Auction Pinochle

Players and equipment

Three players, each for themselves — there are no fixed partnerships, only a bidder and two opponents who pool their tricks together for that one hand. Some tables seat a fourth, who sits out a hand at a time and still shares in that hand's payments. SquareScores seats three, so a fourth player's payments are settled at the table, off the sheet. The deck is 48 cards: two of the ace, ten, king, queen, jack and nine in every suit. Ranking runs ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine — the ten sits above the king, which catches out almost everybody the first few times.

The deal

Fifteen cards each, dealt clockwise in packets of three starting on the dealer's left. After the first round of threes, deal one more packet of three face down in the middle of the table — the kitty — then keep dealing threes to the players until the deck is used up. The deal passes to the left after every hand.

Play

Starting on the dealer's left, bid for the right to name trumps. The first bid is at least 300; every bid after that is a higher multiple of ten, and a bid ending in 40 or 90 is not allowed. Pass and you are out of the bidding for the rest of the hand. The last player left in is the bidder, committed to the amount of their final bid. If the opening 300 is passed by both others, the opener either plays it at 300 or hands the bid to the dealer at 250.

The bidder turns up the kitty and adds its three cards to their hand, names the trump suit, then buries three cards face down — any three, kitty cards included. A buried card's points still count toward the bid; they are simply out of play for the rest of the hand. The bidder then melds: lays scoring combinations face up, has them counted, and picks them back up. The two opponents do not meld — only the bidder's combinations ever score.

The bidder leads to the first trick, and the winner of each trick leads the next. Follow suit if you can. If you cannot, you must play a trump if you hold one; if you can do neither, play anything you like. If a trump has been led, beat the highest trump played so far to the trick if you are able to. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. If two identical cards fall to the same trick, the one played first beats the other. The two opponents' tricks go into one shared pile.

Scoring

Card points, for a card taken in a trick:

Each ace

11

captured in a trick

Each ten

10

captured in a trick

Each king

4

captured in a trick

Each queen

3

captured in a trick

Each jack

2

captured in a trick

Each nine

0

captured in a trick

Last-trick bonus

10

to whoever wins the last trick

Two hundred and fifty points sit in the pack across the tricks and the bonus for the last one. Melds, laid by the bidder alone:

Run

150

Ace, ten, king, queen, jack of trumps

Dix

10

The nine of trumps

Royal marriage

40

King and queen of trumps

Common marriage

20

King and queen of the same plain suit

Pinochle

40

Jack of diamonds with queen of spades

Aces around

100

One ace of every suit

Kings around

80

One king of every suit

Queens around

60

One queen of every suit

Jacks around

40

One jack of every suit

Melds fall into three groups: the run, the dix and the marriages are one; the pinochle is the second; the four arounds are the third. A card can count toward melds in different groups at once — a queen can sit in a marriage and in queens around together — but never twice within the same group, so a run's king and queen cannot also score a royal marriage. There is no bonus for a double meld in this version: two Kings Around hands are simply two scores of 80, not more.

Add the bidder's melds to the card points their side took in tricks. Reach the bid and the bidder has made it; fall short by even a point and they have gone set. Payment is in stake units, set by the bid alone, collected from each opponent on a make and paid to each opponent on a set: 250-330 wins 1 and loses 2, 350-380 wins 2 and loses 4, 400-430 wins 4 and loses 8, 450-480 wins 8 and loses 16, 500-530 wins 16 and loses 32, and 550 or more wins 32 and loses 64. Points over the bid earn nothing extra. Every payment doubles when spades are trumps. Once the bidder has seen the kitty they may throw the hand in before a card is played — a voluntary set — and pay each opponent only what a made bid would have won, with no spades double, since no trump has been named.

A worked hand

Ben bids 320 and wins the auction. He turns up the kitty, names hearts as trumps, and buries three cards worth nothing.

Royal marriage

40

King-queen of hearts

Pinochle

40

Jack of diamonds, queen of spades

Aces around

100

One ace of each suit

Melds together

180

Ben's three combinations

His tricks bring in 140 card points, plus the ten-point bonus for the last trick.

Tricks and the last-trick bonus

150

what Ben's side captured

Melds plus tricks

330

Ben's hand total

Bid

320

what Ben promised

Result

Made

ten clear of the bid

Ben clears his bid of 320 by ten. His bid falls in the 250-330 bracket, so he collects one unit from each opponent — two units into his own hand this deal. Alice and Cass melded nothing of their own and enter 0.

