A two-handed card duel of melding and trick-taking, played with a 48-card double deck where the same cards count twice.
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How to play
Cards rank A, 10, K, Q, J, 9 from high to low. The game runs in two phases. While the stock lasts you need not follow suit; win a trick, draw the top card, and you may then declare a meld. Once the stock is gone you must follow suit and win the trick if you can.
Melds score points: marriages, the pinochle (J of diamonds + Q of spades), a trump run and four-of-a-kind.
Captured card points: Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2.
Hold the dix (trump 9) and you may swap it for the face-up trump to score a bonus.
Total score is melds plus captured points; first to the target wins.
Controls
Desktop: click a legal card in your hand to play it, and click the on-screen buttons to declare a meld, skip or exchange the dix.
Phone & tablet: tap a card to play and tap the prompt buttons for melds and the dix swap.
Game modes
Solo vs a CPU that melds and reads the play.
Online: create an invite, join by code, or quick-match, then rematch.
Tips & strategy
During stock play, win cheap tricks specifically to open a meld window rather than to grab points.
Bank your trump for phase two, when following suit is forced and the lead becomes hard to wrestle back.
About Pinochle
Pinochle is a traditional public-domain melding card game. This is an original, free browser version of the two-handed game with a CPU opponent and online head-to-head play.
A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.
