Goal: with your partner, score points in each deal and be
the first team to reach 1500. A team scores from combinations (sets of cards that score points
when you show them) and from the scoring cards it wins in the 12 rounds. The team that wins the
auction promises a number of points, and loses that many if it falls short.
What just happened
Tips appear here as you play.
About this practice game
Pinochle is a game for four players in two teams. You and North, across the table,
play against West and East. The computer plays North, West and East. Each deal has four steps:
an auction, a swap of four cards between partners, a showing of combinations (sets of cards that
score points), and 12 rounds of play. The Coach explains each step before you reach it. Press
Hint for one good move and the reason for it. To see how a deal goes first,
press Watch a narrated deal above the table: the computer plays all four seats
with every hand face up, and says why it makes each move.
Keep going
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How Pinochle works
The cards. Pinochle uses 48 cards: the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of
each suit, two of each. In every suit the cards rank, from the highest: ace, 10, king, queen,
jack, 9. The 10 beats the king. You and North, across from you, are one team. West and East
are the other team. Each player gets 12 cards.
What happens, in order
- The auction. Starting on the dealer's left and going clockwise, each
player bids or passes. A bid is a number of points your team promises to score in
this deal. The lowest bid is 250, and each bid must be higher than the one before, in tens.
A player who passes is out. The last player left wins the auction. If everyone passes, the
dealer must take the lowest bid, 250.
- The strongest suit. The auction winner names one suit as the strongest
suit for this deal. A card of that suit beats a card of any other suit, even an ace.
- Passing four cards. The auction winner's partner picks four cards and
passes them face down to the winner. The winner then passes any four cards back, which may
include cards just received. The other team passes nothing.
- Combinations. Now all four players show the combinations they hold.
Each one scores points. The table below lists them.
- 12 rounds. The auction winner starts the first round. In each round,
every player plays one card, and the best card wins all four. The winner starts the next
round.
- Scoring. Each ace, 10 and king a team wins is a scoring card
worth 10 points, and the team that wins the last round gets 10 more. That makes 250 points
in the rounds. The auction winner's team scores its combinations plus the points it won in
the rounds, but only if the total is at least its bid. If it falls short, it scores nothing
and loses the number it bid. The other team scores its combinations and what it won in the
rounds. The first team to reach 1500 wins.
How to use this page
- You sit at the bottom. The computer plays North (your partner), West and East. The
line above the table says what to do now. The line under it shows the game score, what
your hand is worth, and which team needs what.
- Auction. The line above your cards shows what your cards are worth in
combinations for each suit that could be the strongest suit. Use the buttons to bid or pass,
then press Hint if you are not sure.
- Passing. Click four cards (they rise and get a gold outline), then
press the pass button. The number in the line above shows what your combinations would be
worth without them.
- Combinations. Everyone's combinations appear on the table, each with
its points, so you can see how every total was made. Press the button to start the
rounds.
- Rounds. Click a card to play it. Cards that look faded and striped cannot
be played right now. Click one to find out why.
- When the deal is over, the Coach adds up the scores. Press Next deal
to keep playing. If you press New deal in the middle of a deal, that deal is
thrown away, nothing is scored, and the same player deals again.
- To see a whole deal before you play one, press Watch a narrated deal
above the table. The computer plays all four seats with every hand face up, and each bid,
pass and card comes with the reason for it. The computer players follow simple rules of
thumb, so the Coach here sometimes goes further than they do. Step with Back
and Next (or the arrow keys), press Play to let it run at
Slow, Normal or Fast speed, or pick a part of the deal in Jump to.
Back to playing returns to your own deal exactly as you left it.
Combinations and what they are worth
Before the rounds, everyone shows the combinations they hold. A combination must come from
one player's cards alone.
One card, more than one combination. A card can count in one combination of
each of three kinds, never twice in the same kind: (1) runs and marriages, (2) the pinochle,
(3) the arounds. The king and queen inside a run do not also make a marriage, but a spare king
and queen of the strongest suit do (a run plus a spare marriage is 190). A queen of spades can
be in a marriage, a pinochle and queens around at once.
Rules for playing a card
These rules are strict, and the page enforces them. Cards you may not play look faded.
- Play the starting suit if you can. The first card of a round sets the
starting suit. If you have a card of that suit, you must play one. And if you have a card
that is higher than the best card of that suit played so far, you must play a
higher one, even when your partner is the one winning.
- No card of that suit? Play the strongest suit. If you have any card of
the strongest suit, you must play one, and a higher one than any already played if you can.
- Neither? Play any card you like.
The highest card of the strongest suit wins the round. If none was played, the highest card of
the starting suit wins. A card of any other suit cannot win. Of two equal cards, the first one
played wins.
Common beginner mistakes
- Bidding only what your own cards show. A bid is for your whole team. It
has to cover your combinations, your partner's, and the points from the rounds. Count all
three, as the Hint does.
- Forgetting that the 10 beats the king. The order is ace, 10, king, queen,
jack, 9.
- Thinking you can keep your high card when your partner is winning. If you
can play a higher card than the best one so far, you must, even on your partner's card.
- Passing away cards that are part of your own combinations. The pass
line above your cards shows what your combinations are worth without the cards you picked.
- Starting with an ace while the other team still has cards of the strongest
suit. A player who has none of that suit can play a card of the strongest suit on
it and take the ace.
Simple strategy
- Bid a little below your count. Add the combinations in your best suit,
what your partner's four cards may add, and about half of the 250 points in the rounds (more
with many cards of the strongest suit and with aces). Your team loses its whole bid if it falls
short, so stay below the total. The Hint shows its numbers.
- Name the suit you have the most cards in, especially with the ace, and
the one closest to a run.
- Passing as the partner: pass cards of the strongest suit and aces,
and keep the cards in your own combinations. Passing back: keep your strongest
suit and your aces, and pass back the cards that help you least.
- In the rounds: when your team won the auction, start with your highest
card of the strongest suit to make the others play theirs. Then play your aces. When your
partner is winning and nobody can beat the winning card, play a card worth points (an ace,
10 or king). When you cannot win, play your cheapest card.
The full rules page →
