Hello again, card game players! Today I bring you the other card game my family plays a lot, Pinochle. To play this game, you need a special Pinochle deck:

A Pinochle deck has 48 cards: 8 each of Aces, 10s, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and 9s.

As, 10s, and Ks are point cards; Qs, Js, and 9s are not.

In this game, you need to capture a "trick" (we'll get into game play in a moment) in order for your points to count; a "trick" means that you took from your opponent an A, 10, or K. So until you get that trick, all your points are just potential.

So when you are dealing the cards, you can have 2 or 3 players, but either way you deal 4 piles: one pile will have three cards, and then the other three piles are the rest of the deck. So there should be 15 cards in the other three piles. If there is no third player, the extra pile just sits to the side for now.

You then take turns bidding on the 3 card pile (whoever deals goes first, you take turns). Your strategy is to start off with as many points as possible when you lay down (I'll tell you how to get those points in a minute), and then you do the playing part where you capture more points and need a "trick." So let's say you are trying to get a run to start, a good strategy if you want to bid on the 3 card pile (if you have beans in your hand at the start and you have a choice - that is, if both your opponents' turns weren't first and they passed on bidding so you were stuck with it - I wouldn't bid on the 3 card pile). You've got a bunch of other point combos but you're one card short on your run; you have an A,10, K, Q, and 9 but you're missing the J. You decide to take a chance and bid. The minimum bid is 250 (meaning you have to get a MINIMUM of 250 points in the round or you go in the hole, your score goes negative). So you bid 250.

Your opponent has a great hand as well, so they bid 260. You can then bid 270, or let them have it. Strategically, I wouldn't bid higher unless you already have tons of points no matter what is in those three cards, but I'm not a gambler, ha ha. Never, in my opinion, bid if you don't have a marriage (a K and Q in the same suit), because if you don't have a marriage when you lay down and you took the bid, you get NO POINTS, it doesn't matter what else you have (you don't need a marriage if you didn't take the bid). You go in the hole however much you bid for the 3 card pile.

So here are the card combos to get the potential points in the first part:

Runs:
A, 10, K, Q, J: 150 points
A, 10, K, Q, J, 9: 160 points

if you have a run, that suit automatically becomes trump. If you have more than one run, you can choose which suit is trump. If you don't have a run, you can choose from whatever suit you have a marriage in. If you have no marriage and you took the bid, you automatically go in the hole and your opponent gets whatever points they laid down.

Double run (two runs of the same suit): 1500 points and automatically trump

These combos are for all four suits, so you need one that is hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs each:

4 As: 100 points
4 Ks: 80 points
4 Qs: 60 points
4 Js: 40 points

8 As: 1000 points
8 Ks: 800 points
8 Qs: 600 points
8 Js: 400 points

Q of spades + J of diamonds: 40 points
double Q spades/J diamonds: 400 points

marriage (K + Q of same suit that is not trump): 20 points
double marriage (same suit): 80 points
marriage that is trump (and not part of a run): 40 points
4 marriages (4 suits): 250 points
8 marriages: 2500 points

any 9 card of the suit that is trump: 10 points

*you cannot get extra marriage or 9s points for cards that are already in a run, but you can use those cards for other combos. So say you have a 160 point run in spades; you can still count your J diamond/Q spades points, or your 4 Ks points, etc. And of you have a SECOND 9 of trump, you can lay that down for an extra 10 points, or a SECOND marriage, etc.

IF YOUR HAND SUCKS ROTTEN EGGS BUT YOU HAVE 6 9s OF ANY COMBINATION: you can lay them down and reneg the whole hand. 😂 That means everything just starts that hand over, it's "screw that" for your bad hand, lol.

Now let's play the hand!

So you've taken the bid and got the 3 card pile to help make your points at the start. DON'T FORGET TO LAY DOWN THREE CARDS IN YOUR DISCARD PILE BEFORE YOU PICK BACK UP YOUR LAID DOWN CARDS. Failure to do this will reneg the hand, too.

The person who took the bid plays first.

Basically, you put down a card and your opponent decides to beat it with a higher card, or give you a lower card and let you take it. You have to play the same suit as the first card, unless you have absolutely none of that suit; then you have to play trump; if you have none of the first suit and no trump, you can lay down whatever you want knowing you will lose that round. The order of "power" to the cards is: aces are top, then 10s, then kings, then queens, then jacks, then 9s. Trumps beat ALL of the other suits, no matter how high the card. If the first player leads with a trump card, you HAVE to beat it if you can. Whoever takes the hand, starts the next round.

Here is where that "trick" comes in that is so crucial: if you don't take from an opponent an A, 10, or K in ANY of these rounds? You get NONE of your points (this goes for both if you took the bid or not, but other players who didn't take the bid just get no points, where taking the bid means you go in the hole however much you bid).

So let's play a few pretend rounds so it makes sense:

Let's say spades are trump. Player one puts down a jack. Player two has to beat it if they can, so they use their king as it's their only trump card. You then play a 10, winning the hand and getting your trick.

You are starting the next round now since you won the last one. You play a queen of diamonds. Player two gives you a 9 (no points, no trick). Player three only has an ace of diamonds, so they have to spend it without getting a trick, and win the hand.

Player one plays an ace of hearts. Player two gives them a jack (no points, no trick). You have no zero points hearts, so you give them a king, and they've gotten a trick.

Later, player one plays a 10 of clubs. Player two can't beat it since they don't have an ace, so they play a queen. You also can't beat it, so you give them a jack. They did not get a trick.

Player one plays an ace of clubs. Player two has to give them their king, their lowest clubs left. You have no clubs left, so you take it with a queen that is trump, getting two tricks!

Making more sense?

Play continues until no one has any cards left. Then you count your discard piles (where you've been putting all your won hands and the 3 cards you chose to discard if you took the bid). Assuming the person who won the bid gets their trick, they get to count the third hand you put aside as part of their discard pile if there were only two players.

Remember, As, 10s, and Ks are 10 points each, and the others have no points. Assuming everyone got their trick, your points for the whole round is your lay down points from the beginning + your won points in the discard pile. If someone who didn't take the bid gets no trick, they get zero points. If the person who took the bid at 260 points gets no trick, they are in the hole 260 points. If the person who took the bid at 260 points doesn't make a minimum of 260 points between both their lay down points and their won points, they are in the hole 260 points.

You set a goal at the beginning, like, "we'll play to 1000 points," and play however many hands it takes for someone to cross that goal (and whoever has the highest score wins).

I hope that made sense! Let me know if you have any questions, and have fun! :)