Omaha daily bee., 1907-04-21

| would get something more valuable to score
in the meantime, and then there would be
| disputes as to how much of the meld on
the table had been scored, and whether or
not some of 1t had been scored twice over
or not at all.
| This led to the formulation OF one of the
most important and useful rulesin pnochle,
the rule which marks out most clearly the
distinction between pinochle and bezique.
1t is this: For every fresh meld at least
one fresh card must be laid out from the
hand of the player.
| Under this rule II was no longer possible
to lay upon the table a number of melds
at the same time, hoping to score them as
tricks were taken later II the player held
four kings and four queens he had TO meld
his four kings first.
J Upon winning another trick. he would
add the queen of trumps and score tho
royal marriage. On winning another trick
he could meld a plain suit marriage, and
with fourth trick another marriage.
| When it came to the fifth trick there re-
manned in his hand only one card belong
! ing to the combination. and he had to
choose whether to meld it as four queens
or a fourth marriage. 1t could not be
used for both melds. and as one must be
! lost the sixty queens was chosen. There
| being no fresh card to be played from the
hand for the last marriage, that score was
| let go, leaving a total of go for the whole
five melds in combination.
| Precisely in the same way the player
| holding the trump sequence would meld
the marriage first, afterward adding to 1t
the 10. scoring 40 for the marriage, and
then l5o for the sequence. a total of 100 for
] the combination. If the trump sequence
| was laid down first the marriage was lost,
! because there was no fresh card to play
| from the hand
Rule often violated.
There is also a minor rule which pre-
vents a player from taking cards away
from a meld to form other melds of less
value in the same class. Marriages and
! sequence are in the same class, and this is
the only class affected b. this rule.
! Should a player have NEEDED trump
sequence without NEEDING the marriage
| first and have another king OF trumps he
cannot meld the marriage with the new
king, because he would have to take the
queen away from the other meld, which is
in the same class and Of greater value.
| In NEEDING pinochle in the old days If
! the player held double pinochle in his hand
/ he NEEDED the single pinochle first and
scored 20 for IT, When he won another
| trick, he added the two fresh cards from
his hand to the two on the table and NEEDED
/ double pinochle. scoring 800 more. 50 that
/ he made It worth $40 altogether for the
combination, just as he increased the trump
marriage TO the trump sequence. But there
is no longer any such score as 800 for double
! pinochle, so that the player holding It may
/ as well lay it down at once for eighty
! We come now to the connecting link
| between the original or two-hand game
| and the modern three or four-hand game.
| In two-hand, as long as there remained
| cards I'm the stock to draw from the players
/ could meld, because the rule was that a
player must meld after winning a trick
and before drawing from the stock When
/ there was no longer any stock to draw
| from the melds ceased.
| While the players were making their
melds and drawing from the stock It was
not necessary 20 follow suit to anything
! not even to trumps, and the second player
was not obliged to win a trick unless he
wanted 70. But as soon as the melds were
all made and the stock was exhausted It
became imperative for the second player
on each trick not only TO follow suit but
to win the trick If he could, no matter
what was led
Fundamentals of the Game.
This would seem to show that the fun
damental principles OF the game OF pinochle
are these: For every meld there must
be at least one fresh card from the hand.
as many melds being allowed as can be
made by adding fresh cards to previous
melds which are stir on the table No
melds good until after winning a trick
Obligatory TO follow suit when there is no
stock 20 draw from.
These were the principles OF the two
hand game, When people began to play
three-hand. each for himself. or four-hand
as partners, there were not cards enough
In the pack to make the game interesting
with a stock 50 they dealt out all the cards
% the players at once and turned up the