Pinochle Help

Help is organized in the following sections.

• Pinochle Rules
• Meld Bidding
• Learning Features
• Rule Options
• Preset Game Rules
• Computer Players
• Frequently asked Questions

Pinochle Rules

Pinochle is a four player partnership game played with a deck of 48 playing cards. There are four suits and 12 cards in each suit. The ranks are 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A. There are 2 cards of each rank in the deck for a total of 48 cards. The play is broken down into hands. Hands are played until the game is over. You form a team with the player across from you and accumulate points from each hand played. The game ends when a team reaches 150 points and the team with the highest score wins.

There are six stages to a hand: dealing, bidding, passing, melding, playing, and scoring.

Dealing

At the start of the game the dealer is chosen randomly. From then on, the deal rotates clockwise until the game ends. 12 cards are dealt to each of the four players.

Bidding

The bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer and rotates clockwise. A player may choose to bid or pass. The bid indicates the number of points the player expects their team to make. Points are the sum of meld points (seeMelding) and trick points from play (seePlay). The minimum bid is 25. Bids must be at least 1 point higher than the previous bid (at 60 points bids are made in increments of 5 points). Once a player has passed, the player is out of the bidding and cannot bid again this hand. The bidding continues until all players have passed. If the first three players pass, the dealer may not pass.

The highest bidder is the declarer. The declarer chooses the trump suit for the hand, exchanges four cards with partner, and makes the initial lead during the play of the hand.

The declarer now chooses the trump suit.

Passing

The declarer and partner exchange 4 cards. First, declarer receives 4 cards from partner. Next, declarer places the cards in his hand and chooses 4 cards to pass back to partner.

Melding

All players now display meld in from their hands. Meld points are awarded for certain combinations of cards in your hand. The meld combinations are shown in the following table.

The melds are classified into three types: runs and marriages, pinochles, and arounds. The value of each meld combination is shown in the following tables. You can have multiple copies of the same type of meld in your hand. For example, you may have two aces in each suit, double aces. Double aces is worth 100 points as indicated under the double column.

A card can only be used in a meld of one type once. For example, the king and queen in a run cannot also be used as a marriage. However, the ace in the run can be used for aces around.

Note: the columns for triple and quadruple melds are for double deck pinochle where there are four copies of each card in the deck.

Play

The play consists of 12 tricks. Each trick consists of 4 cards, 1 card from each player. For each trick, there is a leader, a suit led, and a winner. The leader is the player who plays the first card. The suit led is the suit of the card played by the leader. The winner of the trick is determined by the highest card played of the suit led, however, if a trump was played on the trick, then the winner is determined by the highest trump card played. The ranking of the cards in a given suit is: 9, J, Q, K, T, A.

The declarer makes the first lead and may lead any card from his hand. Play continues clockwise to the left with each player playing a card in turn. Players must play the suit led if they have it. Otherwise, they must play a trump. If a player does not have suit led or a trump, he may play any card from his hand. When playing the suit led or trump, the player must play a card higher than the winning card on the trick, if possible. When two cards of the same rank are played on trick, the first card played is the highest.

After each player has played a card on the trick, the winning player takes the trick and places it aside until the scoring stage. This player is the leader of the next trick. The play stage continues until players have no cards left in their hands.

Scoring

Points from play are awarded for capturing aces, tens, and kings. Each of these cards is worth one point. Also, the team that captures the last trick gets one point. The total points from play is 25.

Points captured from play are added to meld points to determine the total points won by each team for this hand. The declaring team must win at least the number of points they bid. If they fail to achieve their bid, the bid points are subtracted from their score. The defending team receives their points.

The scores for the hand are added to the total game scores. The first team to reach a total of 150 points wins.

Web Links

There are many web sites discussing Pinochle. Here are a few that we found helpful.

• Wikipedia
• Pagat.com

Meld Bidding (double deck)

Meld bidding is enabled by default for double deck pinochle.

