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- DOUBLE DECK PINOCHLE
- COPYRIGHT 1983 RALPH DAUGHERTY
-
- Welcome to Double-Deck Pinochle. This program is designed to let you learn
- and perfect the game. A learner's version is provided which simulates everybody
- playing with their hand on the table. The regular version lets you perfect your
- strategies.
-
- Double-Deck Pinochle is a team game with four players. The computer simulates
- the opposing team, the CHUMPS, and your partner, North. You are South.
-
- The cards used in this game are two pinochle decks minus the nines. There are
- 80 cards divided into the four suits. Within a suit, the 20 cards are
- distributed as:
- 4 Aces
- 4 Tens
- 4 Kings
- 4 Queens
- 4 Jacks
-
- There are two kinds of points added up to each teams score. The first are
- meld points which are counted when each hand is dealt. Various combinations of
- cards are worth certain points.
-
- The other points are accumulated during play. Aces, tens, and kings are worth
- a point each and are called counters. Queens and jacks are non-counters.
-
- Players bid for the opportunity to call trump by estimating the total points
- possible with their hand. The highest bidder calls his best suit trump and
- begins play. Play consists of each person playing in turn, constituting a trick.
- A trick is won by the highest card, with a trump card beating any other card.
-
- MELD POINTS
-
- Your hand appears at the top of the screen. Melding points is the first step.
- Meld points are gained by identifying certain combinations of cards, such as a
- Queen of Spades and the Jack of Diamonds. The more meld points you have, the
- higher you can bid, and the higher you can bid, the more successful you will be
- in calling your best suit trump. The person who calls his best suit trump will
- take the most tricks. And the team that does this the most will win.
-
- There are four categories of meld:
-
- 1. Arounds
- 2. Pinochle
- 3. Marriages
- 4. Trump Meld
-
- One card can be used more than once in different kinds of meld.
- One kind of card in each suit is called an around. Point values are:
-
- Aces Around 10
- Kings Around 8
- Queens Around 6
- Jacks Around 4
-
- -1-
-
- For example, to have Kings Around, you must have at least one king in every
- suit, not just four kings. If you have two of each card around, multiply the
- the point value by ten. Double Aces Around, for example, are worth 100 points.
-
- A pinochle is a Queen of Spades and a Jack of Diamonds and is worth four
- points. A Double Pinochle requires two Queens of Spades and two Jacks of
- Diamonds and is worth 30 points. A Triple Pinochle is worth 90 points and
- getting a Quadruple Pinochle means an instant win.
-
- A king and queen in the same suit is a marriage and worth two points each.
- You may have up to four marriages in each suit.
-
- The last category of meld points is trump meld. These points are counted
- only in the suit named trump. First, marriages in the trump suit are worth four
- points instead of two. Also, you may have a run which means that in the trump
- suit you have all five ranks (Ace, Ten, King, Queen, and Jack). This is worth
- 15 points altogether, including the marriage. A Double Run is worth 150 points,
- and any extra marriages in addition to a run is worth four points each.
-
- BIDDING
- After counting your meld, the person to the left of the dealer starts
- bidding. There are two purposes to bidding. One is to indicate to your partner
- how much meld you have, and the second is to indicate that you can call trump.
-
- The rules for bidding are:
- 1. Bidding starts at 51.
- 2. A player may bid higher than the previous hid or pass. Once a player
- passes, he is out of the bidding.
- 3. A player may bid anywhere between 51 and 60, but once the bid reaches
- 60 bids must be in increments of 5. For example, the first four bids may
- be: 51, 53, 60, 70.
- 4. The person who remains after everyone else passes wins the bid. He then
- calls trump. The only requirement for a suit to be named trump is that
- the player have a marriage in trump.
-
- In the process of bidding higher, you can indicate how much meld you have and
- the strength of your trump suit if your partner hasn't passed. The first time
- you bid, you can increment one for every ten meld you have. Take your meld
- points, disregarding trump meld, and round to the nearest ten. Now divide by ten
- and add to the previous bid. This indicates how much meld you have.
-
- Example: You have 16 meld. The bid to you is 53. You round your meld to 20
- and divide by 10, giving 2. Add 2 to 53 giving 55, which is your bid.
-
- There are three restraints on this:
- 1. If you have less than 14 meld, don't give a meld bid. Assume your partner
- has 8 meld unless he gives a meld bid. If you have 14 meld, go ahead and
- round up to 20 if you have more than 3 aces.
