For a better explanation of the rules see the rules.doc file. Deck: 4 suits - clubs, diamonds, spades, hearts. In each suit are 4 aces, 4 tens, 4 kings, 4 queens, and 4 jacks for a total of 80 cards. Game play: Consists of bidding and trick play. Game usually won by scoring 500 points. Points are received for meld based on the cards you are dealt and for aces, tens, and kings your team takes during trick play. Bidding: Bidding is important because the highest bidder picks trump. Trump may be one of the 4 suits. The more trump a player has the more points the player's team is likely to earn during trick play. After each player receives 20 cards, players take turns bidding starting with player to dealer's left and continuing clockwise. A player must pass or bid at least one higher than the highest bid. To begin the high bid is 50 by the dealer. Bids over 60 must be a multiple of 5 (65, 70, etc). After 3 players have passed the remain- ing player picks trump. What to bid? The first round is the meld bidding round. A player usually bids one higher than the high bid if the player has at least 10 meld points regardless of what suit is named trump. 2 higher - 20 meld, 3 higher - 30 meld, etc. Bids 60 and over and bids after the first round are not considered meld bids. Meld bids tell your partner how much meld you have. Determining your meld is discussed later. Trick play: The high bidder is the first to play a card and must play a trump card unless the high bid was 50. The other 3 players each play a card. A player must play a card of the lead suit. If the player has no cards in the lead suit, the player must play a trump card. If the player has no trump, the player can play any card. The highest card played takes the trick. Aces are highest, then tens, kings, queens, and jacks. Trump cards will beat any cards from the other suits. If no trump cards are played, the highest card from the lead suit takes the trick. A team gets 1 point for each ace, ten, and king in the trick. The player who played the highest card starts the next trick by play- ing any card. The team that takes the last trick gets 2 points. Scoring after trick play: The team that took the bid will have all points from their meld and trick play added to their score if they had at least 20 meld, got at least 20 points during trick play, and their meld + trick play points is greater or equal to the high bid. Other- wise the high bid is subtracted from the bidding team's score. The other team will get their meld and trick points if they got at least 20 points during trick play. Winning: 4 ways to win. (1) Score 500 or more points. (2) Take all tricks in a hand. (3) Score 250 or more points before the other team has made any forward progress in points. (4) Have quadruple pinochle and get 20 or more trick pointsMeld and additional rules: There are many variations of double-pack pinochle. To accomodate some of these variations, the follow -ing rules can be changed by selecting CHANGE RULES under the OPTIONS menu. Meld: Marriage (K & Q in same suit) in trump : 4 each not trump: 2 each Run (A 10 K Q J in same suit) in trump: 15 each A-rounds (A K Q or J in every suit) aces : 10 kings : 8 queens : 6 jacks : 4 double aces : 100 double kings : 80 double queens : 60 double jacks : 40 triple aces : 150 triple kings : 120 triple queens : 90 triple jacks : 60 quadruple aces : 200 quadruple kings : 160 quadruple queens : 120 quadruple jacks : 80 Pinochle (J diamonds & Q spades) single : 4 double : 30 triple : 45 quadruple : 60 Additional rules : Teams with 400 or more points must take the bid or set the bidding team (points are subtracted from bidding team's score) to receive points in a hand.