Meld bidding is in effect only for the first bid of each player when the player's partner has not passed. A non-jump bid is a normal bid to play. A jump bid shows meld points. Partner can use the points to determine the final bid level. Meld bidding applies up to bids of 59. Bids of 60 or higher are to play.

The number of steps of the jump bid determines how much meld is shown. 10 meld points are shown per step. For example, when the current bid is 51, a bid of 52 is to play and does not show meld, 53 shows about 20 meld, 54 shows about 30 meld, etc.

The opening bid is special. 50 is to play, 51 shows aces around, 52 shows about 20 meld, 53 shows about 30 meld, etc.

Note, the 59 meld bid is actually used to show "more meld than a 58 bid". For example, if the bidding goes "53 54 Pass" and you have 80 meld to show. The 58 bid would show 40 meld, here the 59 bid means 50 or more meld. The best you can do to show your meld will be 59, showing 50 or more meld.

You may optionally disable meld bidding or use the 59 bid as a special bid to show double aces around. When the 59 bid is used for double aces around, the 58 bid becomes the "catch all" bid showing more meld than the 57 bid. See settings to make adjustments.

Mandatory meld bids are supported by the computer AI when enabled (they are disabled by default). You may choose to enable them for either double aces and double runs or double aces, double runs and triple pinochles. When enabled, the AI will bid the meld value of the meld. For example, when the AI has double aces and double aces are worth 100 points, the AI will make a bid of 100.

Learning Features

NeuralPlay Pinochle offers many features to help you learn and improve your play. These features may be enabled, disabled, and/or adjusted in settings. The features include the following.

• Hints. By default the AI will show you a hint when you ask for one. In settings, you may ask the AI to always show you a hint. Or, you may ask the AI to check your bid or play and show you a hint only when it differs from yours.
• AI points estimate. When enabled, the AI will show an estimate of the number of trick points that will be scored for each legal play. This is an estimate of the expected value of each legal play, averaged across many simulation results. Note that the AI suggested play may not be the estimate resulting the most points or the play suggested by the AI. This may be due to strategic considerations or noise.
• Card counter. When enabled, a card counter of the cards that have been played during play will be shown.
• Analyze bid. When enabled, an "Analyze" button will be shown during the bidding. Tap the button and enter a bid to get an estimate of the chance of the bid making. See settings to enable.

Rule Options

Dealing

• Deck
Choose either single or double deck.
• Single. A single 48 card pinochle deck. Players receive 12 cards each.
• Double. Two pinochle decks are combined and 9's are removed. The result is an 80 card deck. Players receive 20 cards each.
• Kitty
Choose either a 4 card kitty or no kitty at all.

Bidding

• Minimum opening bid
Set the minimum opening bid from 10 to 50.
• Bid increment after 60
Set the bid increment after 60 to 1 or 5. Additionally set the bid increment after 100 to 10 when set to 5 after 60.
• Require marriage
Choose whether or not a marriage is required for declarer to bid the trump suit.
• Surrender
Choose whether or not the declarer can surrender the hand before play.
• Meld bidding
When playing double deck, you may enable or disable meld bidding. When meld bidding is enabled, you may choose to use the 59 bid to show double aces around. See Meld Bidding.
• Initial bidder must bid the minimum bid
Choose whether or not the initial bidder must open with the minimum bid.
• Bidding rounds
Choose either multiple rounds until all players have passed or a single round where each player may only bid once.
• Mandatory bids
Mandatory bids are disabled by default. You may choose to enable them for either double aces and double runs; or double aces, double runs, and triple pinochles. When enabled, the computer AI will bid the meld value of the meld. For example, when double aces are worth 100 points, the AI will make a bid of 100.
• Misdeal
For single deck, you may allow misdeals to be declared when dealt a hand with five or more nines. When allowed a misdeal must be declared at one's first bid. Requirements for a misdeal can be set either: five or more nines and no meld or six plus nines; or simply five or more nines.

Passing

• Passing
Choose from 0 (no passing) to 4 cards for the declarer and partner to exchange.

