Pinochle is a popular card
game that is quite often referred to as penuchle or pincole, though
neither of these is the correct spelling. But no matter what you
call this game, the basics are still the same. The game of pinochle
is played with a 48 card deck (which happens to be a double Euchre
deck if you are familiar with that game), and is usually played with
two, three, or four players. For this reason, pinochle is a great
game for both couples as well as larger groups.
Many people refer to pinochle as a
trick taking game. Players can
score points by trick taking, and also have the chance to score by
forming cards into combinations that are known as
melds. There are
three phases of each pinochle hand. They are:
bidding, melds, and
tricks. As you can imagine, if you are going to begin to play
pinochle, you need to know the details of each phase. Although
pinochle is a bit more extensive than other games, as far as rules
are concerned, you should be able to pick up on the rules as you
move forward.
A deck of cards for pinochle is not the same as the standard one
that you may have come to know through other games. There are two
copies of: 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace of all four suits. In
pinochle, aces are always considered high; just like in many other
games. From there, you only have to be aware of one exception to
standard rules. The next highest card from the ace is the 10. The
order of cards, from highest to lowest, is ace, 10, king, queen,
jack, 9. Learning that the 10 is next in order to the ace can be one
of the most difficult and frustrating details for new players.
However, once you play a few games it will become second nature.
In addition to standard pinochle, there are also many
Pinochle variants that
you may want to look into playing. Many of these variations allow
you to play with anywhere from two to eight players or more. In
order to make games with more players work, two pinochle decks can
be combined. This is known as double deck pinochle.
Pinochle comes from another popular game, bezique. This game is
pretty much the same as the two handed version of pinochle. Although
pinochle is still popular, it may have reached its peak in the late
1990’s. This is when pinochle tournaments were popular all over the
country. At this time, the New England region is the only one that
still holds pinochle tournaments on a regular basis.
Now that you have a broad overview of pinochle you should be ready
to start learning the game. The rules may be extensive, but this is
one game that you definitely want to learn.
