Play Pinochle Online Free

How to play pinochle in this game

Pick Play vs Computer, Quick Match or Play with Friends above, and the cards are dealt. Every hand goes through four steps.

1. Bid. Starting to the dealer’s left, each player bids how many points their team will take, or passes. The opening bid is at least 25. A pass is final, and the last player still bidding wins. If the other three pass without a bid, the dealer must bid 25.
2. Name trump and pass cards. The winning bidder names trump. Their partner passes them 4 cards, and the bidder passes 4 back.
3. Show meld. Everyone lays out their meld: runs, marriages, pinochles and “arounds”. The game finds your meld for you, shows everyone’s on the table, and adds it up. The meld chart lists every one.
4. Play 12 tricks. The bidder leads. You must follow suit and beat the highest card in the trick if you can. If you can’t follow suit, you must play a trump. The cards you’re allowed to play are highlighted. Aces, tens and kings won in tricks are worth 1 point each, and the last trick is worth 1 more.

If the bidding team’s meld plus trick points reach its bid, it scores them all. If not, it loses the amount of the bid. The other team scores its meld and tricks, as long as it took at least one trick point. The first team to 150 wins. The complete rules cover every case.

Ways to play

• Play vs Computer. You and a computer partner against two computer opponents. The computer players count the cards that have been played, pass the cards a partner needs, and win tricks with their cheapest winning card.
• Quick Match. You’re seated with whoever is looking for a game. If nobody turns up within a few seconds, computer players fill the empty seats, so you never wait long.
• Play with Friends. You open a private table and send the link to up to three friends. Two friends play as partners against the computer, and with four people nobody is a computer player.

Prefer the bigger game? Double deck pinochle uses 80 cards, with 20 cards each and a game to 500.

Help at the table

• Your meld before you bid. While bidding, the game shows what your meld is worth with each suit as trump.
• Cards you were passed. After the pass, the cards you received are outlined in gold.
• Last trick, melds and score sheet. The buttons under your hand show the last trick, everyone’s meld and the score of each hand.
• Rules as you play. The Rules button opens the rules in a new tab, so you don’t lose your game.

Playing at the kitchen table instead? Print the rules on one page, a score sheet, or keep score on your phone with the score keeper.