Playing

• Initial lead
Choose whether the initial lead may be any suit or must be trump.
• Must play higher
Choose from the following.
• One must play higher when any suit is led and must trump higher.
• One must play higher only when trump is on the trick.
• One must play higher only when trump is led.
• One is not required to play higher but must play trump when possible.

Scoring

• Extra king or queen with a run
Optionally let the extra king or queen with the run be worth 2 or 4 points instead of no points.
• Minimum meld points to show/claim meld
Choose whether or not there is a minimum number of meld points required to receive any meld points. When a team does not have at least the minimum meld points, meld will not be shown and the team will receive no meld points.
• Minimum trick points to save meld
Choose whether or not a team must take a minimum number of points during play to save their meld.
• On failure to save meld
Choose what points (if any) a team receives when the fail to get enough trick points to save their meld. The team may receive either no points at all or the trick points.
• On surrender the opponents score
Choose what the opponents receive when the declarer chooses to surrender. Options are the following:
• Nothing.
• Their meld points.
• Their meld points plus 12.5 points.
• Their meld points plus 25 points.
• Their meld points plus 50 points.
Note that the meld points received are the meld points shown. If the meld points are below the the threshold to show/claim meld, then no meld points are received.
• Card points
Choose from the following options to assign card points.
• The ace, ten, and king are worth one point each. Other cards are worth zero.
• The ace, ten, king, queen, jack, and nine are respectively worth 1, 1, 0.5, 0.5, 0, and 0 each.
• The ace, ten, king, queen, jack, and nine are respectively worth 1.1, 1, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, and 0 each.
• Shoot the moon
When permitted, shooting the moon gives you either a fixed value or a bonus for capturing all the tricks. By default shooting the moon is disabled. You can allow shooting the moon always or when a player is guaranteed to be set. In these cases, an option to shoot the moon will be given before play starts. Also, shoot the moon can be enabled always, without the need to declare that you are going to shoot the moon. This option is mostly useful for double deck games where it is much more difficult to take all the tricks.
• Shoot the moon value
When shooting the moon is allowed, the value may be set to various point values or the full game point score.
• Shoot the moon score
The shoot the moon scoring indicate whether the shoot the moon value is added to the trick points and meld points captured by the declarer or the shoot the moon value is the final score received.
• Shoot the moon failure
When declaring that one will shoot the moon the penalty for failing may be either minus the shoot the moon score or the loss of the game.
• Custom meld values
You may adjust the values of the melds in the meld table. Create your own meld table. Play with your preferred meld value assignments.

Game over

• Game over. Choose whether the game ends at a predetermined number of points or after a certain number of hands.
• On reaching game over score
• Highest score wins. Note: ties will be possible, but unlikely.
• When both teams reach game over at the end of the same hand, the declaring teams wins.
• Must bid to win. The winner must make the last bid of the game in addition to reaching game over points. The defenders' score may be surpass game over points but this will not end the game.
• Must bid or set to win. The winner must make the last bid or set the opponents' last bid in addition to reaching game over points. A team's score may be surpass game over points but this will not end the game.
• Set limit to game over
• None.
• Two. Getting set twice is a loss.
• Three. Getting set three times is a loss.
• Four. Getting set four times is a loss.

Preset Game Rules

You may adjust the rules as you like. To help you get started, the following preset game rules are defined.

• Single Deck

The default rules.

• Deck type: single deck.
• Pass: 4 cards.
• Kitty: no.
• Minimum opening bid: 25.
• Require marriage in trump: no.
• Minimum meld to show/claim: 0 points.
• Surrender: yes.
• On surrender opponents score: meld.
• Minimum tricks points to save meld: 1 point.
• On failure to save meld receive: 0 points.
• Meld bidding: no.
• Game over score: 150 points.
• Shooting the moon: disabled.
• On reaching game over: highest score wins.

• Single Deck - Kitty

Similar to Single Deck, but instead of passing 4 cards, there is a 4-card kitty and the bidding starts at 20 instead of 25.

