pinochle

pinochle, American card game typically played by three players acting alone (cutthroat) or four players in two partnerships. The game derives from a German variety of bezique called binokel (French binocle). All these names mean “eyeglasses” (literally “two-eyes”) and refer to the scoring combination of queen of spades and jack of diamonds, allegedly because the game originated with a deck of cards in which these courtly characters were depicted in profile, exhibiting one eye apiece and therefore two eyes in combination.

A pinochle deck consists of 48 cards, with two cards of each rank and suit from ace (high) through 10, king, queen, jack, and 9 (low). When taken in tricks, the cards are valued as follows, in the simplified point-count system, which is now almost universal: aces, 10s, and kings are worth one point each, and queens, jacks, and 9s are worthless. The table lists scorable melds (card combinations) in the simplified scoring system.

Cutthroat pinochle

Each player is dealt 15 cards in five batches of three cards. After the first round of three cards, three cards are dealt facedown to the table as a widow. The aim in each deal is for the highest bidder to make at least as many points as bid and for the other two players to prevent that. Points are scorable from melds declared from hand after taking the widow and card points taken in tricks; there is a one-point bonus for winning the last trick. Thus, each hand’s trick-point total is 25.

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Each player in turn, starting with the player at dealer’s left, either passes or makes a higher bid than any that has gone before. The minimum bid is 30 (unless agreed otherwise). A player who passed may not come in again. If all pass, the hand is annulled, and the next in turn deals.

The bidder turns the widow faceup and announces the trump suit. From the 18 cards now in his hand, the bidder shows and scores as many melds as possible. If these fulfill the bid, there is no play, and the bidder scores the value of the game. If not, and the bidder doubts that the bid can be fulfilled in play, the bidder may concede immediately for a smaller penalty.

The bidder then discards facedown any three cards that have not been used in melds; these cards count the same as though taken in trick play. The bidder then restores all the melded cards to his hand and leads to the first trick. (No other players meld.)

If a trump is led, subsequent players must, so far as possible, not only follow suit but also beat the highest trump already played. If a nontrump suit is led, they must follow suit or, if unable, must trump if possible but need not overtrump.

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A trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led or by the highest trump if any are played. Of two identical winning cards, the first played beats the second. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

If successful, the bidder scores or receives from each opponent an agreed stake related to the size of the bid. If not, the bidder loses or pays it double, unless the bidder conceded without play. A game valuation scheme might be one chip or point for a bid of 30, plus one or two for each additional 5-point bid.

Partnership pinochle

Four play in two partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. All the cards are dealt out in four rounds of three cards. Each side’s aim is to score 100 or more points over as many deals as necessary. Points are scored for melds and tricks as in cutthroat.

A bid is the minimum point score a player claims the partnership will make if allowed to name the trump suit. The player at dealer’s left must make an opening bid of at least 10 (15 or 20 in some circles). Each player in turn may thereafter pass or make a higher bid. A player having once passed may not bid again. A bid followed by three passes establishes the bidding side, and the player who made the last bid announces trump without consulting the partner. All players then meld individually, although the scores are combined for each partnership.

After players have picked up their melds, the player at dealer’s left leads to the first trick, and the winner of each trick leads to the next. (In a common variant the declarer leads first.) Each player must follow the suit led or, if unable to follow a nontrump suit, must play a trump if able. The highest trump played (if any) wins the trick; the highest card of the original suit wins if no trumps are played (in case of identical high cards, the first played wins). In some variations players must always top previous cards even if it means beating their partners’ cards.

The bidding side counts its score first. If the partnership took at least the amount bid, the partners score whatever they made. If not, they lose the amount bid. If the bidding side thereby reaches or exceeds 100 points, they win, and the opponents add nothing to their score. Otherwise, the opponents score everything they made—unless they failed to win a single trick, in which case their meld scores are canceled and they score nothing.

Although still played, the basic partnership game has been eclipsed in popularity by double-deck pinochle, in which the 9s are stripped from two standard pinochle decks to produce an 80-card deck. Besides the basic melds, there exist triple aces (150 points for three in each suit), triple kings (120), triple queens (90), triple jacks (60), triple pinochles (45 for three pinochles), and quadruple pinochles (300 for four pinochles); quadruple aces, kings, queens, and jacks count as two double melds. The minimum bid is 50. Winning the last trick earns two bonus points, so that there are 50 trick points. Game is customarily played to 500, though shorter games are common.