To play the Pincohle Game click here.
Go to Rules for Double Deck Pinochle
Go to Rules for Single Deck Pinochle
Go to Rules for Cut Throat Pinochle
Rules of Pinochle
There are 3 types of Pinochle game that this web site supports which are Single Deck, Double Deck, and Cut Throat. The following will explain the rules of each game as how the computer game plays.
How the Computer Plays
There are many different variations of Pinochle. The following is a description of how the computer game on this web site plays. Also some tips on the game.
1) If you make a mistake you can go back or undo 1 move. Do this by right clicking the mouse on the game screen and then clicking on “Undo last move”.
2) If you want to see the other player’s cards you can do that by right clicking the mouse on the game screen and then clicking on “Show all players cards”.
Enjoy!
Rules for Double Deck Pinochle.
The Deck of Cards
The deck of cards that is used for Double Deck Pinochle is a double deck pinochle deck. This deck contains 80 cards with 4 suits (Spades ♠, Hearts ♥, Diamonds ♦, and Clubs ♣). Each suit has 5 unique cards whose value from highest value to lowest value is Ace (A), Ten (10), King (K), Queen (Q), and Jack (J). There are 4 of each card in the deck.
Teams
There are 4 players and 2 teams in the game. Your team partner is the person sitting across the table from you and the other 2 players make up the other team.
The Deal and Bidding
At the start of the game, 20 cards are dealt to each player. After the cards are dealt, the person to left of the dealer will have the first bid. The bidding starts at 50 points. The person bidding can either make a bid or Pass. Once a player has passed on the bid, they cannot reenter the bidding process. The bidding proceeds counterclockwise until 3 players have passed and only 1 player has bid. If the first 3 players pass, then the dealer will automatically win the bid with a bid of 50 points. Each bid must be larger than the previous bid. For bids between 50 and 60 the minimum bid increment is 1 point. Once the bid reaches 60 the minimum bid increment increases to 5 points.
Declaring Trump
The player that wins the bid is referred to as the winning bidder. The winning bidder will declare which suit will be trump for this game.
The Pass
Once the trump suit has been declared the winning bidder’s partner will select 4 cards and pass them face down to the winning bidder. The winning bidder will take those 4 cards and insert them into his hand and then pass back 4 cards to his partner.
The Melds
Once the card passing is complete, each player will now display their meld points face up on the table. The meld points are added together for each team. The meld points are defined as follows.
Run – A, 10, K, Q, J in the trump suit. – 15, 150, 225, 300 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Runs)
Royal Marriage – K, Q in the trump suit – 4 points for each.
Common Marriage – K, Q, in the non trump suit – 2 points for each
Aces Round – A♠, A♥, A♣, A♦ - 10, 100, 150, 200 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Rounds respectively)
Kings Round – K♠, K♥, K♣, K♦ - 8, 80, 120, 160 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Rounds respectively)
Queens Round – Q♠, Q♥, Q♣, Q♦ - 6, 60, 90, 120 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Rounds respectively)
Jacks Round – J♠, J♥, J♣, J♦ - 4, 40, 60, 80 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Rounds respectively)
Pinochle - Q♠, J♦ - 4, 30, 60, 90 points (for 1, 2, 3, 4 Pinochles respectively)
Note: The cards used for a Royal Marriage cannot be used for a Run, and the cards used for a Run cannot be used for a Royal Marriage.
Once the meld points are counted the cards are returned to each player’s hand. If the winning bidder did not have a royal marriage in his meld then the winner bidder’s team will immediately lose that hand and lose the amount of points that were bid.
Trick Play
The trick play now starts. A trick is where each player throws one card in a counterclockwise order and the player that throws the highest card (according to the rules below) wins the 4 cards in the trick for their team. For the first trick, the winning bidder throws the first card followed by the rest of the players in a counterclockwise order. The player that wins the trick will throw the first card for the next trick.
Who Wins the Trick?
