Pinochle Classic

I have been enjoying this app for a week now. Fun game. Fast play. Overall great game. However, on Pro I think some updates need to be made. There are moves that would NEVER happen in a real game. Like the players bidding on a hand and picking trump without an Ace or 10! Leading off with a 10 not trump would never happen in a real game. And holding on to a random 10 which is a counter and passing a 9 to your partner. In Pro the app should be a little closer to real play. You always clean the counters out of your hand and hold noncounters of an off suit if you have to hold anything. Also, the computer players play their losers too soon. There isn’t really a difference between beginner and pro on this app and it’s frustrating to someone who actually knows how to play.

Great app. After my first review I think the developer made some changes. The difficulty level is pretty much the same, but it feels like the way the cards are dealt has improved. I have never gotten a double run, triple pinochle, or any high melding hands for some time now. That adds another dimension of difficulty that I enjoy because anybody can play a strong hand and make their bid. There are some things that are allowed in the app that aren’t allowed in traditional pinochle. You have to have a marriage to even take a bid or you are set, but the app allows you to without a marriage. Also, you have to have at least 20 meld to take a bid or you’re set unless the bid is mathematically unreachable which usually takes real life discretion, but the app automatically makes you throw it in sometimes. I have hands in real life that seemed unreachable, but because of the way my hand was sitting I was able to win nearly every trick. Also, you should have the option to not play a hand if you know that you can easily make the bid.

The app is very well designed. I wish there was a pay version (say, $4) that incorporated four things that would be easy to implement: (1) Remove the ads (2) An “auto-play hand” button that uses the “standard” AI to play your cards. Players could use this button when playing the rest of their hand isn’t important. (For example, when the game’s outcome has already been decided. Another example is when your partner has called trump and you’ve already played all your counters. Another example is when you want to focus on comparing different bidding strategies and auto-playing the hand would allow you to do that quickly.) (3) Allow the player to adjust the partner’s bidding aggression. When the opponents are close to winning, we should bid aggressively, like a “Hail Mary pass.” When we’re close to winning, we should be more conservative to avoid negative points from a failed contract. (4) Add a few additional stats. For example, the Win % over the last 10 games and last 50 games. These two stats would keep interest in the stats, even after the overall Win % has stabilized with lots of games. (Yes, the player could just reset the stats to do that, but with a reset you lose all records of what you’ve already accomplished.) Wouldn’t a $4 version give you *far* more revenue than you get by playing an ad after each hand?

The best AI Pinochle game I have played so far. With that being said it is not without its quirks. For instance your partner playing an ace on your ace leaving you to think it is a direct feedback when in reality he is only playing it as a counter so you play your counter thinking he is going play an ace or trump only to find out he is sitting over there with three non counters of that suit-very aggravating to say the least. The game is best played on the Pro mode unless you are a complete noob. Game play gets just ridiculous in the way the AI plays otherwise. Also there should be at least an option for adding in a point for last trick and having to have a marriage before you can call trump. I would buy this game if I could just to get rid of the ads but they don’t bombard you with them at all during game play. They are non intrusive and come on after each round with the option of Xing out after 5 seconds. That’s doable for me. I only play double deck with no passing so I can’t make a comment on the passing or on single deck play. I suppose any of us could nitpick it to death but all in all it is a very well made game and I really enjoy playing it. Over time you will get use to how your AI partner plays (on pro mode) and adjust your play accordingly just like in real life. I’m not looking for perfection in an AI game, just enjoyment and this fits the bill.

This developer accepts ads from Outbrain which uses scam (deceptive) techniques in its ads. 1) several boxes appear with different subjects. A “x” appears in the upper right corner. You press that thinking that it’s a close ad button: WRONG! It takes you to that box’s content. If you wait a few moments, the real close button appears, EXCEPT 2) the actual target area is smaller than in most ads, and if you’re not extremely precise, you’ll get taken to that box’s content. 3) when closed successfully, you’re not really closed, another group of boxes appear. The close button will eventually appear in the upper left corner, again with an extremely small target area, taking you to that box’s content. I understand how advertising works, however, anyone who does business with Outbrain is dealing with a deceptive company using deceptive practices which provides deceptive information to whomever they sell the information to. It also spams me with ads that aren’t relevant to me due to their deceptive practices. Update: they continue to accept this kind of deceptive advertising. I’m gone. Same with their other games… delete!!

