Overview Pinochle is a trick-taking game, like Euchre , Bridge , Hearts , Spades , and even the children's game War . Under Taking Tricks , I'll cover how you decide who leads each trick, how you decide who wins each trick, and what that all means. But before we get to the trick-taking phase of the game, I'll talk about the deck , how it's dealt , how bidding takes place, and all the other pieces of the game. There are variations on the game that use two or more decks, especially to accommodate more than four players. Four-handed means that four people play at a time.
Partnership means that the four people are grouped in two teams of two.
Auction means that the privilege of naming trump is bid for amongst the players. The player winning the bid gets the right to name trump, but also has the responsibility to make sure the team earns the number of points bid. One variation is that trump is determined by the final card dealt from the deck. Racehorse means that, after the winning bidder has named trump, that player's partner passes cards across the table. The bidder incorporates those into the hand, then passes the same number of cards back.