Pinochle is a partnership game with two scoring stages. First you bid for the right to name trump, then you score melds — set combinations of cards you hold. After that you play out the tricks and collect counters, the Aces, Tens, and Kings. You and your partner across the table race the other pair to 150 points. Free in your browser, no sign-up.
Goal: win the bid, name a trump you can support, and make your bid from melds plus counters.
Bidding starts at 20 and rises. The winner names the trump suit. If the first three players pass, the dealer is stuck and must take the bid at 20 — no free pass-out.
Once trump is set, both teams lay down melds for points, then play twelve tricks for the counters.
| Meld | Points | Traditional count |
|---|---|---|
| Run (A-10-K-Q-J of trump) | 15 | 150 |
| Aces around (one in each suit) | 10 | 100 |
| Kings around | 8 | 80 |
| Queens around | 6 | 60 |
| Jacks around | 4 | 40 |
| Pinochle (J♦ + Q♠) | 4 | 40 |
| Royal marriage (K-Q of trump) | 4 | 40 |
| Marriage (K-Q, off trump) | 2 | 20 |
| Dix (9 of trump) | 1 | 10 |
| Double pinochle (both J♦ and both Q♠) | 30 | 300 |
| All eight Jacks, Queens, Kings or Aces | 40, 60, 80 or 100 | 400 to 1,000 |
| Double run (both copies of the run) | 150 | 1,500 |
Points here are a tenth of the traditional count that gives the melds their names, like "hundred aces," so they stay in step with the counters and the game of 150.
Tricks follow the standard rules. Follow suit if you can, and beat the card that is winning the trick if you can, even your partner's. Once the trick has been trumped, any card of the suit led will do. With none of the suit led, you must trump, beating a trump already played if you can. Only with neither may you play any card.
In play, each Ace, Ten, and King you capture is worth 1 point, and the last trick adds 1 more — 25 counters in all. Miss your bid and you go set, losing the bid amount while the defenders keep their points.
Three AI difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) from the menu. This is four-handed partnership Pinochle on the 48-card deck, with the Ten ranking above the King. Stick-the-dealer is always on, so every hand is played, and melds resolve automatically once trump is named. Melds use the simplified count, and the standard rules of play apply: head the trick, and trump when you cannot follow suit. Install it as an app from your browser menu to play offline.
Pinochle came to the United States with German immigrants in the nineteenth century, growing out of the older French game Bézique. The name likely comes from the French "binocle." It became a staple of German-American clubs and remains popular across the American Midwest today.
The meld that names the game is the Jack of diamonds with the Queen of spades, worth 4 points here (40 in the traditional count). Holding both pairs — a double pinochle — scores 30. It is an odd, specific combination, and spotting it in your hand is part of the game's charm and its bidding math.
Pinochle uses an old European ranking where the Ten sits second only to the Ace. So the order is Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, 9. This makes the Ten a valuable counter and a strong trick-winner, which changes how you lead and which cards you hold back.
The team that wins the bid must score at least that many points from melds and captured counters. If they fall short they go set: they lose the full bid amount from their score, while the defenders keep every point they earned. It is a heavy penalty for overbidding.
It is a rule, always on here, that stops a hand from being thrown in. If the first three players all pass, the dealer must take the bid at the minimum of 20 and name trump. It guarantees every deal is played and puts pressure on a weak dealer's hand.