- 2. Indicating meld stops at 59. If your meld increment added to the previous
- bid exceeds 59, you must bid 59 and indicate what you can.
- 3. If the bid reaches you at 60 or higher and you have 29 or more meld you
- can add 15 to the previous bid and this will indicate 30 meld to your
- partner.
-
- If you don't have meld to bid or have already given a meld bid, the second
- step is to indicate a trump suit. A trump suit must have a marriage and should
- have at least six cards, with at least one ace. Adding one to the previous bid
- indicates the ability to call trump.
-
- If you are bidding against your partner to call trump, the number of times
- you bid indicates the strength of your trump suit.
- -2-
-
-
- As soon as you determine you want to call trump, use the bid formula to
- determine how high you can bid.
-
- Your Meld
- +Partner Meld
- +Trump Meld
- +(# Aces + # Trump)*2
- -------------------------
- Maximum Bid (Round up to nearest 5)
-
-
-
-
- PLAYING
-
- There are 20 tricks up for grabs with a total of 50 points. The 16 aces, 16
- tens, and 16 kings add up to 48, and there are 2 bonus points for the team that
- takes the last trick.
-
- There are four rules for playing:
-
- 1. You must follow suit, that is, play a card in the suit that is led, if
- you have one.
- 2. You must beat the highest card played if you can, if the suit hasn't been
- cut with trump. If you have more than one card that beats it, you can
- play just above it or play as high as you want. If you can't beat it, you
- can play any other card in that suit.
- 3. If you are out of the suit that is led, you must play trump if you have
- it.
- 4. If someone else has already trumped, and you must trump, you must beat
- that trump card if you can.
-
- If you can't follow suit and are out of trump, you may play any card you want.
-
- To play a card, type in the Rank Suit card code.
-
- The Rank codes are:
- Ace 5 or A
- Ten 4 or T
- King 3 or K
- Queen 2 or Q
- Jack 1 or J
-
- The Suit codes are:
- Spades 1 or S
- Diamonds 2 or D
- Clubs 3 or C
- Hearts 4 or H
-
- The highest trump played takes the trick, If no trump is played, the highest
- card in the suit led takes the trick. In any case, when there are more than one
- high card, the first one played is the winner.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- -3-
-
- SCORING
-
-
- The first step in scoring is making the board. This means you and your
- partner have at least 20 meld together. If you do, your meld is temporarily
- added to your score. In a game with other people, the players show their meld by
- laying down their meld cards on the table for all to see. In the computer
- version, you just input your total. The computer declares meld for all four
- players. If it declares more meld than you input, you can see what you missed.
- However, only the meld you input will be added to your score.
-
- The next step is called saving your meld, or if you called trump, saving your
- bid. To save your meld, you must pull at least 20 counters. If you don't, you
- lose both your counters and your meld. Even if you didn't make the board with 20
- meld, if you pull 20 or more counters they will be added to your score.
-
- If you called trump, your team must make up the difference between your meld
- and your bid with counters, with the exception that you must pull a minimum of
- 20 counters. If your team fails to pull enough counters, your bid will be
- subtracted from your score.
-
- You will be board set (minus your bid without playing out the hand) if you
- win the bid and:
-
- 1.You don't have a marriage in your hand.
- 2.Your team doesn't have 20 meld.
- 3.You must pull more than 50 counters.
-
- The other team gets their meld if they have 20 or more in a board set.
-
-
- INPUT
-
- The program pauses and the cursor flashes to allow you to go at your own
- pace. Unless a specific response is required, as indicated below, pressing any
- key will allow you to continue.
-
- Questions to Answer
-
- 1. Learner's Version(Y/N)? - Answering yes, by pressing Y, allows you to see
- each player's hand as he bids and plays. This lets you learn how to play
- by watching other players.
-
- 2. Formula Option(Y/N)? - In the learner's version, this option allows you to
- see each player's formula and how he bids it.
-
- Data Inputs
-
- 1. Your bid? - Type in your bid and press <ENTER>. Bid 0 to pass.
-
- 2. What is trump? - If you win the bid, indicate trump by typing in a suit
- code.
-
- 3. What is your meld? - Type in your total meld and press <ENTER>.
-
- 4. Your play(RS)? - Type in 2 digits. The first digit is the Rank code and
- the second digit is the Suit code.
-
- Errors
-
- Error # - Press H for Help key to explain error, else clear error by pressing
- any other key.
- -4-
-
- STRATEGY
-
- And now, to play like a champ, here are some strategy techniques.
