Setup
Four players in two partnerships, seated so that partners face each other, is the usual game. Single-deck pinochle uses forty-eight cards and twelve to each player; double-deck uses eighty cards and twenty to each player. Settle the deck, the meld list and the target before the first auction, because those three choices decide the size of every number written down afterwards.
How to play
Bidding opens to the dealer's left and climbs in small steps above the minimum. The high bidder names trumps. Both sides then lay their combinations face up, the values are read off the meld table and written down, and the cards go back into the hands. The bidder leads. You must follow suit; if you cannot, you must trump; most groups also require you to beat the best card played so far when you can. When the last trick is gathered, each side counts its captured aces, tens and kings, adds the last-trick bonus if it took the final trick, and adds that to its meld.
Scoring
Meld, double-deck small table, for one, two, three and four copies of the same combination: aces one of each suit 10 / 100 / 150 / 200; kings 8 / 80 / 120 / 160; queens 6 / 60 / 90 / 120; jacks 4 / 40 / 60 / 80; run A-10-K-Q-J in trumps 15 / 150 / 225 / 300; king and queen of trumps 4 each extra pair; king and queen of any other suit 2 each; jack of diamonds with queen of spades 4 / 30 / 60 / 90.
Meld, single-deck classic table: run in trumps 150, double run 1500, king and queen of trumps 40, king and queen of a plain suit 20, nine of trumps 10, pinochle 40 and double pinochle 300, aces around 100 and double 1000, kings 80 and 800, queens 60 and 600, jacks 40 and 400.
Trick points on the one-point scale: every ace, ten and king taken counts 1, and the last trick counts 2. A double deck therefore holds forty-eight counters plus two, fifty in all. On the ten-point scale each counter is worth 10 and the last trick 10, so a single deck holds 250.
The bidding side adds meld plus trick points only if that sum reaches its bid. If it falls short it is set: it scores nothing at all and the amount of the bid is subtracted, which can drive the total below zero. The defenders always keep what they actually earned, provided they won at least one trick when that rule is switched on.
Ending the game
Play continues deal after deal until a side reaches the target. If both sides pass it in the same hand, the bidding side wins. With "must win on your own bid" enabled, a side can only finish on a hand where it was the bidder and saved its bid.
Common variations
Some groups let a set bidder keep their meld and subtract only the difference. Others allow a hand to be thrown in and redealt if a player holds no marriage and no ace. Bidding out, where a side must announce that this bid will finish the game, is common in club play.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | First to target |
|---|---|
| Played to | 500 points by default |
| Score sheet | A bid and a result per player per round; the score is derived |
| Typical round score | -60 – 110 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | A hand score is meld plus trick points, or minus the bid if the bidding side falls short. Both sides record a number every deal. |
Pinochle — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: Play to300, defaults otherwise. Two columns, We and They — the usual partnership pad. The bidding side's row carries bid and result; the defenders enter only what they earned.
| Deal | Bidder | Bid | Bidder makes | Defenders earn | We | They |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | We | 60 | 67 | 20 | 67 | 20 |
| 2 | They | 55 | 51 — set | 38 | 105 | −35 |
| 3 | We | 80 | 95 | 15 | 200 | −20 |
| 4 | They | 70 | 84 | 30 | 230 | 64 |
| 5 | We | 75 | 88 | 12 | 318 | 76 |
Deal 5 puts We past 300 on their own made bid, so the game ends there: We total 318, rank 1, winner; They 76. Expected the game is over.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Pinochle a little differently. These are the 8 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Play to: what is the default in Pinochle?
The first side to reach this total wins. Use 500 for the modern double-deck game, 1000 or 1500 for the older single-deck game.
Default: 500. Adjustable from 100 to 2000 in steps of 50.
In the app: “Play to”.
Deck: what are the options in Pinochle?
How many pinochle decks are shuffled together. This changes how many combinations exist and how many trick points are available.
Default: Double deck (80 cards). Two options:
In the app: “Deck”.
Meld values: what are the options in Pinochle?
Which price list is used for the card combinations players show before play. Pick the one your group has always used, since it decides how big the numbers on the sheet get.
Default: Double deck, small numbers. Three options:
In the app: “Meld values”.
Trick point scale: what are the options in Pinochle?
How much the captured cards are worth. The first option suits a game to 500, the others suit games to 1000 or more.
Default: Ace, ten and king count 1 each. Three options:
In the app: “Trick point scale”.
Minimum opening bid: what is the default in Pinochle?
The lowest number anyone is allowed to bid. Nobody may open below it, and if everyone passes the hand is usually thrown in.
Default: 50. Adjustable from 10 to 600 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Minimum opening bid”.
Last trick worth: what is the default in Pinochle?
A bonus given to whichever side wins the very last trick of the hand.
Default: 2. Adjustable from 0 to 20 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Last trick worth”.
Defenders must take a trick to keep meld: on or off in Pinochle?
If on, a side that never wins a single trick loses everything it showed before play and scores zero for the hand.
Default: on.
In the app: “Defenders must take a trick to keep meld”.
Must win on your own bid: on or off in Pinochle?
If on, a side that crosses the target while defending keeps playing. They can only finish the game on a hand where they were the bidders and made their bid.
Default: on.
In the app: “Must win on your own bid”.
Variants of Pinochle
Double deck to 500
Eighty cards, small meld values, fifty trick points and a minimum bid of fifty. The tournament standard.
Single deck to 1500
Forty-eight cards, the classic meld list with runs at 150, and a target of 1000 or 1500.
Auction Pinochle
Three players, no partnerships, a three-card widow. The winning bidder plays alone against the other two.
Two-hand Pinochle
No auction. Players draw from a stock, meld as they go and count the counters at the end.
Pinochle is also known as
Pinocle, Binocle, Double Deck Pinochle, Partnership Pinochle. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.