The player who wins the trick is determined by which player has thrown the highest (best) card. The Lead Suit is defined as the suit of the first card that is thrown in the trick. The Lead Suit can also be the trump suit. The winner of the trick is the player that throws the highest trump suit. If no trump suit cards are thrown then the winner will be the player that throws the highest Lead Suit. If the highest card is thrown by 2 or more players, then the player who threw the highest card first will win the trick. Remember the rank order of the cards from highest to lowest is Ace, 10, K, Q, and J.
What are the rules for throwing trick cards?
The player that is the first to throw can throw any card. The Lead Suit for each trick is the suit of the first card thrown for that trick. The next players to throw cards in the trick must follow these rules.
If the Lead Suit is the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more trump suit cards, if possible that player must throw a trump suit card that is higher than the best trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
B) If the throwing player does not have any trump suit cards then the player can throw any non trump suit card.
If the Lead Suit is not the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more Lead Suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick then if possible the player must throw a Lead Suit card that beats the highest Lead Suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher Lead Suit card in this case then the player must throw any other Lead Suit card.
B) If the throwing player has 1 or more cards in the Lead Suit and there are 1 or more trump suit cards are in the trick then the player must throw any Lead Suit card.
C) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick, then the player must throw any trump card.
D) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are 1 or more trump cards in the trick, then if possible the player must throw a trump suit card that beats the highest trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
E) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and no trump suit cards then the player can throw any card.
I know this sounds complicated at first. But don’t worry, the computer game will not let you throw an incorrect card.
Awarding Points
Each Ace, 10 and King in a trick is worth 1 point to the team that won that trick. The team that wins the last trick gets a 2 point bonus. The total points are the addition of your team’s melds, trick points and bonus points. For the team that won the bid, if the total points are equal or higher than the winning bid amount and the team won at least 1 trick then, that team is awarded the total points. If the team that won the bid does not win any tricks or the total points are lower than the bid amount, the team will lose the bid amount from their score. The team that did not win the bid will be awarded all their total points as long as they won at least 1 trick.
If the winning bidder did not have a royal marriage in the meld then that team will lose the amount of the bid and the opponent’s team will be awarded the amount of the bid.
When a game is complete the new dealer will be the person to the left of the previous dealer. A round is played to 500 points.
Rules for Single Deck Pinochle.
The Deck of Cards
The deck of cards that is used for Single Deck Pinochle is a single deck pinochle deck. This deck contains 48 cards with 4 suits (Spades ♠, Hearts ♥, Diamonds ♦, and Clubs ♣). Each suit has 6 unique cards whose value from highest value to lowest value is Ace (A), Ten (10), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), and Nine (9). There are 2 of each card in the deck.
Teams
There are 4 players and 2 teams in the game. Your team partner is the person sitting across the table from you and the other 2 players make up the other team.
The Deal and Bidding
At the start of the game, 12 cards are dealt to each player. After the cards are dealt, the person to left of the dealer will have the first bid. The bidding starts at 15 points. The person bidding can either make a bid or Pass. Once a player has passed on the bid, they cannot reenter the bidding process. The bidding proceeds counterclockwise until 3 players have passed and only 1 player has bid. If the first 3 players pass, then the dealer will automatically win the bid with a bid of 15 points. Each bid must be larger than the previous bid. The minimum bid increment is 1 point.
Declaring Trump
The player that wins the bid is referred to as the winning bidder. The winning bidder will declare which suit will be trump for this game.
The Pass
Currently the card passing option is not enabled in this version of the game.
The Melds
Each player will now display their meld points face up on the table. The meld points are added together for each team. The meld points are defined as follows.
Run – A, 10, K, Q, J in the trump suit. – 15, 150 points (for 1, 2 Runs)
Royal Marriage – K, Q in the trump suit – 4 points for each.
Common Marriage – K, Q, in the non trump suit – 2 points for each
Aces Round – A♠, A♥, A♣, A♦ - 10, 100 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Kings Round – K♠, K♥, K♣, K♦ - 8, 80 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Queens Round – Q♠, Q♥, Q♣, Q♦ - 6, 60 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Jacks Round – J♠, J♥, J♣, J♦ - 4, 40 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Pinochle - Q♠, J♦ - 4, 30 points (for 1, 2 Pinochles respectively)
Nine of Trump – 1 point for each nine of trump.
