Pinochle: Extending Custom Rules


| Spiele Palast 6
Pinochle: Extending Custom Rules

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Dear friends of the Palace, and especially dear Pinochle Fans,

To meet the requirements of the American way of playing Pinochle more precisely, we have been refining the custom rule American in our game Pinochle. It will be adjusted shortly, and in the same vein, we will offer you further custom rules. Continue reading to get all the important information step by step!


The Custom Rule American Thus Far

If you have been playing with us for some time, you know that the custom rule American brings along multiple small adjustments:

You are automatically playing with a bigger deck, and in the American way of playing, Nines instead of Sevens are added. The game goes clockwise, and the declarer gets to lead the first trick. At a four-player table, you are further playing without the kitty.

Pinochle Menu: Custom Rules Thus Far, 3 players and 4 players
Here you can see the current selection when selecting the custom rule American: on the left with a bigger deck for three players and on the right with a bigger deck and without the kitty for four players.

On top, there are a few differences concerning melds: Eight of a kind have different scores: Aces 1,000, Kings 800, Queens or Obers 600, Jacks or Unters 400, and Tens and Nines 0 points. Runs and double runs only count in the trump suit here.

And finally: If you activate the custom rule American, the custom rules Durch, Untendurch, and Calling cannot be combined with it.


Extending the American Rules

Pinochle is widespread in the English-speaking US American area. Of course, the rules established there over time differ from the Württemberg Pinochle rules, or Binokel rules, which are the default in our game. Since the American modifications put an interesting spin on the game, we want to provide you with the American style of playing Pinochle even more true to the original soon.


Changes to the Rule American

The cornerstones of our custom rule American remain. But more effects will be added:

In the near future, activating the rule American will additionally change the cards’ score values.

  • The three higher ranks – Aces, Tens, and Kings – will be worth 10 points each.
  • The three lower ranks – Queens or Obers, Jacks or Unters, and Nines – will be worth 0 points each.

Besides, the active custom rule American will enable a few more melds. As mentioned earlier, runs and double runs only count in the trump suit. We will be adding extended runs:

  • Run and King for 190 points
  • Run and Queen or Ober für 190 points
  • Run and Pair for 230 points

Of course, the extended runs will only count in the trump suit as well.


New Custom Rules

Swapping cards between the declarer and their partner before trick-taking is part of American Pinochle. Often, a lower penalty is given, too. With this in mind, we are now introducing two new custom rules that you will soon be able to select in Pinochle!

Pinochle Menu: Custom Rules 4 Players, New Rules
This is what the custom rule menu will look like soon: The new rules Trading and Half Penalty are highlighted in this image. By selecting Trading, Bigger Deck and No Kitty are automatically enabled, too. Trading is only available with four players.


Trading

This rule will only be available in a game of four, so Cross Pinochle. When using Trading, the kitty will be omitted, and all cards will be dealt to the players instead.

Then, the following process applies: After the declarer announces trump, their partner chooses four cards to hand over to the declarer face-down. After picking them up, the declarer returns any four cards from their hand face-down as well. Only after that will the declarer decide whether they forfeit or play.

When activating the custom rule American at a three-player table in the future, the rule Trading will not be an option. After all, this is about swapping cards between partners, which are simply nonexistent in Pinochle with three players.

But at tables with four players and the custom rule American, Trading will be enabled automatically and cannot be disabled.

Pinochle Menu: Custom Rules 4 Players, Selection American
If you select the custom rule American at a four-player table in the future, additional custom rules will automatically be activated as shown in this image: Bigger Deck, No Kitty, Trading, and Half Penalty. Only the last one can be deactivated optionally.

Aside from that, you will be able to play the custom rule Trading separately, which always includes a bigger deck and no kitty. The only custom rule that you cannot combine with Trading is the rule Calling.


Half Penalty

With this rule, the declarer now loses the number of points they bid instead of double the points when they do not make their bid.

When activating the custom rule American in the future, the rule Half Penalty will automatically switch on as well. But you will be able to switch it off in order to only play with all other rules that make up American Pinochle.

Moreover, you will be able to play the custom rule Half Penalty on its own or combined with other custom rules.


