Pinochle Gold app good for
Excellent game! As one of the seemingly few pinochle players out there, I saw this game, it was an instant buy, and I am happily satisfied. Never saw for the iPhone, so cannot compare, but looks like a full iPad app, not just blown up. I have yet to experiment with all the different levels of bidding intensity, but the sheer number of options over gameplay lets you play the game however you are used to, which makes playing really enjoyable.
There are a couple options that I would like to see added that Id thought were common enough rule variations I was surprised they were not already:
1.) Id always thought you had to take the bid to go out (win the game). This is not the case, whoever is first to 150 wins, fine, but would be cool to toggle off/on.
2.) Speaking of 150, why must we live with 150 as the game winning score? Would be nice to be able to set if you wanted to play a nice long game, especially given everything else you can control.
3.) Ive also played with people who differ over the rule of whether you have to beat a non-trump suited card if you can. The opposing school plays that you must follow suit at all times (of course), but you only must play a higher card than what is down if it is trump, and still others, only if trump is led. Granted this is splitting rule hairs, but if the developers enjoy adding customizability, theres some ammunition.
The rating is five stars; Im quite happy even if none of these options get added, but Ill up my rating to six+ if they ever are.
Pinochle is a game thats not very well standardized, but there is enough flexibility here to allow most people to find something reasonably close to the rule set theyre accustomed to.
The interface is good, but not great. There should be an option, for example, to play forced cards automatically, and it would also be nice if the computer didnt make you play out every trick even when one player is "trump tight" and all the other trumps are drawn. When its time to play from a fairly full hand, the cards are spread out, presumably to make the right one easier to choose. This might be needful on the iPhone, but unfortunately on the iPad it has exactly the opposite effect--the card you intend to play has become a moving target, and you need to find it again before you can play it.
The AI for the computer players is dreadful. Perhaps this is to be expected--it would be difficult to program appropriate play for all of the different permutations of the rules that the program supports. But as it is, youre unlikely to lose many games to the iPad once you learn a bit about how it plays.
All in all, a decent program, and one that I hope will get better
This is a good game but the way it comes up with the hands needs work. I just finished playing a game where 3 out of the four hands played hand a double run with aces! ( double deck game) I have played Pinochle for many years and I have to tell you, that never happens! There is rarely a game where there isnt at least one double run and sometimes more. If it wasnt for that, Id give it five stars.
Please make the following changes to the game.
1. Tripple pinochle should count as 90 meld.
2. If a meld bid is given than partner should bid base on the amount of meld given.
3. If partner lead trump, than you should return with a trump card after you play all your As.
4. Do not play multiple As in the same suite back to back. They will get cut. Play an As from each suite one at a time until all are played.
5. Do not lead with your As if you know that suite has already been cut. Try to pull trump first, if your have multiple As in a suite that has been cut. Then you my be able to get your As in after trumps are gone.
6. Over all a good game that just need some work.
I can play this all day. Its fun. But you should be able to touch a cad and see its the wrong one and be able to drag it off screen before its played to change cards. Sometimes you can touch the wrong card before it plays but there is nothing you can do about it and can cost you the whole hand. The cards are small so you should have a way of changing a misclick.
This is a good app, but sometimes my partner doesnt make the smartest decision. Also, it would be cool if you could pick your partner. Like have different avatars. You could have multiplayer too.
Some bad moments
The biggest problem with this game is that your partner doesnt play very well. It will bid 35 plus and have 4 meld, so expect to lose a lot.
"Pinochle on iPad" is a very basic interpretation of the game. While is has options available to set up many of the differing playing styles, this game has some serious shortcomings, especially in the AI. I have found the computer players very easy to set as they always seem to raise the bid beyond what their hands can support. The game does not seem to have the notion of a meld bid and your computer "partner" does not really contribute. The graphics are very basic and even the hands holding the cards do not change to reflect the number of tricks left in the hand. All of this could be acceptable if the game was built on a solid AI but for now this Pinochle is more annoying than realistic to play and I would not recommend it unless you are trying to teach novice players the basics of the game. 15 August 2010
Not very good at evaluating what to bid and when to stop. There should be some logic based on how much melt and how many tricks you can make. Bidding never stops under 21.
Its partner pinochle but there is no meld bidding to or from your partner which isnt real partner pinochle. Your A.I. partner is an idiot, it will have a run, aces and high meld and pass and next hand will bid high and have 4 meld and no aces and get set. There is no real pinochle on Ipad anywh
This game locked up constantly on my iPad, not worth it, dont buy it until they fix it, I deleted it.
I really miss playing my yahoo pinochle with real people instead of a machine. I recognized a game when it played again. Why doesnt I Pad work with Java?