On SquareScores a hand is a round. The units a player actually takes that hand go into their own column: the bidder enters the units collected from both opponents on a make, or 0 on a set; each opponent enters the units they personally collected off a set, or 0 when the bidder made the bid. SquareScores deals no cards and sees none of the play — it only holds the numbers you give it. Nobody ever enters a negative: what you paid out is simply not added to your own total, so the running line on the sheet is what each player has taken in, not a full net after what they paid out too. Whoever has taken in the most is ahead, and there is no finish line to reach.

Ending

Settle up after every hand; the game itself has no fixed length. Keep dealing until the table decides it is done, ideally once everybody has dealt about the same number of times. End match, which is any member's door, banks the sheet as it stands, and whoever has taken in the most wins.

Bid your own hand, not the auction

A bid you cannot make costs twice what making it would have won, paid to both opponents, and doubled again if spades are trumps. Count your likely melds and your trump length before you open your mouth, and let the bidding run past you rather than chase an amount your hand will not support.

The kitty can make the hand or wreck it

Three unseen cards can complete a run or hand you the missing ace for aces around — or they can be three nines you have to bury straight back. Decide what you need before the bid closes, and only push the bid as far as the kitty is likely to carry you.

Bury for the bid you have, not the hand you wish you had

The three cards you bury still count toward your total, so bury your weakest cards in suits you are not running — never a lone card that could still have completed a meld. A single queen of a marriage you cannot finish is worth more buried than kept.

Defend as one hand, not two strangers

Once the bidding ends, you and the other opponent are pooling your tricks for this hand only. Lead back through what the bidder is known to hold rather than your own hand's strength, and remember that every card either of you captures counts the same toward stopping the bid.

Know when to throw a hand in

If the kitty gives you nothing and the bid is out of reach, a voluntary set — given up before a card is played — costs half of what playing it out and losing would. Decide the moment you see the kitty; once the first card is played, a lost hand costs the full set.

Four at the table

A fourth player sits out each hand and shares in that hand's payments as if a third opponent. Some tables sit the dealer out instead of the player to the dealer's right — either way, rotate who sits so everybody deals and sits out about equally often.

A different minimum

Some tables open the bidding below 300, and some allow bids ending in 40 and 90 that the game above forbids. Agree the minimum and the step with the table before the first deal.

Simplified card values

A few groups score aces, tens and kings at a flat 10 each and queens, jacks and nines at nothing, or split the difference with kings and queens worth 5 apiece. It speeds the counting; the melds score as before.

The roundhouse meld

Some tables score a king and queen of every suit together as a "roundhouse", worth 240 — the same as kings around, queens around and four marriages added up separately. A roundhouse alongside a run in the same suit splits opinion: some pay 390 for the two together, others 350, on the view that the trump marriage inside the roundhouse cannot also be the marriage inside the run.

Playing for a pot

Instead of paying only between players, some tables keep a pot: everybody antes before the first deal, a set pays the pot as well as the opponents, and a bid over an agreed amount wins the pot outright. The pot is topped up by everyone, including whoever sat that hand out, once it is won.

How many people do you need for Auction Pinochle?

Three play each hand. A fourth can sit at the table and take turns sitting out, sharing in that hand's payments without being dealt a hand of their own.

Is the ten higher than the king in Auction Pinochle?

Yes. The pinochle pack ranks ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine in every suit, so the ten sits above the king — the single card new players get wrong most often.

What is the minimum bid in Auction Pinochle?

300, and every later bid is a higher multiple of ten with none ending in 40 or 90. If the opening bid of 300 goes unchallenged, the opener can take it at 300 or hand the bid to the dealer at a default of 250.

What happens if the bidder goes set?

They pay both opponents at the rate their bid falls under, doubled if spades is trump. Melds and tricks are added together first; falling even a single point short of the bid is a full set, not a partial one.

Can you throw in a hand in Auction Pinochle?

Yes. Once the bidder has seen the kitty, they may give up without playing a card for a voluntary set, which costs only what a successful bid at that level would have won — half of what losing a played-out hand costs.

Do the bidder's opponents score melds of their own?

No. Only the bidder lays melds; whatever combinations the two opponents are holding are irrelevant, because the hand turns entirely on whether the bidder's own melds and tricks reach the bid.