What is Check Pinochle?
Check Pinochle is partnership Pinochle with a second score. Besides the usual points, the sides win and pay checks, like chips: every check one side wins, the other side pays, so the two totals always add up to zero. The game still ends when a side reaches the target in points, but the side holding more checks at the end wins.
The auction changes too. You may bid only while you hold a marriage, a king and queen of the same suit, and anyone may pass, including the first player to speak. If all four pass, the cards are dealt again. No cards are passed between partners: the bidder simply names trump, which must be a suit in which they hold a marriage. Points for meld and tricks are then scored as in the standard game, and a side that falls short of its bid loses the bid.
Checks come from four sources. When melds are shown, a side wins checks for a round trip (a marriage in every suit), runs, every kind of around and a double pinochle. After the play, the bidders win checks for making their contract, or the defenders win twice as many for setting it. A side that takes all twelve tricks wins a slam. When the game ends, the side that won on points collects checks for the game.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Pinochle | Check Pinochle |
|---|---|---|
| Players | Standard PinochleFour in two partnerships. With two or three seats the table plays the two-handed or three-handed game instead. | Check PinochleFour in two partnerships only. The option is offered at a four-seat table. |
| Bidding | Standard PinochleAnyone may bid, from 20 up. The first player to speak must open; if the other three pass, they are the bidder. | Check PinochleYou may bid only while holding a marriage, from 20 up. Anyone may pass, the first player too, and if all four pass the cards are dealt again. |
| Passing cards | Standard PinochleThe bidder's partner passes four cards to the bidder and gets four back. | Check PinochleNo cards are passed. |
| Naming trump | Standard PinochleThe bidder may name any suit. | Check PinochleThe bidder must name a suit in which they hold a marriage. |
| Checks for melds | Standard PinochleMelds score points only. | Check PinochleMelds also win checks when shown: a round trip (a marriage in every suit) 5, a run 2, aces around 2, kings, queens or jacks around 1 each, and a double pinochle 1. A double run or double around wins twice as many. |
| Checks for the contract | Standard PinochleOnly points: the bidders score what they took, or lose the bid if they fall short. | Check PinochleThe same points, and checks as well: 2 for making a bid of up to 24, 4 for 25 to 29, then 3 more for every further 5 points. If the bidders are set, the defenders win twice that many. |
| Taking every trick | Standard PinochleNo bonus. | Check PinochleA side that takes all twelve tricks wins 5 checks. |
| End of the game | Standard PinochleThe first side to 150 points. If both sides reach it in the same hand, the bidding side wins. | Check PinochleThe first side to 100 points, with the same rule when both reach it. That side wins 10 checks, plus one for every 10 points, or part of 10, by which it leads. |
| Who wins | Standard PinochleThe side that reached the target. | Check PinochleThe side with more checks, which is not always the side that reached the target. Equal checks is a draw. |
| Other options | Standard PinochleA double deck, a target score and a minimum bid can be chosen. | Check PinochleThe target and minimum bid still apply; Auto plays to 100 with a minimum bid of 20. Checks can't be combined with the double deck: if both are chosen, the double deck is played without checks. |
History
American dictionaries define Check Pinochle as partnership Pinochle in which, after each hand, the players settle up in chips for each scoring feature. A February 1945 article in a US news magazine presented it as a new game that mixed the luck of Pinochle with some of the thinking of bridge. It described melds scored on a scale ten times larger than the one here, bids starting at 200 and a game to 1,000, which match the minimum bid of 20 and the target of 100 used here, and a winner decided by checks earned for melds, for making a contract, for defeating one and for reaching game first.
Other descriptions, on the other hand, give Check Pinochle as a gambling form of the three-handed game in which the players keep track of checks. The game has been played in more than one form, and no single rulebook could be found to settle the details.
The structure here follows the partnership game those sources describe. The exact numbers of checks for each meld, contract, slam and the game are this site's own choice, so other tables may well pay different amounts.