Bids increase by factors of 10 and consist only of a number. The minimum bid players must make is 250 points. The player who bids the highest, or the winner of the bid, has the following perks: THE AUCTION/THE BIDĪ bid is a prediction of the number of points your hand might earn. The remainder of the deck is placed face-down on the table and is the stockpile. High ranking trump cards beat other trump cards. The suit of this card is the trump suit and all cards of that suit beat cards of all other suits. *If playing without bidding, after the deal, the dealer flips over the top card of the deck and places it face-up on the table. Once each player has their hand, they examine their cards and prepare for the auction or bidding phase. The deal starts to the left of the dealer and moves clockwise, ending with their own set of cards.

They then will shuffle the cards thoroughly and distribute 12 cards to each player, 3 or 4 cards at a time. THE DEALĪ dealer may be chosen by whatever method players wish. When these cards are valued at 0 points, they are referred to as noncounters. The mechanism of scoring must be mutually agreed upon before the deal and the play. There are several methods of scoring which will be outlined below in the scoring section, some of which include Q, J, 9 as both being worth points and as NOT being worth points. Ace is high, followed by 10, and K, and are often referred to as counters. Meaning these cards are always worth points. These cards, however, do not follow the traditional ranking. In each of the four suits, the deck has two of each: A, K, Q, J, 10, and 9. German immigrants who adopted the game mispronounced it as “pinochle” and brought that name with them to America where the game subsequently spread. Non-French speakers adopted the name ‘Binocle’ for the game, which means eyeglasses in French. The game’s origin is from the French game Bezique.

Unexpectedly, it also has similarities to the popular kid’s game War. Pinochle is a trick-taking and melding card game with components similar to Bridge, Euchre, Spades, and Hearts. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2-4 Players (4 players play with partners) OBJECTIVE OF PINOCHLE: Win tricks and collect the most points.

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