Pinochle Rules & Scoring

A standard Pinochle deck has 48 cards. It contains two of each card from Nine up to Ace in all four suits.

Unlike standard card games, the ranking is: Ace (highest), Ten, King, Queen, Jack, Nine (lowest).

The game is typically played to 1,500 points. If both teams cross 1,500 points in the exact same round, the team that won the bid for that round automatically wins the game, regardless of who has the higher total score.

Players bid the combined total points they believe their team can earn from both melds and tricks. The winning bidder gets to declare the Trump suit for the round.

Run in Trump (150), Pinochle (40), Double Pinochle (300), Aces Around (100), Kings Around (80), Queens Around (60), Jacks Around (40), Trump Marriage (40), Standard Marriage (20).

If the bidding team lays down their meld and mathematically cannot reach their bid even if they win all 250 trick points, they are 'board set.' The full bid amount is deducted from their score, the defenders keep their meld, and the trick-taking phase is skipped entirely.

Aces, Tens, and Kings (known as 'counters' or 'pointers') are worth 10 points each. The team that wins the very last trick of the round earns a flat 10-point bonus. There are exactly 250 points available in tricks every round.

Yes. You must follow the led suit if you have it, and you MUST play a higher card to try and win the trick if possible. If you are void in the led suit, you MUST play a trump card if you have one.

To keep their meld points, the defending team must win at least one trick during the round. If they take zero tricks, they lose all their meld for that round and score 0.