Q&A for How to Play Pinochle

Yes, if they have trump. If they cannot follow suit or play trump, they can slough off any card they want to get ride of.

A "Round Robin" is also known as "Marriages Around." It means you have a marriage of each suit in your meld.

Making good on your intention to Shoot the Moon leaves you with 275 points--240 from the counters in the deck, 10 bonus points for winning the final trick and an extra 25 on top for successfully taking all tricks.

You would add an additional 240 points. You get this by adding the 80 for the kings and 60 for the queens plus the marriages, 40 in the trump suit and 20 for each of the other 3 suits.

You count Kings, Tens, and Aces as 10 points each. The deck consists of 24 Kings, Tens, and Aces. Whoever takes the last trick gets 10 extra points - therefore, each round consists of 250 points - 240 for Kings, Tens, and Aces and 10 for the last trick.

If one team is certain they have a winning score, they can "declare out" of play at any time. However, if the teams total score falls below 1,500 (or whatever you've designated as the winning score), it's not possible for them to win the game and they will effectively be forced to forfeit.

This is actually one of the worst strategic choices you make, as nines have no value in Pinochle.

You would score 80 for the double Ks, three marriages would only be 4 points (assuming one is trump), a pinochle is 4, and a run is 15. Your total is 103 simplified, or 1030 points.

Ace, Ten, King, Queen, Jack, Nine -- these are the most powerful cards, in that order. So, yes, it beats everything but the Ace.

The team who wins the bid and matches or goes over the points needed to win, wins the game, even if the other team scores more points. This is called "Bidders Out".

Yes--the following players must top the ranking of the lead card if they can. If you don't have any cards of the same suit, it's okay to play a high-ranking card of another suit.

24 or 240 points. it is a just a Kings around, Queens around, Marriages, and marriages of Trump. 8+6+(3 marriages 6) + 1 Trump Marriage is 4 totaling 24 points or 240.

The term "trump" refers to a suit or ranking that takes precedence or is designated as having a higher value than cards of another suit or ranking.

It's worth 4 points for single, 30 for double and 450 points for triple. All points are 10x if scoring by 10. Triple and 4x can only be done if playing with a double deck.

You deduct the amount of your bid - the other team gets to count the points they won. That's why, if you are pretty sure you are not going to be able to make it, you might choose to not play the hand out. The other team gets to count their meld, but nothing else.

No. All melds must be declared and show (and in some versions left visible) before tricks are taken and the game proceeds.

To have enough cards for seven players, you'll need at least four Pinochle decks, which include the rankings nine through ace.

Most versions of Pinochle can be played with as many as eight players! However, this may require you to modify the rules or winning score somewhat in order to accommodate the extra players.

The player who played it first. Any subsequent cards played that are not greater than the card before it (less than or equal to it) do not unseat the previous card(s) to win the trick.

Yes you must go over if you can. If you don't have a heart and the card is trumped in front of you, you have to go over if you can or, if not, you still have to play trump on the trick.

Add up all of your meld, count the tricks you think you will take, along with tricks from others (estimate). This will give you an idea, then go for it. If you feel lucky, add some in, and keep doing this until you continually meet your target bid.

If you have a strong playing hand (aces, multiple cards in the same suit, and/or meld), it is usually a good opportunity to score points.

The same as you would normally use, which is 2 24-card decks (or 12 cards for each person).

If you're holding cards in the designated trump suit, the rules dictate that these be played as lead. Otherwise, you're free to lead a high-ranking card of another suit.

Yes, but only if they're both the trump suit. If you have runs in different suits, then only one of you would score 15 points, given you win the bid and are able to select the trump suit.

You may pass at bidding. Whomever is left bidding after all other players pass has the bid and calls trump suit. With each hand, one player has to start with bidding minimum amount. If all other players pass, they may be stuck with an unwanted bid.

There is no winner so to speak until end of game. After each hand the meld and points in any won tricks are totalled and/or added to previous hand totals.

Yes, unless lead card is non trump and someone trumps it before your turn to play a card.

Yes, if player has 5 nines and no meld then they can ask their partner, if they have one, if they want a redeal.

It is possible for more than one person to have a flush. It is possible for a person to have more than one flush. If someone has two flushes of different suits, that's 300 points. If someone has two flushes of the same suit, that's 1500 points.