Pinochle Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Trivia quiz questions with answers about the card game Pinochle

Pinochle Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

What is “Pinochle”?
A: Pinochle is a trick-taking, Ace-Ten card game typically for two to four players and played with a 48-card deck.

What card game is it derived from?
A: The card game bezique; players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of cards into melds.

It is thus considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category which also includes what other game?
A: The game belote.

Each hand is played in what three phases?
A: Bidding, melds, and tricks.

The standard game today is called what?
A: "Partnership auction pinochle.

" Its name comes from the French word binocle meaning what?
A: "Eyeglasses".

German immigrants brought the game to America, where it was later what?
A: Mispronounced and misspelled "pinochle.

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Pinochle was the favorite card game of whom?
A: American Jewish and Irish immigrants.

What was the preferred game of a majority of German immigrants?
A: Skat.

Auction pinochle for three players has some similarities with the German game skat, although the bidding is more similar to that of what?
A: Bid whist.

During World War I, the city of Syracuse, New York outlawed the playing of pinochle in a fit of what?
A: Anti-German sentiment.

A pinochle deck consists of two copies of each of the 9, 10, jack, queen, king, and ace cards of all four suits, for how many cards per deck?
A: 48.

Aces are always considered what?
A: High.

Pinochle follows a nonstandard what?
A: Card ordering.

What is the complete ordering from highest to lowest?
A: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9.

The game can also be played using standard ranking with a simple change to what?
A: Scoring.

Variants of pinochle can be played with how many players?
A: Five, six, eight or more players.

These larger variations can combine two pinochle decks called what?
A: A "double deck".

The double deck can also be used when playing with four players; hand sizes, average scores and minimum bids are then what?
A: Doubled.

The game is played with a deck of 48 cards and four players; one player is the what?
A: The dealer.

After the shuffle, the dealer will offer a cut to whom?
A: The player on their right, then distribute the cards.

How many cards are dealt in partnership pinochle?
A: All of them.

What happens in variations for odd numbers of players like three?
A: A "widow's hand" (also called a "kitty", "talon", or "stock") of cards remain.

Traditionally, the deal is done clockwise, dealing a packet of how many cards at a time, starting with the player to the left (the eldest hand) and ending with the dealer?
A: Three or four cards.

The deal rotates clockwise, so who will deal next?
A: The dealer's left-hand opponent will deal next.

In auction pinochle, players bid for what points?
A: The points they predict their hand could earn.

The highest bidder earns the right to declare what?
A: The trump suit.

One of the players, usually the player to the left of the dealer, or the dealer themselves, is obligated to do what?
A: Open with a first bid.

The size of bids is based on the point scale and number of decks used; traditionally, points are in multiples of what?
A: 10.

When a player has the turn to bid, the player may do what?
A: Either bid or pass.

A popular variation for four (or three) player pinochle involves dealing a 4 card kitty (3 or 6 cards for three players), with whom taking the kitty and discarding 4 (3 or 6) cards from his hand?
A: The bid winner.

The point value of the discards can sometimes be what?
A: Added to the bid winner's total trick count or not, depending on the pre-established rules.

In three player games the 6 card kitty can often lead to what?
A: Very competitive and extravagant bidding.

When a player passes, they can no longer do what?
A: Bid.

When does the auction end?
A: When all subsequent players in rotation have passed after the last bid.

The last bid becomes what?
A: The "contract".

The player that made this final bid will then do what?
A: Declare trump in the suit that is desired.

In some house rules, trump cannot be declared in any suit not containing what?
A: A "run", "marriage" or "dix" meld.

In order for the winning bidder to win the hand, the combined total of melding and trick points must be equal to or greater than what?
A: Than the winning bid.

Thus bidding involves anticipating the points that will be accumulated from what?
A: From melds and from the points accumulated from winning tricks.

If the combined score is lower than the bid, then what happens?
A: The bidding team or player has been "set".

What does this mean?
A: That the total bid amount is subtracted from the total game score, often accompanied by losing the points scored in meld for that hand as well.

This can result in what?
A: A negative score.

A related though different style of bidding is for the players to bid how?
A: Individually, and partners' bids are then summed.

The winning bid only decides trump; both (or all) teams' bids become their contract, meaning what?
A: Meaning that any team can score or be set.

This creates what?
A: A more balanced game.

In some versions of pinochle, after the bid has been taken and trump declared in a partnership game, the bid winning team does what?
A: Exchanges cards.

It may be how many cards, depending on the version of the game?
A: Two, three, or four.

Who passes first?
A: The partner of the bid winner passes first.

What is the objective of the partner?
A: Either to add to the total points in meld or to pass trick-winning cards.

After receiving the cards, the bid winner examines what will create the strongest hand and then does what?
A: Discards an equal number of cards back to their partner.

Melding consists of doing what?
A: Displaying specific combinations of cards to all players.

How is this typically done?
A: By placing the combination of cards face up on the playing surface until all players have had the opportunity to examine them.

All players meld after what?
A: After the bid winner shows meld first.

The types of melds include what?
A: "Arounds", "marriages", "flushes" and "pinochles".