I want to give a big thanks to George Klemic, Richard Dunlap, and Nathan Christopher for providing the variations here and for pointing out some needed clarifications.

Double Pinochle

Number of Players: 4 playing as partners.

Object: To be the first team to reach 500 points.

Deck: An 80 card deck made up of 4 of every card 10 and above, including aces. (e.g. Four 10 of Hearts, four Queen of Spades, etc.)

Preliminaries: Partners are seated non-adjacently.

Deal: All 80 cards are dealt out evenly so that each player receives 20 cards. The deal proceeds clockwise.

Bidding: Beginning with the player left of the dealer and continuing clockwise around the table each player bids. Each player may pass or bid at their turn. The minimum bid is 50. If a player bids they must bid a higher amount than the highest previous bid. Once a player has passed, they may not bid again during that hand. Bids only have to be increased by a minimum of 1 until the bidding reaches 60. Any bid above 59 must be a multiple of 5. The bidding ends when all but one player has passed. This player is the Declarer. The Declarer names a suit to be used as trumps during the hand.

Note: Any bid in the 50's that is not the lowest allowable bid at the time is considered a signal to the player's partner that they do not wish to name trump but they have meld should the partner name trump. The partner can assume they have 10 points in meld for each 1 point they skip in bidding. (e.g. If a player makes the very first bid of 54 they have skipped 50, 51, 52, and 53 so they are indicating that they have 40 points or more in meld. If the highest previous bid was 52 and a player bids 55 that would indicate 20 points in meld since they skipped 53 and 54.)

Additional note: If after the deal, the first three players all pass, the dealer becomes the Declarer with an automatic bid of 50. All other rules concerning meld required and a marriage for trumps still apply.

The Meld: When bidding is finished, the Declarer names a trump suit. The Declarer must have a marriage (see below) in the suit they name trumps. If the Declarer does not have a marriage in their hand, the hand is not played and the Declarer's team's score is reduced by the amount of their final bid. Each player then places face up on the table any meld that they have provided that the team can meld at least 20 points. After trumps have been named players may tell their partners how many points in meld they have so they can determine if they have the required 20 points. If the Declarer's team does not have 20 points in meld, the hand is not played and the Declaring team's score is reduced by the amount of their final bid (If the Declarer has a marriage, they must still name trumps, the opposing team lays down their meld, provided they have at least 20, and the meld is added to their score). Combinations that a player may meld and their point values are:

Run: A,K,Q,J,10 in trumps - 15 points (2 runs - 150 points),(3 - 225, 4 - 300)

Royal Marriage: K, Q in trumps - 4 points (2 RM's - 8 points),(3 - 12, 4 - 16)

Marriage: K, Q not in trumps - 2 points (2 Marriages - 4 points),(3 - 6, 4 - 8)

Aces around: 1 ace in each suit - 10 points (2 Aces around - 100 points),(3 - 150, 4 - 200)

Kings around - 8 points (Double - 80 points),(3 - 120, 4 - 160)

Queens around - 6 points (Double - 60 points),(3 - 90, 4 - 120)

Jacks around - 4 points (Double - 40 points),(3 - 60, 4 - 80)

Pinochle: Jack of Diamonds and Queen of Spades - 4 points (2 Pinochles are worth 30 points),(3 - 60, 4 - 90)

Note: A run is 15 points. Do not count an additional 4 points for the Royal Marriage it contains.

Note: A "round house" is a marriage in each suit. It is worth 24 points. This is simply the total of all the marriages, kings around, and queens around. Some people do play, however, that a round house with a run is 39 points (as opposed to 35). Also, some people play that a double round house is worth 240 points.

A card may be used in more than one meld, but may not be used in more than one meld of the same type (e.g. A single Jack of Diamonds could be used in a Pinochle and Jacks around but a single Jack of Diamonds could not be paired with 2 Queen of Spades for 2 pinochles).

After all meld has been laid down, count each players meld points, adding the two players on a team's points together. Write this total below each teams score on the scoresheet. Each player then picks up their meld and places it back in their hand.

The Play of the Hand: The Declarer leads to the table any card they choose from their hand. Each player in turn clockwise then plays a card to the trick. The player who plays the highest trump (or if no trumps are played, then the highest card of the suit led) places the cards in the trick face down in front of them and then leads to the next trick. If there is more than one of the highest card played to a trick, the first one played wins the trick. Play continues until all cards have been played. When playing to a trick there are very strict rules as to what cards may be played. These rules are listed below in order of precedence (highest precedence first).

A player must play a card of the suit led if possible.

A player must play a card that will beat the highest card played if possible.

If a player does not have any cards in the suit led, they must play trumps if possible.

