Pinochle: Play Free Online with a Computer Partner

What is Pinochle?

Pinochle is the classic trick-taking card game of bids, melds and counters, free to play online here on your phone, tablet or computer. This is four-handed partnership pinochle with a single 48-card deck: you and a computer partner play two computer opponents to 1500 points.

Every hand has three parts. You bid for the right to name trump, everyone lays down meld for points, and then twelve tricks are played for the aces, tens and kings inside them. Make your bid and it all counts. Fall short and you go set.

The table is dealt the moment the page opens. Your meld is found and added up for you, a bidding helper shows what your hand is worth, and any card you may not play tells you why when you tap it. A guided first hand walks new players through a whole deal.

Want people instead of computers? Open an online table for four. A link or a short code brings your friends in, and computer players fill any empty chairs.

How to play Pinochle

1. 

   1Start a game

   The cards are dealt as soon as the page opens. Pick Computer or Online, choose a level, and set the house rules beside it.

2. 

   2Make your bid

   The helper shows your meld in each trump suit and a bid your hand can stand. Step the bid up or down, then bid or pass.

3. 

   3Name trump

   Win the auction and you choose trump. Each button shows your meld and your cards in that suit, and your strongest suit is outlined.

4. 

   4Pass four cards

   Your partner sends you four cards, each marked with a dot. Tap four you can spare to raise them, then press the pass button.

5. 

   5Check the meld

   Every meld is found, named and added up for all four players. The line underneath says how many trick points your side still needs.

6. 

   6Play the tricks

   Bright cards are legal and dimmed ones must wait. Tap a dimmed card and the line above your hand names the rule holding it back.

7. 

   7Read the score sheet

   After twelve tricks the sheet sets bid, meld and trick points side by side and adds the hand to the total. One press deals the next hand.

The rules in full

1. The deck has 48 cards: two each of the ace, ten, king, queen, jack and nine in all four suits. The ten is high: cards rank A, 10, K, Q, J, 9.
2. Four players sit as two partnerships, partners facing. Each is dealt twelve cards.
3. Starting on the dealer's left, players bid in turn for the right to name trump. Bids start at 250 and rise by 10 or more, and a pass is final. If the first three players pass, the dealer is stuck with the bid at 250.
4. The winning bidder names trump. The bidder's partner passes four cards across the table, and the bidder passes any four back.
5. All four players show their meld: runs, marriages, the nine of trump, sets around, and the pinochle (queen of spades with jack of diamonds).
6. The bidder leads to the first trick. You must follow suit if you can, and you must beat the best card in the trick so far if you can.
7. With no card of the suit led you must play a trump, and beat any trump already played if you can. Only with no trump either may you throw any card.
8. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led. Of two identical cards, the first played wins. The winner leads next.
9. Each ace, ten and king taken in tricks is worth 10 points and the last trick is worth 10 more, so every hand has 250 trick points.
10. The bidding side must score at least its bid in meld plus tricks. If it does, it scores all of it. If not, it goes set: the bid comes off its score and its meld is lost. The other side scores its own meld and tricks. A side with no trick points scores no meld.
11. The first side to reach 1500 points wins. If both get there on the same hand, the side that won the bid wins.

Pinochle tips and strategy

• Count before you bid. Add your meld to the trick points you expect, and remember that your partner's meld and pass usually add something too.
• A long trump suit with the ace and ten is worth more than scattered aces. Six trumps with a run can carry a bid on their own.
• When your partner wins the bid, pass trump and aces first. A card that completes a run or a pinochle is worth more in their hand than in yours.
• As the bidder, lead trump early to pull the other side's trumps, then cash your side aces while they are still safe.
• Play an ace the first time its suit is led. With two of every card in the deck, the second round is often trumped.
• Feed your partner. When your partner is winning a trick and you are free to choose, give it a king or a ten rather than a nine.
• Save a trump for the end if you can. The last trick is worth 10 points, the same as an ace.

Pinochle rules: the deal, the bidding and the pass

This game follows the standard rules of four-handed partnership auction pinochle with a single deck, the form most often played at home and in clubs. All 48 cards are dealt, and the deal moves one seat to the left after every hand.

