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Players and Cards There are four players; partners sit across from each other. The deck consists of 80 cards containing A 10 K Q J in each of the four suits, and with four identical copies of each card. This deck can be formed by mixing together two normal Pinochle decks, having thrown out the nines, or from four regular 52 card decks from which you throw out all the cards numbered 2 thru 9. Idea of the Game After the deal, there is an auction in which players bid the number of points their team will try to win. Whomever bids highest has the privilege of choosing trumps and leading the first trick. The object of the high bidder's team is to win at least as many points as the amount they bid. Points can be scored in two ways:
Deal and play are clockwise. All the cards are dealt to the players so that everyone has 20 cards. Dealing practice varies; common methods are 4 cards at a time, 5 cards at a time, or 2 cards to each player and the remainder 3 at a time. Rank and Value of Cards In each suit, the cards rank from highest to lowest as Ace, Ten, King, Queen, and Jack. At the end of the play, each side counts the points in the tricks they have taken in their tricks. Each Ace, Ten and King is worth one point, and the team who wins the last trick gets an extra 2 points. Hence, there are a total of 50 available points from tricks won. The Meld Points can be scored for certain combinations of cards in hand of one player. These combinations are called meld. They are displayed to the other players before the start of the trick play. Any meld can be single (just one of each card), double (two identical copies of each card), triple (three of each card), or quadruple (all of each card). There are three types of meld. Any particular card can only belong to one meld of each type. The point scores for meld in iplay are given in the following table: Type I - Runs and Marriages Run - Ace, Ten, King, Queen, and Jack of trumps 15 150 300 600 Royal Marriage - King and Queen of trumps 4 8 12 16 Marriage - King and Queen of the same suit, not trumps 2 4 6 8 Round
House - A marriage of each suit counts 24 ( with a run only counts 20 )
The team "taking the bid" must have at least 20 points of meld in order to play their hand, otherwise they are "set" 50 points (the minimum bid) or the amount they actually bid are deducted from their score. The person that won the bid must furthermore have a "marriage" (KQ of the same suit) otherwise the team is "set". Calling Trump and Melding The bidder now chooses the trump suit and announces what it is. It must be a suit in which the bidder holds at least a marriage. If the bidder does NOT have a marriage, the hand is not played. In this case, the bidding side automatically lose the amount of their bid. The opponents will get their meld providing they have at least 20. Once trump is called, all of the players lay their meld face up on the table. A combination must be entirely within one player's hand to count. Note also that you can count the same card in melds of different types (for example: a queen of spades could be part of a marriage, a pinochle and a set of queens), but not in more than one meld of the same type (so a king and two queens does not count as two marriages). Partners add together the scores for the meld and this is written down on the score sheet. Taking Tricks Once all players have picked up their melded cars, the declarer leads to the first trick. Proceeding to the left, each player plays a card on the trick (following the rules outlined below). When four cards have been played to the trick, the highest ranking card of trump or if there is no trump in the trick, the highest ranking card of the suit led wins the trick. If there is a tie for highest ranking card, the trick is won by whichever of the equal cards was played first. The player who played the winning card leads to the next trick, and so on until twenty tricks have been played. There are some rules about what must be played on the trick. The first, or lead, card, may be anything in the leader's hand (although some plays are smarter than others). The basic rules of engagement are as follows:
The first played of two identical cards beats the second. The rule obliging you to beat the card currently winning the trick applies even if the card you are obliged to beat is your partner's. If you have no card of the suit led, you must play a trump if you can, even if someone before you has already played a higher trump than yours. The only case in which you are allowed to throw a card of a non-trump suit different from the led suit is when you have no cards of the suit led and no trumps. The obligation to play higher only applies if you are able to beat the card that is currently winning the trick. If you are unable to do this, you may play any card; subject always to the necessity to follow suit and to play a trump if you have no card of the suit led. For example, if the non-trump lead has already been trumped and you have cards in the suit led, you cannot beat the trump that is currently winning the trick (since you have to follow suit), so you may play any card of the suit that was led. Once all four cards have been played to a trick, it should be clear which player has won the trick. Counting Points Counting points once all twenty tricks have been played, both teams collect their stacks of pulled cards and count the Aces, Tens, and Kings (the "counters") collected during the round. Each counter is worth 1 point. The final trick, in and of it self, is worth an additional 2 points. This makes 50 points total: 48 for the forty-eight counters in the deck, plus 2 for the final trick If the declaring team "makes the bid" (earns enough points through melding and trick-taking combined), to meet or exceed the amount bid, all the earned points are added to the team's previous score. If they do not, they "go set." This means that they do not score any points melded. They score no points taken in the tricks, and their previous score is reduced by the amount of the bid. If. the non-declaring team fails to earn 20 points while taking tricks (that is; they pulled no counters totaling 20 points, including last trick), they do not score any points that were melded. (It is said that they failed to "save their meld.") If the non-declaring team does capture 20 points in tricks, the meld is added to their previous score, along with any points earned in tricks. It is a great coup for the declaring team to take all 50 points during the trick-taking phase of the game. (This is called a "Boston.") It is also a great coup for the non-declaring team to steal enough trick points that the declaring team cannot make their bid. This tension, and waiting to see how it will be resolved, is part of the great fun of pinochle. Bidding System It is sensible to use the bids to convey information about what melds are held. There are many various systems in use. We offer the following as it is used by most players but is by no means the only system that may be used.
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