If a player plays trumps, they must play a card higher than the highest trump played if possible.

If a player has no cards in the suit led and no trumps, they may play any card.

(Clarification: If a player has a higher card in the suit led, but trumps have already been played they may play any card in the suit led.)

Scoring: The last trick of the hand counts 2 points for the team capturing it. Each Ace, 10, and King counts 1 point for the team capturing it. The points the declaring team takes during play plus the amount of their meld for the hand must add up to at least the amount of their final bid. The Declaring team must take a minimum of 20 points during the play of the hand. If the Declaring team fails to meet either one of these conditions, they are "set" and their score is reduced by the amount of their final bid (their meld for the hand and the points taken in play are disregarded). If the Declaring team meets both conditions their meld plus the points they took in play is added to their score. If the defending team fails to take 20 points during play, they receive no points for the hand (their meld is disregarded). If the defending team takes 20 or more points during play of the hand, then the points they took during play and the amount of their meld is added to their score. The first team to score a total of 500 points is the winner. If both teams are over 500 points at the completion of a hand, the declaring team for the last hand wins the game regardless of which team has more total points.

Note: It could be discovered after the declaring team has laid down their meld that they would be required to take more than 50 points in order to make their bid. If this happens, the hand is still played to completion to determine the defending teams score for the hand.

General variations:

Some people play with everything counting 10 times what I have given the value as (e.g. Pinochle is 40, Double pinochle is 300, Run is 150, etc.). In this case, the Ace, Ten, and King are each 10 points and the last trick is 10 points. Game is 5000 points. This is the original scoring system because it was once commonly played that Aces counted 11 points, Tens 10, Kings 4, Queens 3, and Jacks 2.

Bidding may be limited to once around the table.

Bidding may be limited to twice around the table (but a player may not re-enter after passing).

If it is discovered that declaring team needs to capture more than 50 points, they may decide not to play hand. Defending team counts their meld but receives no points from play of hand.

Declarer and partner may pass 3 cards to each other before melding. They may not look at the passed cards until passing is complete. (The number of cards passed could vary from 1 to 4).

After the meld, declarers partner may pass 3 cards to declarer who puts these cards in their hand. Declarer then passes 3 cards from these 23 to partner. (The number of cards passed could vary from 1 to 4).

Both partnerships may pass 3 cards to their teammates. They may not look at cards they have been passed until pass is complete. (The number of cards passed could vary from 1 to 4).

If a team takes all the tricks during a hand, they win the game.

Specific variation (provided by George Klemic):

In this version all the rules I have given above apply except for the following:

Bidding: Each bid must be a multiple of 5. Each player may only bid once. If first 3 players pass, then dealer must take bid at 45.

Since you only have one bid to communicate information to your partner, each bid means something. Below is Mr. Klemics description of the meaning of bids:

       Played in a family atmosphere, there are a lot of informalities/inflections on bids.
  50 is a nothing special bid, just wanting to get in.
  "save" is used to show a bid of 50, but one that the partner of the dealer makes, only if dealer is caught with such a bad hand, does not know what to make trump.
  55 directly, or over 50 is a meld bid (usually 20+)
  55 like "FIF-TEE FIVE" shows gobs of meld (double pinochle +more typically)
  "5 more" is a 55 bid over 50, to show competition, but not a meld bid.
  60 is a power hand, but usually little meld.
  65 shows both meld and strong hand
  70 shows a power hand with reasonable meld (at least 30)
  higher bids follow this trend, though tend to be 20 more than meld, or sometimes 30 with large (10+) trump suits and aces to take tricks.

Meld: Declarer is not required to have a marriage to make trumps. Double aces, etc. do not count 10 times their single value but merely as double (e.g. double aces count 20, etc.). A double pinochle is still 30, but a triple pinochle is 45, and a quadruple is 60. A round house with a run counts a total of 39.

All other rules apply as above.

Variation to Mr. Klemic's version:

Bidding may continue until everyone but one player has passed.

5 player call for a card:

"Call For a Card" is a version of Pinochle for 5 players. The double deck described above is used. Players can use rules from whichever version of Pinochle they prefer including single deck rules (though the last trick still counts 2 points, for a total of 50). Each player's score is kept separately. After the bidding, but before the meld, the declarer names a card they want. The first player to the declarer's left who has that card passes it to the declarer. The declarer then passes a replacement card back to the player. The declarer and player who had the card will be partners for the hand. They will combine their meld and score for the hand. It will be credited to both players' score at the end of the hand. The remaining three players will count their meld separately, but they will combine points taken from the hand. Since the declarer does not know their partner until after the bidding, the bidding conventions listed above are irrelevant to this game. The game may end after everyone has dealt once or be played to a specific score.