There are times when I believe the computer or program is stacked in favor of the computer players. For instance, we were 4,000 ahead of ops and needed 400 to go out. Next hand the ops got 3,000, we got 100. Next hand the ops got 2,000 we got 70. Other times, the ops will pass the bid to their partner. When the scoring is done, the op that passed has much more meld than the other one and the one that gets the bid hits their partner perfectly. Ops almost always, maybe 95% of the time will get the play to their partner, even if that player only has 1 ace. I just really would like for the games to be more random deals and not so obvious that the computer knows partners hand. I do not like run away games, no matter which team is doing it. Be more consistent with random deals please.

Curious if I am the only person who often loses when I have more points but both teams score over 1000 points in single deck mode (which is what I play in). Admittedly once in a while I get a win (I only play pro version) when I actually lose, but recently, 5-6 times in a row I won but was credited with a loss when both teams scored over 1000 points. Generally like the game, though I also think double marriages should be worth 300 points if you take the bid (been playing for 40 years and just turned 49 and that is how my family has played forever).

I downloaded the game and completed the tutorial. Then I played the first round of an easy game. When I got to the end of the first round, I could see the score box and round 1 box in the top left and the “easy” setting to the left of that box. I could see the four player names. Then I could see a down menu arrow in the top right. Nothing happened after the end of the first round. I finally selected the down arrow. I went to start an easy game. My phone told me I had a game in progress. I canceled and waited for my “in progress” game to continue to a round two. It never did. I reset and played another easy game. Again, round one ended and nothing happened. I began a standard game. Yet again, round 1 ended and nothing else happened. What am I missing to be able to continue on to finish a game?

There are only a few things that I’m dissatisfied with. I like that the settings allow you to choose from several options and make this game like what you usually play. 1. I do not like that I never get the opening bid! Why is that? 2. Also, I don’t think there is much difference in the three levels; beginner is not much different that Pro. 3. In the scoring, a double marriage counted as two marriages and not the 30 points it should count ( as it is played in my area) All that being said, I still spend a lot of time playing this game!

This is the worst game I have ever played! I have been playing pinochle for over 30 years and I have never had such stupid partners in my life! Yes your partners are the computers, which you would think should have the best play but nope these plays by the computer are so stupid you can’t make sense of it. Then there’s the switching of cards that makes you even more angry if you don’t have what you need in your own hand don’t count on your computer partner to give you anything that’s going to be of use, worst part is your computer partner will have the card or cards you need but for some stupid reason it’s not going to give them to you, it will give you the most stupid and random card or cards ever! Worst game ever don’t waste your time! I had to give it one star to write review but it’s not even one star worthy.

Below written on Jan 9 by Chuc232 and are my exact two complaints. Today I called spades trump, holding two Jack of diamonds. Partner had both queen of spades but only passed one and a random diamond. Frustrating. The other complaint he notices is partner holding card for 2 Pt marriages and passing back aces, holding losers and passing back trick takers. Work on that and you’ll get 5 stars! I would also pay for a this app to get rid of ads. From Chuc232: Pretty decent compared to several others, but needs some logic adjustments. Game often holds half a pinochle when I name Spades or Diamonds, but won’t pass the other half in opposite suite. Ie: I call spades, computer holds Jack of Diamonds but passes me Jack Hearts instead. I’ve done undo and tried to entice by calling Diamonds but then it won’t pass Queen Spades. When computer win bid and I pass several Aces, it will pass back two aces to keep a 2 pt marriage instead of keeping Aces as trick winners.

I would rate this higher, except that you frequently can’t get the ads to shut down. After each hand, an ad for the same game pops up. I patiently wait. It sometimes goes away, but too often it doesn’t. SPOILS THE WHOLE GAME! I would really enjoy the game otherwise. Like someone else suggested, I would pay to not deal with the ads, especially since they won’t leave!!! I have another complaint. I’m playing the Pro level. I bid and made diamonds Trump. I needed the jack of diamonds for a run. My partner doesn’t pass it to me, but when I pass the queen of spades back because I can’t use it, my partner melds a pinochle! Hmmm. Something is not right here.

I really enjoy this app especially since it is getting harder to find pinochle enthusiasts. My complaints are these. Sometimes my partner has the winning bid and is obviously sitting on a bare ace which they lose. Unforgivable. More frustrating is that the app sometimes gets stuck and won’t load the little ad and then won’t deal the next hand. I have had to reinstall a few times and thereby lost my winning stats. Not the end of the world since is mostly a pleasure to just pick up a hand at any time.