Note: The cards used for a Royal Marriage cannot be used for a Run, and the cards used for a Run cannot be used for a Royal Marriage.
Once the meld points are counted the cards are returned to each player’s hand. If the winning bidder did not have a royal marriage in his meld then the winner bidder’s team will immediately lose that hand and lose the amount of points that were bid.
Trick Play
The trick play now starts. A trick is where each player throws one card in a counterclockwise order and the player that throws the highest card (according to the rules below) wins the 4 cards in the trick for their team. For the first trick, the winning bidder throws the first card followed by the rest of the players in a counterclockwise order. The player that wins the trick will throw the first card for the next trick.
Who Wins the Trick?
The player who wins the trick is determined by which player has thrown the highest (best) card. The Lead Suit is defined as the suit of the first card that is thrown in the trick. The Lead Suit can also be the trump suit. The winner of the trick is the player that throws the highest trump suit. If no trump suit cards are thrown then the winner will be the player that throws the highest Lead Suit. If the highest card is thrown by 2 or more players, then the player who threw the highest card first will win the trick. Remember the rank order of the cards from highest to lowest is Ace, 10, K, Q, J, and 9.
What are the rules for throwing trick cards?
The player that is the first to throw can throw any card. The Lead Suit for each trick is the suit of the first card thrown for that trick. The next players to throw cards in the trick must follow these rules.
If the Lead Suit is the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more trump suit cards, if possible that player must throw a trump suit card that is higher than the best trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
B) If the throwing player does not have any trump suit cards then the player can throw any non trump suit card.
If the Lead Suit is not the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more Lead Suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick then if possible the player must throw a Lead Suit card that beats the highest Lead Suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher Lead Suit card in this case then the player must throw any other Lead Suit card.
B) If the throwing player has 1 or more cards in the Lead Suit and there are 1 or more trump suit cards are in the trick then the player must throw any Lead Suit card.
C) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick, then the player must throw any trump card.
D) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are 1 or more trump cards in the trick, then if possible the player must throw a trump suit card that beats the highest trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
E) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and no trump suit cards then the player can throw any card.
I know this sounds complicated at first. But don’t worry, the computer game will not let you throw an incorrect card.
Awarding Points
Each Ace, 10 and King in a trick is worth 1 point to the team that won that trick. The team that wins the last trick gets a 1 point bonus. The total points are the addition of your team’s melds, trick points and bonus points. For the team that won the bid, if the total points are equal or higher than the winning bid amount and the team won at least 1 trick then, that team is awarded the total points. If the team that won the bid does not win any tricks or the total points are lower than the bid amount, the team will lose the bid amount from their score. The team that did not win the bid will be awarded all their total points as long as they won at least 1 trick.
Rules for Cut Throat Pinochle.
The Deck of Cards
The deck of cards that is used for Single Deck Pinochle is a single deck pinochle deck. This deck contains 48 cards with 4 suits (Spades ♠, Hearts ♥, Diamonds ♦, and Clubs ♣). Each suit has 6 unique cards whose value from highest value to lowest value is Ace (A), Ten (10), King (K), Queen (Q), Jack (J), and Nine (9). There are 2 of each card in the deck.
Teams
There are 3 players that play as individuals. The 2 players that do not win the bid will try to team up against the winning bidder.
The Deal and Bidding
At the start of the game, 15 cards are dealt to each player. There are 3 cards that are put face down in the kitty. After the cards are dealt, the person to left of the dealer will have the first bid. The bidding starts at 15 points. The person bidding can either make a bid or Pass. Once a player has passed on the bid, they cannot reenter the bidding process. The bidding proceeds counterclockwise until 3 players have passed and only 1 player has bid. If the first 3 players pass, then the dealer will automatically win the bid with a bid of 15 points. Each bid must be larger than the previous bid. The minimum bid increment is 1 point.
The Kitty
The kitty consists of 3 cards that are not seen by the players. The winning bidder will take the 3 kitty cards and add them to his hand. Then the winning bidder will select 3 cards which will be considered his first trick win.
Declaring Trump
The player that wins the bid is referred to as the winning bidder. The winning bidder will declare which suit will be trump for this game.
