Pinochle (), also called pinocle or penuchle, is a trick-taking ace–ten card game, typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck. It is derived from the card game bezique. Players score points by trick-taking and by forming combinations of characters into melds.
It is considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category which includes the game belote. Each hand is played in three phases: bidding, melds, and tricks. The standard game today is called "partnership auction pinochle".
History
Pinochle is thought to have two possible origins. One is that it is a cousin of Binokel, with both games evolving from the game of bezique. A second alternative is that pinochle developed from the Swiss and, later, South German game of Binocle or Binokel, which is a descendant of bezique. There are also suggestions that the word pinochle comes from bis (until) and Knöchel (knuckle), because originally the game ended when a player rapped their knuckles on the table. The term may also be related to the French word binage for the combination of cards called "binocle". This latter pronunciation of the game was adopted by German speakers.
German immigrants brought the game of Binokel to America in the last quarter of the 19th century, where it was mispronounced and misspelled "pinochle." Pinochle was the favorite card game of American Jewish and Irish immigrants. Skat was the preferred game of a majority of German immigrants. Auction Pinochle for three players has some similarities with the German game Skat, although the bidding is more similar to that of bid whist.
During the few months when the USA was involved in World War I, the city of Syracuse, New York, outlawed the playing of pinochle in a gesture of anti-German sentiment. It was also temporarily banned in some other US cities as a result of its German heritage, but has since regained popularity. or 250.
Many alternate scoring rules drop the unnecessary trailing zero. In that case, bids of 10 and 25, respectively, have the same values. When a player has the turn to bid, the player may either bid or pass.
A popular variation for four (or three) player pinochle involves dealing a 4 card kitty (3 or 6 cards for three players), with the bid winner taking the kitty and discarding 4 (3 or 6) cards from his hand. The point value of the discards can sometimes be added to the bid winner's total trick count or not, depending on the pre-established rules. In three player games the 6 card kitty can often lead to very competitive and extravagant bidding.
Each bid must be greater than the previous one, and be a multiple of 10 or 25 (if playing without trailing zeroes, the bid must be one or two greater respectively). When a player passes, they can no longer bid. The auction ends when all subsequent players in rotation have passed after the last bid. The last bid becomes the "contract". The player that made this final bid will then declare trump in the suit that is desired. In some house rules, trump cannot be declared in any suit not containing a "run", "marriage" or "dix" meld.
In order for the winning bidder to win the hand, the combined total of melding and trick points must be equal to or greater than the winning bid. Thus bidding involves anticipating the points that will be accumulated from melds and from the points accumulated from winning tricks. If the combined score is lower than the bid, then the bidding team or player has been "set". This means that the total bid amount is subtracted from the total game score, often accompanied by losing the points scored in meld for that hand as well. This can result in a negative score. although some rules require the first card led to be a trump card. Then there are two variations of following suit depending if you are playing post-1945 or pre-1945 rules.
In pre-1945 rules, every player must follow the lead suit if possible. Usually every player must play a winning card against those played so far, if it is possible to do so, even when the current player expects a later player to win the hand with a better card. The only exception is if a player played a trump card when trump was not the suit led. In that case, those following that player may play any card of the lead suit, since they must follow the lead suit but are already losing to the player who played trump.
Likewise, if a player cannot follow suit, but has trump, they must play trump. Again, if a player does not have any cards of the lead suit, and can play a trump card higher than any other trump played so far, the player must do so, even if the player expects that a later player will beat the card. If another trump has already been played that a player cannot beat, then they can play any trump in their hand, but they still must play a trump card if they can. Only when a player has no cards in suit, and has no trump, can the player choose to play any card in their hand.
Most books of post-1945 rules say that unless trump is led, there is no requirement to try to win the trick. It is only when trump is led that "heading" the trick is mandatory. In pinochle circles and tournaments the post-1945 rules are played about half of the time, according to Pagat and Hoyle.
If two identical cards are played, the first one outranks the second.
After the first trick, the winner of each trick leads the first card for the next trick, until all the cards are played.
