and three stars to earn.
• Daily Deal: four classic hands with the same deals for everyone that day and a daily leaderboard.

The computer players only know their own cards and what the whole table can see: bids, meld, passed cards and cards played. Deals are ordinary shuffles. Our full Pinochle Porch guide has the double deck meld chart, scoring details and more tips.

Pinochle tips

• Count trump length, not just meld. Six or more trump with an ace or two takes far more trick points.
• Don't outbid your own partner without a reason. Two bids from one team only push your contract higher.
• As the partner, pass trump and aces, even if it breaks up a marriage.
• When your partner is winning a trick you can't beat, drop a counter on it.

More card games with a partner

If you like bidding with a partner, try Bridge Brook (our bridge online page explains it) or the lighter Spades Club and Euchre Lodge, which are on our Hearts and Spades page. Canasta Casita is a partnership game too, built on melds instead of tricks.

Questions