- 1. Be systematic when counting meld. If you look for meld in a hit or miss
- fashion you will miss some.
-
- 2. If your partner has given you meld and East passed, do your best to bid
- even if you don't have a good trump suit. The fact that North gave you
- meld doesn't mean he can call trump. Likewise, give your partner a meld
- bid even if you don't have a marriage. North will cover you.
-
- 3. The first player to 60 has an advantage. Sometimes it will cut off a meld
- bid and often 60 or 65 wins the bid.
-
- 4. Don't bid too high, but don't get caught bidding short. Only bid high
- enough to win because if you go set your bid is subtracted from your
- score. But don't bid 5 less than your maximum bid. If your maximum is 65
- and you bid 60, the next person to bid will bid 65 and you cannot bid
- again. Go straight to 65 and force the opponent to bid 70 or pass.
-
- 5. Don't lead your Aces of Trump unnecessarily. In general, only lead them if
- you called trump and you are in some trouble, such as pulling more than 30
- counters or your opponents are cutting. However, lead any ace which is
- unbacked, that is, when you don't have enough backers for it to keep from
- playing it if all aces are led.
-
- 6. Distribute your ace leads. Don't stay with one suit and lead two or three
- aces. If someone cuts that suit you will have lost the opportunity to play
- your other aces.
-
- 7. Lead a queen when you are out of aces. This forces a counter from West if
- North takes the trick, but is a non-counter if your opponents take the
- trick.
-
- 8. If you can only guess what suit to lead use this matrix. The YES and NO
- refer to whether the player has led yet.
-
- WEST NORTH
- YES YES Shortest suit in your hand
- YES NO Least aces played in game so far
- NO YES Longest suit in your hand
- NO NO Most aces played in game so far
-
- 9. In general, play jacks and queens on your opponent's aces, and kings and
- tens on your partner's aces.
-
- 10. When cutting, start with kings, then tens. Anytime your team takes a
- trick, try to put a counter on it.
-
- 11. If one player leads an ace and his partner plays an ace on it, it is an
- ace leadback and used to signal that the partner will take the trick if
- that suit is led again. Lead a counter.
-
-
-
- The author welcomes all questions and comments.
- Ralph Daugherty
-
- -5-
-
- 1 ┌──────────────────────┐
- S │ CARDS OF EACH SUIT │
- T └──────────────────────┘
- JACKS................4...............40
- R QUEENS...............6...............60
- O KINGS................8...............80
- U ACES.................10.............100
- N
- D
- ┌────────────┐
- O │ PINOCHLE │ 1 EACH 2 EACH 3 EACH
- F └────────────┘
-
- B Q & J ...........4........30........90 (TOTAL)
- I
- D ┌────────────┐
- D │ MARRIAGES │
- I └────────────┘
- N
- G K & Q OF SAME SUIT .......2
-
- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
- 2 ┌────────────┐
- N │ TRUMP MELD │
- D └────────────┘
-
- R K & Q OF TRUMP............+2
- O
- U A RUN OF TRUMP ( A THRU 10).......+11
- N
- D
- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
-
- ┌────────────┐
- │ FORMULA │
- └────────────┘
-
- PARTNERS MELD + YOUR MELD + QUALITY COUNT = MAX YOU CAN GO
- QUALITY COUNT = TYPICALLY 20 (COUNTERS TO GET)
- ALSO CAN BE FIGURED Q.C.=(# OF A + # OF TRUMP)*2
-
- * YOU MUST GET 20 COUNTERS TO COLLECT MELD
- * YOU MUST HAVE 20 MELD TO ADD IT TO SCORE
-
- ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
- │ │
- │ AFTER YOU'VE LED YOUR ACES AT THE BEGINNING │
- │ OF THE GAME: │
- ├────────────┬───────────┬──────────────────────────────────┤
- │ LEFT │ PARTNER │ ACTION │
- │ OPPONENT │ │ │
- ├────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
- │ 0 │ 0 │ LEAD SUIT WITH MOST ACES PLAYED │
- ├────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
- │ 0 │ 1 │ LEAD LONGEST SUIT │
- ├────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
- │ 1 │ 0 │ LEAD SUIT WITH LEAST ACES PLAYED│
- ├────────────┼───────────┼──────────────────────────────────┤
- │ 1 │ 1 │ LEAD SHORTEST SUIT │
- └────────────┴───────────┴──────────────────────────────────┘
- * TO PUNT............ LEAD A QUEEN (USUALLY TRUMP)
- -6-