• Single Deck - No Passing

Similar to Single Deck, except no cards are passed and the bidding starts at 15 instead of 25.

• Double Deck
• Deck type: double deck.
• Pass: no.
• Kitty: no.
• Minimum opening bid: 50.
• Bid increment after 60: 5.
• Meld bidding: yes.
• Require marriage in trump: yes.
• Minimum meld to show/claim: 20 points.
• Surrender: yes.
• On surrender opponents score: meld.
• Minimum tricks points to save meld: 20 points.
• On failure to save meld receive: 0 points.
• Game over score: 500 points.
• Shooting the moon: disabled.
• On reaching game over: highest score wins.

• Double Deck II

This game uses a different meld table as shown here.

Combination	Single	Double	Triple	Quad
Run	25	250	450	500
Pinochle	15	30	90	500
Aces	10	100	300	500
Kings	8	80	240	500
Queens	6	60	180	500
Jacks	4	40	120	500
Royal marriage	4	8	12	16
Marriage	2	4	6	8
Roundhouse	24	240

The 25 point single run and the 15 point single pinochle values are quite different from our other variations.

• Deck type: double deck.
• Pass: no.
• Kitty: no.
• Minimum opening bid: 50.
• Bid increment after 60: 5; and 10 after 100.
• Meld bidding: yes.
• Require marriage in trump: yes.
• Minimum meld to show/claim: 20 points.
• Surrender: no.
• On surrender opponents score: meld.
• Minimum tricks points to save meld: 20 points.
• On failure to save meld receive: 0 points.
• Shooting the moon: receive game points, no need to declare.
• Game over score: 500 points.
• On reaching game over: when both teams reach game over at the end of the same hand, the declaring teams wins.

Computer Players

NeuralPlay computer players offer 6 levels of play. Play at level 1 is reasonably easy and good for beginners. Play at level 3 should be fun for most players. Play at level 6 will be the most challenging.

The AI bots employ different AI methods depending on the level. Levels 1 and 2 use simple methods to provide an introduction to beginners. We will not describe them in detail here.

Level 3 uses a rule-based AI. The AI consists of rules such as: "In 3rd seat, do not trump partner's high card" and "In 4th seat, play just high enough to take it when an opponent is winning", etc. We find the rules work quite well and can provide good play.

Levels 4+ use Monte Carlo Simulation to determine the best play. Basically, the AI will deal out the unknown cards randomly. The AI will then try each legal play and play the deal to the end to get a result. This is repeated for many deals of the unknown cards. The average result for each legal play is computed and the legal play with the best average result is chosen.

Levels 4+ differ in how many times the unknown cards are dealt out. In general, the more deals the more accurate the simulation. This results in better quality plays. The trade-off is that more deals take more time, play may be slower on level 6 than level 4 depending on the device.

Since levels 4+ do not use rules, you may observe either surprisingly good plays or odd mistakes that may seem not to follow any logical rules. Overall, our tests show that the levels are better than the rule-based level 3. We also find the randomness makes the computer feel a bit more human-like and fun.

If you prefer a more consistent, logical, and predictable partner AI and/or opponent AI, then level 3 may be best.

• Prefer to keep runs and aces.
• Prefer to pass the best trump.
• Prefer to keep runs.
• Prefer to keep aces.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change the hand sorting?

See Settings -> Hand Sorting. You can change the rank order, suit order, and choose to alternate red and black suits.

How do I reset my game settings back to the original game settings?

Go to the Main Screen and choose Menu -> Reset.

What are North, South, East and West (and N, S, E, and W)?

These terms are used in bridge games. You are always South and your partner is always North. The terms You and South are used interchangeably.

What does claim mean?

Claim means you will take the remaining tricks. When your hand is clearly high, you may claim the remaining tricks to speed up play. If the claim is successful (the AI will check), you will receive the remaining tricks and the hand will end.

How do I contact NeuralPlay with suggestions and feedback?

Please contact us at support@neuralplay.com.