Scoring tricks
Points are scored based on the tricks won in the hand. There are several ways to count up the points for play, but they always add up to 250 points. The last trick is always worth an additional 10 points added to any existing points in the actual trick cards. The classic counting system of pinochle is where aces are worth 11, tens are worth 10, kings are worth four, queens are worth three, jacks are worth two, and nines are worth zero. This method takes longer to count the score at the end of each hand.
A simpler method is to count aces and tens for 10 points, kings and queens for five points, and jacks and nines are worth zero.
An even simpler method has aces, tens, and kings worth 10 (and known as "counters"), and everything else zero ("garbage"). Since all points are multiples of ten in the third method, most players drop the redundant zero. Aces, tens, and kings won in tricks are worth one point. The meld scoring can also avoid the zero in the tenth place. Melds like 1,000 aces are thus worth 100. The terms "1,000 aces", "800 kings" and so on are often used, even though the point values are one-tenth.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!
! Method 1
! Method 2
! Method 3
! Method 4
|-
| Aces
| 11
| 10
| 10
| 1
|-
| Tens
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 1
|-
| Kings
| 4
| 5
| 10
| 1
|-
| Queens
| 3
| 5
| 0
| 0
|-
| Jacks
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
|-
| Nines
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|-
| Last trick
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 1
|}
Game variations
Two-handed
Two-handed pinochle is the original pinochle game, while partnership, auction, and all other variants are derived from it. It is the game most similar to the original Bezique game, whence pinochle was derived, via the German game of Binokel. The only significant difference in its rules from Bezique is the scoring.
The original version of pinochle involves a partial deal of twelve cards to both players in packets of four, leaving a stock of 24 cards. A player can score one meld after each trick won of the first 12 tricks. Melded cards can even be used to win tricks. After each trick, players draw one card from the stock into their hand starting with the trick-winning player. For the last 12 tricks, melds are taken into each player's hand and are no longer announced by the player who wins the trick. The traditional trick-taking rules apply only for these last 12 tricks.
In variations of two-handed play, no cards are initially dealt, a distinction from all other variations. Instead, the entire deck is placed face-down on the playing surface between the two players to form the widow. One player begins the hand-building process by drawing the top card of the widow. The player can either keep that card for her or his hand or reject the card.
If the player chooses to hold the initial card, the player then draws a second card from the widow, then places it face-down, without looking at it, creating a discard pile. If the player rejects the first card, the card becomes the first card in the discard pile. The second card drawn from the widow must be kept, regardless of whether the player preferred the first card. Players alternate turns in this hand-building process until all cards are chosen.
With bidding, the player winning the bid declares trump, then lays all meld face-up on the table. The other player shows her or his melds as well. Meld points are tallied, and players return meld cards to their hands. Some varieties accept a "round house", kings and queens of each suit, and earn a bonus 10 points awarding a total of 250 points.
Trick-taking commences and continues until all held cards have been played. One variation has no "leading" requirement for the bid winner or subsequent trick winner to lead a specific card, however the rules of "following" are still observed.
When adding counters, cards from each player's discard pile are included in totals for a total of 240 counters per round, plus one counter for winning the final trick. One variation to make it more difficult for the bid-winning player, the discard pile created by drawing cards is used by the non-bidding player to score towards tricks.
Three-handed
In Three-handed pinochle using a single deck, each player plays for him or herself.
Double-deck pinochle is played with two pinochle decks, without the nines. This makes for an 80 card deck.
Play is similar to regular pinochle, except 20 cards are dealt to each person and minimum bid is increased to 500 points. In some variations, bids are made in increments of 10 or more points until 600 is reached, then by 50 points. This version often features "meld bidding", a bid made to let a partner know what is in the bidder's hand. The only communication during bidding should be a numerical number or "pass", any other way of communicating is called "talking across the table" and is forbidden.
There are occasionally different meld values for a run and a pinochle; a run being 250 or 150 points, and a pinochle being 150 or 40 points. All other aspects of the game generally remain the same.
Technical Misdeal
If a player is dealt 13 or more non-counters and no aces, the player may declare a technical misdeal. This must declared before he or she plays the first trick. A technical misdeal nullifies all points melded for all players. The hand is then re-dealt by the original dealer of that hand.