I was enjoying this game thoroughly until recently when it stopped counting the ‘last hand taken’ point. When I attempted to report a game quality issue to bring it to the developer’s attention, it would simply redirect me to the website which doesn’t have Pinochle as an option; only four other games that I don’t have. Going back to the “complaint” options list, it does allow you to select either “offensive…” or “fraud” options to advance to the actual complaint screen, however. So, they don’t really care about the game quality or care to know when there’s a glitch. Bad form!

I only gave this game 4 stars because I wanted it published. It is very frustrating to play hand after hand and win 1/5-6 games. My hand is filled with KQJ9 maybe an ace or three cards in each suit! Nobody is that unlucky! Your bots always outbid or run up the bid ov virtually every hand. I’ve been playing for about 2 weeks now! It doesn’t seem to get any better. I downloaded this game to brush up on my skills but the computer is biased and I don’t get enough play time to learn much!

I enjoy playing this game and it has sharpened my skills. However; I don’t like that the computer forces me to play a 10 when I know the second Ace wasn’t played. The game freezes a lot and glitches where the previous cards played are still on the table and the next round plays on top of them. I’ve had to uninstall and reinstall the app several times. Perhaps a software update is warranted. The ads are annoying between hands because when I click the X another ad pops up and it’s hard to get rid of it.

I’ve gotten many pinochle games on my phone, and none of them were as helpful and realistic as this one, I got this game about 4 months ago and I was really clueless about pinochle. Now, I am the best pinochle player in my whole family. The only problem is that after you beat pro, there’s really nothing else after it. When you get to that point, you’ve kind of “beaten” the game. If the game had more difficulties or could be online too, that would really help

I agree with everything chuck232 says about the logic of the game. Why the partner does these things makes no sense. I’m thinking the developer doesn’t understand the nuances of the game, throwing acres away instead of trying to save partners losers, forcing bidding partner out of trump, doesn’t understand the idea that diamonds and spades work together, will keep pinochle parts for minimal count when bidding in hearts or clubs, that is just plain dumb. The game is fun but needs some tweaking from someone that knows how to play.

You worked a lot of wrinkles out bc double pinochle your team mate would never make the connection. My biggest problem is many of the ads for other games are disgusting. It’s always helpless females and as a result I removed this app. But I did not like the other pinochle games I downloaded. So I am back yet again but first time I get ads for games with females as helpless victims I am once again out.

I’ve been playing pinochle for over 40 years. This game is fun to play but general rules are not followed. In tha game my partner will call hearts or clubs and keep a pinochle. If they call trump they will pass trump back to me for kings or queens around. Makes no sense. You would think the developers could correct this. I’ve seen other reviews complaining of the same thing. If you’re going to create a program for a card game you should know the strategies. June 5, 2024 Update. Apparently the developers don’t read reviews as the above issues haven’t been addressed.

If you are playing against the computers, don’t expect the game to resemble real life play. Especially in the “pro” games, the AI opponents will show a run 75% of the time, frequently coupled with Aces around. In addition, it’s almost impossible to signal any kind of message to your AI partner with a bid or tell anything from theirs, as they will frequently continue to bid until you pass, and then they will drop out. Often the only way for your team to take a bid is for you to risk overbidding and hope your AI partner can pass you what you need. Not realistic and very frustrating.

You will have to carry the hand EVERY TIME because your partner is basically programmed to bid once then will ALWAYS pass. So if you bid, you’ll have to keep bidding and hope to play your cards right because your partner will never keep bidding to win the bid. However, unlike some other versions, your partner WILL actually pass you beneficial cards where as with other games you play out the cards to find out the partner was holding out the cards you needed.

I play this game because I’ve tried all the other free ones and they are worse! The easy vs difficult seems more about luck, and the opponents have a lot more meld 80% of the time, or so it seems. A big improvement would be if you could see everyone’s hand after the round is over. Also wish there was some tutoring on strategy.

