Rules

How to play Pinochle

Updated October 2026 · 4 players in 2 teams · About an hour

Pinochle is a card game for four players in two teams, played with 48 cards. Each deal starts with an auction: players make bids, and a bid is a number of points your team promises to score. The winner names the strongest suit and swaps four cards with a partner. Then everyone shows the combinations of cards they hold, such as a king and queen of the same suit, for points. Then the 12 rounds are played, and the aces, 10s and kings won in them score too. The first team to reach 1500 points wins.

What you need

You need four players in two teams of two, with partners sitting across from each other, and a 48-card Pinochle deck. Play goes clockwise. If you have no Pinochle deck, take two ordinary 52-card decks and keep only the 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace of each suit from both. Put the rest away. You also need paper to keep the score.

The deal

To pick the first dealer, spread a deck face down and let each player draw a card. The highest card deals. After each deal, the dealing passes to the left. A deal is one dealing of the cards and everything played with them. The dealer shuffles, the player on the right cuts, and the dealer deals all 48 cards, 12 to each player, one packet at a time starting on the left. The size of the packets does not matter. Look at your own cards without showing them. If the cards come out uneven, or one is turned face up, the same dealer deals again.

The cards rank ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9, so the 10 beats the king. Two cards that are exactly the same, such as two aces of hearts, tie, and the one played first wins.

The auction

Starting with the player on the dealer's left and going clockwise, each player in turn either bids or passes.

• A bid is a promise. It is a number of points. It means: “My team will score at least this many points in this deal, from combinations and from the rounds together.”
• The first bid must be at least 250. Each bid must be higher than the one before, and every bid is a multiple of 10: 250, 260, 270 and so on. You may jump higher, for example from 260 to 300.
• A player who passes is out of the auction for this deal and may not bid again.
• The auction goes around the table as many times as needed, until all the players but one have passed. That player wins the auction, and the last bid is the promise their team must keep.
• If the first three players all pass, the dealer is stuck with the lowest bid and must take it at 250.
• Partners may not talk about their cards or signal. The numbers are the only message.

Naming the strongest suit and passing four cards

The winner of the auction 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: a 9 of the strongest suit beats the ace of every other suit. Name the suit you have the most cards in, especially if you hold its ace, or the suit that is closest to a run (see the table below).

Then the winner and the winner's partner swap four cards, face down:

1. The winner's partner chooses four cards from their hand and passes them across the table to the winner.
2. The winner adds them to their own 12 cards, then chooses any four of the 16 cards, which may include cards just received, and passes them back to the partner.

The other team passes nothing. A card you pass away cannot count in your own combinations, so a partner usually passes cards of the strongest suit and aces, and keeps the cards that make a combination.

Showing your combinations

Now all four players lay down the combinations they hold, face up, so everyone can see them. The winner of the auction shows first. Each player shows only the cards that make a combination, and the points of both partners are added together for the team. Afterward, everyone picks the cards up again. The table lists every combination and what it is worth.

Tens around and nines around score nothing (a nine of the strongest suit among them still scores its 10). Holding both cards where the table says one scores more. The two-of-everything versions are:

Two marriages in the same suit count twice (80 in the strongest suit, 40 in another suit), and so do two nines of the strongest suit (20).

One card in more than one combination

A card can be used in one combination of each of three kinds, but never twice in the same kind:

1. the run and the marriages,
2. the pinochle,
3. the arounds.

If the winner of the auction bid more than 250 points above what their team shows, the bid cannot be made, because the rounds are worth only 250. In that case the deal is not played: the winner's team loses the amount of its bid, and the other team scores its combinations. (Many groups let a team throw in a hopeless deal even when it is not quite impossible; the practice game does not.)

Playing the 12 rounds

The winner of the auction plays any card to start the first round. Each other player then plays one card, going clockwise. Those four cards make a round. The first card's suit is the starting suit. The winner of each round starts the next one. The rules about which card you may play are strict, and they come in this order:

1. Play the starting suit if you can. If you have a card of the starting suit, you must play one. And if you can play a card higher than every card of that suit already played, you must, even if your partner is the one winning. (If a card of the strongest suit has already won the round, none of your cards of the starting suit can beat it, so any of them will do.)
2. If you have none, play the strongest suit if you can. If you have any card of the strongest suit, you must play one, and a higher one than any already played if you can.
3. If you have 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, even an ace. The winner picks up the four cards and puts them face down in a pile. Nobody plays them again; they are counted at the end. Each team keeps one pile, which one partner collects.

Scoring a deal

When all 12 rounds are done, each team counts its scoring cards. Each ace, 10 and king it won is worth 10 points, and the team that won the last round gets 10 more. There are 24 scoring cards, so the rounds are worth 250 in all. The queens, jacks and 9s are worth nothing in the rounds.

• The team that won the auction adds its combinations to the points it won in the rounds. If the total is at least its bid, it made its bid and scores the whole total. If the total is less than the bid, it falls short: it scores nothing for the deal, and the amount of its bid is taken off its game score. A score can go below zero.
• The other team scores its combinations plus the points it won in the rounds, whether or not the other team made its bid. But it keeps its combinations only if it won at least one scoring card or the last round. A team that wins none of these scores nothing for the deal.