Triple-deck, six-handed
This version follows the rules of double-deck pinochle.
In triple-deck pinochle
Racehorse
Note that this use of the term "racehorse" is inconsistent with the commonly understood meaning of the term when applied to Pinochle. As summarized by Dave LeVasseur: "Racehorse means that, after the winning bidder has named trump, that player's partner passes cards across the table"
Played much the same as "double deck" but to six hands, the point values are inflated.
Two teams are formed, 20 cards are then dealt to each player and four cards are dealt to the blind. Bidding commences with the person immediately to the left of the dealer automatically bidding 500. The winner of the bid includes the blind into their hand, calls trump and melds.
{| class="wikitable"
!
! Around (1 of each suit)
! Twice around
! 4 of a kind
|-
! Aces
| 100
| 1000
| 1000
|-
! Kings
| 80
| 800
| 800
|-
! Queens
| 60
| 600
| 600
|-
! 10s or 9s
| 0
| 0
| 0
|}
Note: all runs, double, triple, and quadruple, marriages must be in trump
{| class="wikitable"
!
! Not trump
! Trump
! Double
! Triple
! Quadruple
|-
! Marriage
| 20
| 40
| 300
| 900
| the game
|-
! Pinochle
| 40
| -
| 300
| 900
| the game
|-
! Run
| -
| 150
| 300
| 900
| the game
|}
The game continues with the standard rules of play. When the play is over each team adds up their points in the count with kings, 10s, and aces worth ten points, while queens and jacks are worth zero. If a team count plus meld does not equal their bid, they "go set". By going set the amount of the bid is subtracted from the team's score and their count is discarded. The other team retains both their meld and their count provided they took at least 10 points in the count.
Eight-player double-deck
Two full decks are dealt between eight players, forming four teams. Team members are spaced so that they are not able to see any other hands. The game is usually played to a score of 5,000 or higher. Other than this, the four-player rules apply, and any variations may also be used. There is an increased possibility that when one team declares trump another team may have an equal number of trump also, which may lead to an interesting game. An optional scoring rule rewards 1,000 points for a quadruple pinochle—four jacks of diamonds and four queens of spades in a meld.
Alternate end games
One variation on winning allows a team or individual to win instantly from any score by taking all the tricks in a hand. To win in this fashion, the winning player or team must play very skillfully to prevent opposing players from taking even one lowly (even zero-point) trick. This victory is known as "pinochling". A player or team can play for this victory even if they are not the highest bidder.
"Pinochling" does not require a bidder to make their bid. They also can play for this victory even if their bid cannot be made with the maximum number of trick points available plus their meld. The highest bidding player or team can prevent other players from attempting this if they elect to "throw in" the hand before the first card is played.
Another version of this, known as "shooting the moon," can be called out by the highest bidder before melding. In this variation, neither team lays their meld down, and the partner of the high bidder does not participate in trick taking. If the high bidder succeeds in taking every trick, they have successfully "shot the moon," and the game is over. If they do not successfully take every trick, this is known as a "miss," and the shooting team immediately loses the game. Another variation has a point value of 1,000 or 100 for shooting the moon, and an equal negative penalty for missing, and the game continues.
When playing "bid-out" rules, a team can win without bidding if their score reaches (and remains above) the agreed-upon game-ending score while their opponents fail to make their bid three times. This is known as a "slide-out". Not all versions require the opponents to fail to make their bid three times in order to cross the winning point threshold.
Some versions have an "out backwards" contingency, where if a team goes into the negative equivalent of what the game winning score is, they lose the game.
See also
- Belote
- Bézique
- Binokel
- Marjolet
Citations
General and cited references
- Mozin, Dominique Joseph (1820). Nouveau Dictionnaire de Poche Allemand-Français et Français-Allemand, Volume 2. Stuttgart/Tübingen: Cotta.
- Pennycook, Andrew (1982). The Book of Card Games. London; New York; Sydney; Ontario; and Auckland: Granada. .
External links
- American Pinochle Association
- National Pinochle Association
- Online Pinochle Community