Multiplayer Pinochle

In this game you play Pinochle with 3 other players. The game is played by 2 decks of standard cards with 2 - 8 removed, so a total of 48 cards are used. The rank ordering of the cards is A, 10, K, Q, J, 9. Each player is dealt 12 cards and then the bidding phase begins.

The dealer bids first, and the bid is the total points he thinks he and his partner (the player sitting opposite) can win, and the bid must be a multiple of 10. The bid winner will be able to decide the trump suit used in this hand. After the bidding phase, the melding phase begins.

Points are awarded for special patterns (called melds) in the player's hand, the melds and their points are: Run (A 10 K Q J of the trump suit) - 150 points; Double Run (A A 10 10 K K Q Q J J of the trump suit) - 1500 points; Marriage (K Q of the same suit) - 20 points; Trump Marriage (K Q of the trump suit) - 40 points; Dix (9 of the trump suit) - 10 points; Aces Around (4 A of different suits) - 100 points; Kings Around (4 K of different suits) - 80 points; Queens Around (4 Q of different suits) - 60 points; Jacks Around (4 J of different suits) - 40 points; If the player is holding all 8 A, K , Q, or J, then the points is 10 times the respective around points; Pinochle (J of Diamond and Q of Spade) - 40 points; Double Pinochle (both J of Diamond and Both Q of Spade) - 300 points.

One card cannot participate in two melds of the same type, for example 1 Q of Spades and 2 K of Spades can score only one Marriage, but that Q of Spades can be used again to form a meld of another type, say, Pinochle. After the melding phase the playing phase begins, the bid winner plays the first card, the suit of the first card is the trick suit, and the other player must follow suit if possible.

If the trick suit is the trump suit, then the players must always play a higher ranked card if possible. The player of the highest card wins the trick, the highest card is the highest ranked card of the trick suit, or the highest ranked card of the trump suit if trump cards are played. The trick winner then plays a card to start the next trick. After all the tricks are played, the points for the tricks are calculated.

Each A, 10 and K won during the tricks are worth 10 points, and the winner of the last trick also gets 10 points. The total points for this round is the sum of the meld points and the trick points of the partners. For the bid winner, if the total hand point is less then the points bidded, then the points equal to the bidded points is deducted form the team's total points, otherwise the hand points are added to the total points.

For the team which didn't win the bid in the bidding phase, the hand points are always added to the total points. After calculating the points the cards are dealt again and the next hand begins. The game ends when one team reaches 1000 points.

NOTE: To play the .air version you'll need Adobe Air.