How the game ends

Keep playing deals and adding up the scores. The first team to reach 1500 points wins. When a team falls short, its score goes down by the bid, so a team can have a negative score. If both teams pass 1500 in the same deal, the team that won the auction is counted first and wins, whatever the other team's total. A game usually takes six to ten deals.

Practice a deal of Pinochle

Pinochle has more to count than most card games, and the practice game does the counting with you. It shows what your hand is worth in combinations for every suit before you bid, explains what to bid, helps you choose the four cards to pass, shows every combination with the points it scores so you can see how each total was made, and refuses a card the rules do not allow, telling you why. The computer plays your partner and both opponents. Press Hint for one good move and the reason for it.

Three things beginners get wrong

Bidding for their own hand only

A bid is a promise for the whole team, and it has to be covered by your combinations, your partner's, and the points from the rounds. Count all three. A hand with a big run but no aces may win few rounds, and a hand with no combinations may still hold the aces and the strongest-suit cards that win them. When in doubt, bid a little below your count: falling short costs the whole bid.

Forgetting that you must play higher

If you have a card of the starting suit that is higher than every card of that suit already played, you must play it. That is true even when your partner is winning, and even when you would rather keep the card. Beginners often play a low card of the suit and are told it was not allowed. Look at the highest card played so far before you choose.

Passing away cards you need

Cards you pass cannot count in your own combinations. Before you pass, check which of your cards are part of a marriage, a pinochle or an around. Pass the cards that are not, and keep the ones that are, unless your partner needs them more.

If someone plays a wrong card

Playing a card the rules do not allow, such as a low card of the starting suit when you could have played a higher one, is a mistake with a cost. Groups settle it in different ways, so agree on a rule before you start. One common rule: the other team scores all 250 points from the rounds plus its own combinations, and nobody falls short. The practice game never lets you play a wrong card, and tells you why when you try.

Questions people ask

Why does the 10 beat the king?

That is simply how Pinochle ranks its cards: ace, 10, king, queen, jack, 9. It comes from the family of older games that Pinochle belongs to, where the 10 is the second-best card. You will get used to it quickly.

Do I have to win the round if I can?

In these rules, yes. If you can play a higher card than the best card played so far of the suit that was started, you must. Some groups use a newer rule that asks for this only when the strongest suit is started. See Common variations below.

What happens if everyone passes?

The dealer is stuck with the lowest bid, 250, and must take it. Some groups deal again instead.

Does the winner of the auction need a combination in the strongest suit?

Not in this game. You can name any suit. Some groups require the winner to hold at least a marriage in the suit they name.

Can I keep my combination points if my team does badly?

Only the team that won the auction can lose them, by falling short. The other team keeps its combinations as long as it wins at least one scoring card or the last round.

Common variations

• Smaller numbers. Many groups drop the last zero from every score. A pinochle is then worth 4, a run 15, each scoring card 1, the last round 1, the lowest bid 25 and the game 150. Nothing else changes.
• Lowest bid. 250 is usual when four cards are passed. Groups that pass fewer cards, or none, often start at 150, or lower.
• Number of cards passed. Four is the most common. Some groups pass three, and some pass none (the auction winner then just names the strongest suit). In the three-card version, the winner often shows combinations before passing the cards back, so a card cannot be shown and then passed away.
• Game total. 1500 here. Some groups play to 1000, 1200 or 2500.
• Counting the cards. Instead of 10 for each ace, 10 and king, some groups count an ace 11, a 10 as 10, a king 4, a queen 3 and a jack 2. It also adds up to 250 with the last round. Others give kings and queens 5 each.
• Extra for a run. Some groups score a run with one spare king or queen at 190, and with a spare king and queen at 230, as if the cards in the run could also make marriages.
• Rules of play. Some groups use a newer rule: you must play a higher card only when the strongest suit is started. You must still play the strongest suit when you have none of the starting suit. In another version, a player with none of the starting suit need not play a strongest-suit card that cannot win.
• Keeping combinations. Some groups let the other team keep its combinations if it wins any round at all, even one with no scoring cards.
• Falling short. In some regions the team that falls short loses nothing, and the other team scores the amount of the bid instead.
• Three players. Each plays alone. Each gets 15 cards and three go face down in the middle (the kitty). The winner of the auction picks up those three cards, names the strongest suit, puts three cards away face down (the points on them count for the winner), and plays against the other two. Bids usually start at 250 (some groups use 300), and the game is to 1500.
• Two players. The original game, and a different one. Each player gets 12 cards, and the next card is turned face up to name the strongest suit. The rest are face down as a draw pile. There is no auction. While the draw pile lasts, the winner of each round may show one combination and draws first. Once it runs out, everyone picks up their combinations and the strict rules of play apply. The aces count 11, the 10s 10, the kings 4, the queens 3 and the jacks 2, and the last round 10. The game is to 1000 or 1200 points.
• Double-deck Pinochle. Two Pinochle decks with the 9s removed, 80 cards, 20 for each player. The lowest bid is 500 in the numbers used here (50 when the last zero is dropped).