This app is so well done, it’s my favorite to play BUT there is an ad after every hand, some very hard to dismiss. Sometimes there are logic errors in the program, where opponent doesn’t follow suit. I’ve seen it not play a suit that was lead, only to play that suit again later. There are times where you won’t have a good bidding hand for 10-20 hands. Make sure not to select a card to play before your turn or you will end up with an extra card and a playing field that doesn’t fully clear until the end of the game. I’ve installed and uninstalled this app about ½ a dozen times. I get so mad at how unfair it seems to operate, but found others to be lacking. Give us a chance to buy pro version to get rid of ads. Fix logic errors and I will support and change review. Until then, I’m just waiting for another developer to create a better version. I’m quickly getting fed up with this one.

This is a wonderful game which is very good for both beginners and great players, because it helps you develop your skills with an opportunity to get a hint of what you should do! I play it for many hours of relaxing fun and enjoyment on all the levels, even though I don’t always win, which is very realistic. Try it and I am very sure you will enjoy it also and it will become one of your favorites also!

I have played countless hours of pinochle in real life. I have tried a few apps. This app best reflects the style of which I grew up playing Pinochle. I have played this app daily since purchasing. I haven’t ever had a grand hand dealt me however my opponents have - double pinochle, 1000 Aces. Meanwhile I routinely get dealt three - four nines and once I even got seven. Come on! It’s still a great app.

I play this game every chance I get. Latest update provided “ I’ve got the rest” function at end of a hand. I feel like a Pinochle expert. Can’t wait to play with real people. Thank you for making the ads easier to close. Request 1 more feature. Please add the ability to “throw in the hand” when you don’t think you have a chance to win the hand. Thanks again!

I have tried several apps on both iPad and kindle fire. This is my favorite except for the ads. You can expect to win some games on this app. I’ve read other app reviews or experienced fire app where you rarely win or you and partner are bidding against each other! Please offer option to get rid of ads. Need it for elderly father who loves double pinochle but gets confused how to get around ads.

Love this game. Woulda given it 5 stars if the partner in the pro setting knew how to pass cards for x2,3 and 4 pinochles. If trump is spades or diamonds you ALWAYS pass jacks of Diamonds and queens of spades to flesh out the meld. It’s also frustrating to fight with your partner for the bid. Never played bidding by ones after 60 for that matter. Always by 5 after the 60 bid. I know seems like a laundry list but it really is one of the better pinochle aps

I really enjoy playing on this app. However, I find that I have to delete, then add the app back onto my iPad frequently. I may start a new game, yet end up only playing a hand. The game freezes or stalls. The only way to continue is to start a “new” game, yet I’m only allowed to play a single hand. This will continue until I delete the app and re-install it.

I love this game and play it often but when I play there’s a glitch when the hand is over, the deal doesn’t start again. I have to sometimes close it out shut my phone down and restart it in order for it to start dealing again. I wish you guys would fix this. I love this game.

I love this game but it is not accurate at all none of these plays would have happened a real game and it is kinda annoying with all of the adds also I love the fact that you can stop playing and later you can get back on the game and still be in the same place so it saves where you are in the game

I enjoy the pro version. And the fact I can choose what to play. I have lost some great hands and lost a close game but it is a fantastic way to play this game and keep your wits in the game. Some of the hints go against the way I was taught to play. Ex. Give point cards not protected to your partner to play on my winner cards. Hint throws odd cards to partner. Hint does not always pick cards that can give partner a marriage.

I enjoy playing this game , but I frequently have to remove it and redownload it. It stalls out and will not deal, leaving a blank table. A few things I don’t like that would not happen in a real game. Frequently the partner will over bid you and then when you pass, he passes . We always passed 4 cards not three. Other than that I like the game.

I like this game, but it freezes sometimes part way through the game and won’t deal the next hand. The only option is to start over. I tried closing and reopening but it doesn’t work. Also turning my phone off. That doesn’t work either. Frustrating to have to start all over!!

The programmer does not know the bidding strategy, meld, nor the art of passing cards. A few examples are; there are 50 points per hand, not 49. It is double deck, so there are 25 points per deck. You get 2 points for last trick. When passing it is okay for the comp partner to pass more than 1 of the same card. Example, if hearts are Trump it is okay for the comp to pass 2 jack of hearts. The only card it will pass 2 of is Aces. The comp will not pass duplicate cards. If you need 2 Queen of spades and your comp partner has 3 of them. It will only pass you 1 Queen of Spades.

The game is really good. The only reason I’m giving it a 4 star is due to the ads. They aren’t intrusive but they appear after every round before the next hand is dealt. If there is a way to remove them, I have yet to find it. Otherwise the game doesn’t lag and runs fantastic! It brings back memories of playing with family during the holidays.

