This article contains everything you need to know about Arkadium’s Double Deck Pinochle Game.
Use the list below to navigate specific topics about Double Deck Pinochle.
Game
Jump into double-deck Pinochle, where strategy, memory, and teamwork intertwine in a dynamic dance of cards. Double Deck Pinochle online is played by four players in two teams. The game uses a unique 80-card deck, four of each A, 10, K, Q, and J across all suits. Each player is dealt 20 cards per round.
Here is how the game looks on a typical match. The player is in the bottom, with all of the available cards ready to play.
You can see the username of the player on the left, and the number of tricks on the right. The center is the player's in-game avatar, which can be changed in the options menu. The D on the right of the Aida player represents who is the current dealer. The symbol will switch to different players when it's time for someone else to deal.
NOTE: As the game functions on a different system than standard Arkadium accounts, your username in-game will always be displayed as a variation of "Guest".
Your score, bid and currently held hand score are located on the top right, with a color set for each of the teams. The teams have the same color as represented in their game icons, blue and red.
You can see all of the options available to you on the bottom of the table. Here is what each of them represents.
The Table option allows you to see the game's stats, as seen here.
The Pause option allows you to pause the game. This is not allowed in multiplayer games.
The Chat option allows you to type a message to chat with other players.
Using Game will let you quit the table or join a brand new one, with bots or real players. It will also allow you to use the Multiplayer menu.
The Multiplayer Menu gives you more options, to browse the different available tables, host your own, or join a private table with other players you know.
Using Help and Rules allows you to check guides for the game's options and rules, if you need a quick refresher.
The Profile allows you to check a variety of options to do with your chat and player interactions. You can also change the deck you play with, the game's wallpaper, the avatar you use and check your stats.
Main Menu
The main menu of the game will give you a wide range of options to choose from. Double Deck Pinochle can be played in both singleplayer against the computer, and multiplayer against real people. You can see how many players are active at the time next to Play.
The New Game option will allow you to play against the computer, while Join Table will match you up with existing players. Browse Tables lets you check from a variety of tables hosted by different players, each with their own options. You can choose to your liking.
HOST TABLE: Some of the options regarding hosting a game connected to a registry are locked out, due to the game using a different account system that is incompatible with the Arkadium system. Due to this, these options will not be available in our version of the game.
There are several options to choose from.
To learn how to play the game, you can use the interactive Tutorial. This will teach you all of the game's rules. You can also read the game's rules directly.
You can also customize your account and game settings on the bottom.
How To Play
Rank of cards
The Ace card has the highest rank, meaning it is the most powerful card. The next highest is the 10, followed by King, Queen, and Jack (lowest). Cards in the "trump" suit outrank all other cards.
The only cards in a trick that score points are the Ace, 10, and King - each is worth 1 point.
Objective
The objective is to be the first team to reach 500 points.
Deal
A random player is chosen to be the dealer.
Each player is dealt a hand of 20 cards from a deck of cards containing four A, 10, K, Q, J cards of each suit (a total of 80 cards).
Bid
Starting with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places a bid. The player who wins the bid gets to choose the trump suit, which can help to win their team meld points and trick points. This makes choosing trump valuable!
A specific card in your hand may belong to more than one meld of different meld types, but it cannot belong to more than one meld within a meld type. For example, if you have Kings around - K♦, K♠, K♥, K♣ - and also a Q♣ card, the K♣ in your Kings around meld will be paired with the Q♣ in a Marriage meld. However, if you have a Run in Clubs - A♣, 10♣, K♣, Q♣, J♣ - the King and Queen in that meld cannot count towards a Royal Marriage. You must have an extra King and Queen of that suit to make up a Royal Marriage meld.
Do not be too concerned about computing melds. Use the "Show Meld" button to show all melds in your hand that do not require a trump suit. The only melds that you will need to find on your own are Runs and Royal Marriages.
Play
The player who won the bid starts the trick by playing any card, the lead card, from their hand. Play continues in clockwise order.
When following with a card, you must play a card that outranks the highest-ranking card in the trick. This is called "crawling".
For example, if the trick started with a King of Diamonds, and you have an A♦, 10♦, and Q♦, then you cannot play the Queen; you must play either the Ace or the 10.
If you do not have any Diamonds, but do have a card in the trump suit, you must play a trump card. If there are any trump cards in the trick already, you must play a trump card that outranks that card, if possible. Otherwise, you must play some other trump card.
If you have no cards that outrank cards in the trick, you may play any card in your hand.
After all 4 players have played a card, the trick is taken by whoever played the highest-ranking card. Remember that trump cards outrank all other suits.
The trick-taker is awarded 1 point for each Ace, 10, or King in the trick. Other cards are not counted. For example, if there is 1 Jack in the pile, 2 Aces, and a Queen, then the trick-taker is awarded 2 points.
The trick winner starts the next trick.
Scoring
After each hand, scores are calculated for each team by adding up the teammate's meld points and trick-taking points.
Rule of 20
A team with less than 20 meld does not score any meld points.
If the bid winners' team does not have at least 20 meld points, their bid is subtracted from their score! In this case, their opponent will score meld points, but only if they have 20 meld points or more.
A team that does not take at least 20 points during the trick-taking portion of the game cannot take any points at all; even their meld points are not counted.
If the bid winners' team does not take at least 20 points during the trick-taking portion of the game, their bid is subtracted from their score!
If the bid-winner's opponents did not have 20 meld points, they might still score points during the trick-taking part of the game. They are only awarded trick points if they score 20 or more points from their tricks.
Game End
The first team to reach 500 points wins!
If both teams reach 500 points on the same hand, then the winner is the high-scoring team. If they are tied, the winner is the bidding team.
However, if the "bidder out" option was chosen, and both teams reach 500 on the same hand, then the bidding side wins, even if their score is lower than their opponents. For example, if the bidding side has 510 points and the other team has 540, then the bidding side still wins.