The Update

As you can see, the rule adjustments potentially affect the whole Pinochle game. For example, they will be noticeable in tournaments with American rules. Thus, the update must be carried out for all players to make sure all players get to play by the same rules under the same conditions and to ensure the game runs reliably.

In case you are playing Pinochle as a desktop app or mobile app, and you don’t have automatic updates enabled, you might soon get a notification informing you that you need to install an update for the Pinochle app in order to keep on playing.

If that happens, you know what is coming: The new American custom rules are here! At that point, best try them out directly.

Have fun and a good hand!

Your Palace Team


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Comments

  1. Avatar for Spiele Palast Tom Lambert | 7. December 2022

    At the end of your article it states, “Be the first to write a comment.”

    Well, I already commented previously but your “Mediator” staff is either hiding my response, deleted my response, or was scared to share my responses whether it is here or internally within your organization.
    If you will not address my concerns here where you have asked for people’s comments then forward my previous comment list along with this one to the appropriate party and let me discuss these hideous lying errors with them.

    I must have hit a nerve or two with the truth…
    Why are you denying open speech about what is really taking place with these changes?

    I think the changes are wonderful and were needed a long time ago. Thankfully you finally listen to me and/or other people that were complaining about the American style really wasn’t our American style here in the United States. In fact, what you’ve done so far still needs a little bit of work but you’ve done a nice job so far except now it’s being sabotaged.

    What I mean by that is…for one example:
    Why take all this time and effort to fix and enhance the American rules but then create tournaments where the American rules don’t apply yet you call it an American tournament? Why would you have a four-person American tournament set up that we can finally pass to our partner but you then post with it the rule of no kitty that cuts off any kind of passing, extra cards, or exchanging of cards whether it’s with the partner or with the computer via a kitty?

    To me that’s not an accident…. that’s on purpose and sabotage. I know from contacting your support team previously that someone within your programming team, whether it’s the developer or someone else, does not like the American style rules and I think they’re either mad about these new changes or they’re trying to prevent any further increase in their use.

    Lastly, if you will not publish my comments then why not contact me directly via my email? Are you scared? I have also called you out about the inability for us to communicate between German and English languages wherein previously your developer lied to me that it’s possible but it’s not really true or practical. Just because you have a translator tool NO ONE KNOWS ABOUT…this does not mean that it works two ways for the players. Make it an automatic detection feature so Germans can talk to English speaking playets!!!

    Regards, Tom Lambert

    • Avatar for Spiele Palast Spiele Palast | 12. December 2022

      Hello Tom,

      Thank you for your message. Pinochle is a trick-taking game and comes from the Württemberg region. As with most card games, the rules can vary locally. We turned to various Pinochle clubs and based ourselves on their rules for the basic game.

      However, we offer variations through special rules so that every player can play the game according to their preferences. We have e.g. “No Dabb”, “American”, “Calling” and much more.

      Premium Members have the ability to create tables with their own preferences for special rules. You can recognize these tables by the three white card backs and click on them to see all the rules. You can also sit at these tables without your own premium membership.

      At the moment there is no autotranslate function in the chat. But we would be happy to take your suggestion into account.

      Best wishes

  2. Avatar for Spiele Palast Lily | 4. December 2022

    Thank you for all the options. This is my favorite online game, and one I’ll play for a long time to come. I appreciate all the time and effort you have put into it.

    • Avatar for Spiele Palast Spiele Palast | 12. December 2022

      Hi Lily,

      we are glad that you like our game so much, so have fun playing. 😉

      Best wishes

  3. Avatar for Spiele Palast Rommel, sylvia | 29. November 2022

    Wie bekommt man gratis cips

    • Avatar for Spiele Palast Spiele Palast | 12. December 2022

      Hallo Sylvia,

      danke für deine Frage. Gratis Chips erhält du jeden Tag von uns die du zum spielen nutzen kannst. Ebenfalls kannst du auf Facebook an Gewinnspielen teilnehmen an denen du weitere Chips oder sogar Premiumzeit gewinnen kannst. Auch vergeben wir einfach mal so Gratischips in Facebook. Also behalte immer einen Blick auf unsere Beiträge. 😉

      Viele Grüße