I understand the beginners level not knowing the basic strategy of this game, but the pro level should know strategy. Assuming I have the bid: 1. I give my partner 2 aces, and I meld kings. When I play my double aces of trump, why on earth would my partner slough the aces I just gave to him on my trump? I passed them so my partner would have a chance to pick up a few of my Kings. Now assume my partner has the bid, and he calls Diamonds trump. Why are you suggesting that I pass the jack of clubs to him if I don’t have any trump, aces or a queen of spades? If a person calls spades or diamonds as trump, he will generally try to short suit himself on hearts and clubs. You should be suggesting the send anything in spades. If not the king, to make a possible marriage, then the jack or 9. I have more examples, but if you don’t know the game well, then you shouldn’t be offering it

I’ve have had this app for a long time but recently it stopped reshuffling and displaying a new “hand”. I have deleted and redownloaded several times but still is not reshuffling and displaying a new hand. What’s up? Thanks for your help. JarrineLS

The best pinochle app out there. The analyze button is ingenious. My only suggestions to improve it are to add a setting for last trick gets 2 points instead of one; Also the AI players can throw in an unwinnable hand, why can’t I? And add a “TRAM” (the rest are mine) button to quickly end a hand where I am the only one with trump left, so I take all remaining tricks.

Hate that your partner continues to bid against you. Hate the ads. Some of them you can’t get out of without a “fight”. Also seems quite often your partner holds on to aces and sends you jacks - what’s with that!!!!!! Then they become useless when as the lead you could use them to get more points. Sometimes the partner “Dixon” is a complete idiot. Seems the opponents always get a run no matter what.

Been playing this game for long time - really need to address some of the playing logic/strayegy. Very frustrating when partner has lead and bare Ace they do not play the Ace. Same when you have the lead and melded to show you have aces and another suit card that your partner will play their Ace when you lead your ace

I’ll be playing and all of a sudden I don’t get a new game to play. I don’t get an ad either. I have to hit the button to play a hand at a time. Very irritating. Also the ad from google is impossible to end. I end up deleting the app and several hours I open it and see if interruption of game is over.

I haven’t played Pinochle for 53 years — that’s since college. I’ve TOTALLY forgotten how. This is a great App for re-learning. I downloaded 2 Pinochle Apps and quit using the other one - THIS ONE is actually teaching me the game, it gives Hints and Analyzes your hand potential and suggests which card to play - IF YOU ASK for a hint.

My wife and I played the game many years ago but I had forgotten the rules and strategy. This game is set up perfectly to reteach what I had forgotten. Hints are available if you want them and you can play at different levels of difficulty. I am impressed with the smooth play, graphics, and many options.

This is about as close to playing in person as you can get. I gave the app 4 stars because of the ads after every hand and the computer/opponents receive the meld nearly every hand. It makes winning pretty difficult. Otherwise, it’s a fine substitute for the real game with friends/family.

Generally, a good app. However, some of the moves are ridiculous. Example: playing an ace on partner’s ace as a counter even when meld indicated a loser he could take. This is in “pro” mode. Also, I have had to delete and reload several times when the app locked up or didn’t work correctly. Some of the bid suggestions are crazy. That said, I have not found a pinochle app I like more.

It would be nice if you could purchase for the removal of the ads, every hand seems to contain the same number of cards, ie always 3 or 4 of each suit, never a great hand because you always have 3 or 4 of each. It would be nice if you could adjust the settings more and if you were able to see all cards after the hand is over.

Everyone knows when you win the bid and call trump your “partner” should send you ALL trump cards possible. However, Dixon COMMONLY withholds a king or jack to make 40 jacks or 80 kings when the reality is I could have made a family worth 150. Seriously...frustrating!!! This is a big no, no in this card game. Designer of this App...PLEASE FIX THIS!! This is the only game I play and so far until I can find a better pinnacle game out there I am stuck with this one!!

... The game is mostly fun. However you will end up bidding against your own partner because they are stupid and pass badly (understatement). Quick example...The 'partner' COMMONLY (always really) holds back valuable trump cards in order to retain a marriage for melding. Many, many frustrating times I would have had a run if the dummy playing the role of my partner would have passed intelligently. It's happening enough that I'm almost ready to uninstall the app. Grrrrrrrrr.