The bidding goes round the table until three players have passed. The buttons on the table step your bid up and down, and the helper beside them shows your meld in each suit and a bid your hand can stand.

After trump is named, the partners on the bidding side exchange four cards. Your partner sends you trump, aces and meld cards, and you send back four you can spare. Cards you were passed stay marked in your hand until the first lead.

Pinochle meld chart: what every meld is worth

A run is the ace, ten, king, queen and jack of trump, worth 150. A double run is worth 1500. A king and queen of one suit make a marriage worth 20, or 40 in trump. The nine of trump, called the dix, is worth 10.

Four cards of one rank in four different suits are a set around: aces around score 100, kings 80, queens 60 and jacks 40. All eight cards of a rank score ten times as much.

The pinochle itself is the queen of spades with the jack of diamonds, worth 40. Both queens and both jacks make a double pinochle worth 300.

One card can count in melds of different kinds, so a king of trump can sit in a run and in kings around at once. The king and queen inside a run do not also score as a marriage. The game finds every meld and lays it out with its name and value.

Trick play: follow suit, beat the trick, trump when you cannot follow

Pinochle is stricter than most trick-taking games. You must follow the suit led, and when you follow you must beat the best card played so far if you can. If the trick has already been trumped, any card of the suit will do.

With no card of the suit led you must trump, and you must beat a trump that is already winning if you can. Cards you may play stand bright in your hand and the rest are dimmed. Tap a dimmed card and the game tells you which rule is holding it back.

Pinochle scoring: counters, making the bid and going set

Aces, tens and kings are the counters, worth 10 points each in tricks. Queens, jacks and nines are worth nothing. With 10 more for the last trick, every hand holds exactly 250 trick points.

The bidding side adds its meld to its trick points. Reach the bid and the whole amount goes on the score sheet. Miss it and the side is set: the bid is subtracted and the hand's meld and tricks are lost. A side that takes no points at all in the tricks scores nothing for its meld either.

When the meld is shown, the game works out how many trick points the bidder still needs. If even all 250 would not be enough, the hand is thrown in at once: the bidder loses the bid and the other side scores only its meld.

Play pinochle against the computer: Easy, Medium and Hard

Three computer levels play clearly different games. Easy bids on what it holds and plays simply. Medium counts its hand properly, passes well and remembers what has been played. Hard looks ahead by dealing out the cards it cannot see many different ways and choosing the play that works best across them.

No level ever looks at your cards, and your partner plays at Medium or better whatever level you choose.

You get two hints a hand on Easy and one on Medium, for a bid, a trump suit, a pass or a card. Hard has none. Wins, bids made and your best streak against Hard are kept on your device.

Online pinochle: four-seat tables with friends

Choose Online to open a table or join one. Opening a table gives you a link and a short code to share. The host picks the house rules, and computer players take any seats still empty when the game starts.

The table deals the cards, checks every play and keeps each hand hidden from everyone but its owner. If someone drops out, a computer covers the seat until they come back.

House rules and options

Pinochle is played a little differently from one kitchen table to the next, so the common variations are options. You can pass three cards instead of four, or play with no pass at all, where the lowest bid drops to 150.

You can count tricks the old way, with aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2, which still comes to 250 with the last trick. You can relax the rule about beating the trick so it applies only when trump is led. Games run to 1500, 1000 or 500.

A short history of pinochle

Pinochle grew out of the French game bezique and its German cousin binokel, both built around the pairing of the queen of spades with the jack of diamonds. German-speaking immigrants carried the game to the United States in the nineteenth century.

The two-handed and three-handed auction games came first. The four-handed partnership game played here became the favourite of families and clubs, and it still is.

Controls and keys

Tap a card to raise it and tap it again to play it, or swipe it up toward the table. One-tap play and faster dealing are in the menu.

On a keyboard, the arrow keys choose a card, Space raises it and Enter plays it or bids. P passes, L shows the last trick, H asks for a hint and M mutes the sound.

Pinochle FAQ