The Pass
There is no card pass in this game.
The Melds
Each player will now display their meld points face up on the table. The meld points are added together for each team. The meld points are defined as follows.
Run – A, 10, K, Q, J in the trump suit. – 15, 150 points (for 1, 2 Runs)
Royal Marriage – K, Q in the trump suit – 4 points for each.
Common Marriage – K, Q, in the non trump suit – 2 points for each
Aces Round – A♠, A♥, A♣, A♦ - 10, 100 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Kings Round – K♠, K♥, K♣, K♦ - 8, 80 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Queens Round – Q♠, Q♥, Q♣, Q♦ - 6, 60 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Jacks Round – J♠, J♥, J♣, J♦ - 4, 40 points (for 1, 2 Rounds respectively)
Pinochle - Q♠, J♦ - 4, 30 points (for 1, 2 Pinochles respectively)
Nine of Trump – 1 point for each nine of trump.
Note: The cards used for a Royal Marriage cannot be used for a Run, and the cards used for a Run cannot be used for a Royal Marriage.
Once the meld points are counted the cards are returned to each player’s hand. If the winning bidder did not have a royal marriage in his meld then the winner bidder’s team will immediately lose that hand and lose the amount of points that were bid.
Trick Play
The trick play now starts. A trick is where each player throws one card in a counterclockwise order and the player that throws the highest card (according to the rules below) wins the 3 cards in the trick for their team. For the first trick, the winning bidder throws the first card followed by the rest of the players in a counterclockwise order. The player that wins the trick will throw the first card for the next trick.
Who Wins the Trick?
The player who wins the trick is determined by which player has thrown the highest (best) card. The Lead Suit is defined as the suit of the first card that is thrown in the trick. The Lead Suit can also be the trump suit. The winner of the trick is the player that throws the highest trump suit. If no trump suit cards are thrown then the winner will be the player that throws the highest Lead Suit. If the highest card is thrown by 2 or more players, then the player who threw the highest card first will win the trick. Remember the rank order of the cards from highest to lowest is Ace, 10, K, Q, J, and 9.
What are the rules for throwing trick cards?
The player that is the first to throw can throw any card. The Lead Suit for each trick is the suit of the first card thrown for that trick. The next players to throw cards in the trick must follow these rules.
If the Lead Suit is the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more trump suit cards, if possible that player must throw a trump suit card that is higher than the best trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
B) If the throwing player does not have any trump suit cards then the player can throw any non trump suit card.
If the Lead Suit is not the trump suit then;
A) If the throwing player has 1 or more Lead Suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick then if possible the player must throw a Lead Suit card that beats the highest Lead Suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher Lead Suit card in this case then the player must throw any other Lead Suit card.
B) If the throwing player has 1 or more cards in the Lead Suit and there are 1 or more trump suit cards are in the trick then the player must throw any Lead Suit card.
C) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are no trump suit cards in the trick, then the player must throw any trump card.
D) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and 1 or more trump suit cards and there are 1 or more trump cards in the trick, then if possible the player must throw a trump suit card that beats the highest trump suit card in the trick. If the player cannot throw a higher trump suit card in this case then the player must throw any other trump suit card.
E) If the throwing player has no Lead Suit cards and no trump suit cards then the player can throw any card.
I know this sounds complicated at first. But don’t worry, the computer game will not let you throw an incorrect card.
Awarding Points
Each Ace, 10 and King in a trick is worth 1 point to the team that won that trick. The team that wins the last trick gets a 1 point bonus. The total points are the addition of your team’s melds, trick points and bonus points. For the team that won the bid, if the total points are equal or higher than the winning bid amount and the team won at least 1 trick then, that team is awarded the total points. If the team that won the bid does not win any tricks or the total points are lower than the bid amount, the team will lose the bid amount from their score. The team that did not win the bid will be awarded all their total points as long as they won at least 1 trick.
If the winning bidder did not have a royal marriage in the meld then that team will lose the amount of the bid and the opponent’s team will be awarded the amount of the bid.
When a game is complete the new dealer will be the person to the left of the previous dealer. A round is played to 250 points.
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