Binocle – Play Online for Free

Binocle, called Binokel in Germany and Benoggl in the Swabian dialect, ranks alongside Gaigel as the "national game" of the Swabians. It is closely related to the French game of bezique and, like sixty-six, belongs to the games in which the king and queen of a suit score as a pair. It is first recorded in Switzerland in the 19th century, already under the name Binocle; today it is at home mainly in Württemberg, where it is usually played with Württemberg-pattern cards. The name recalls the French word binocle, a pince-nez, but why the game is called that is unknown. German emigrants took it to America, where it became pinochle, and the American game still calls the queen of spades with the jack of diamonds a pinochle. Here you take on two computer opponents in Binocle online, free of charge and without signing up.

Bidding from 150, melding, taking tricks: Binocle rules and tips

Binocle is played by three people with 40 cards. Each suit has an ace, ten, king, queen and jack, every one of them twice. Each player gets twelve, four cards lie face down in the middle as the dabb, and play goes counterclockwise. In the tricks aces are worth 11 card points, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3 and jacks 2. The last trick adds another 10, so there are 250 card points to win in every round.

• Bidding: Forehand, to the dealer's right, is held at 150 with no choice. Middlehand raises in steps of ten or passes, forehand holds or drops out, and the survivor then has to hold out against rearhand. The last player to bid becomes the declarer and has to reach that bid.
• Dabb and discard: The dabb is shown face up to everyone, then the declarer picks it up and lays any four cards back face down. Their card points count for the declarer at the end. Next the declarer names trumps, and each button shows what the declarer's melds would be worth in that suit.
• Play or surrender: If the hand is too weak, the declarer can surrender. That costs the bid, and each opponent scores 50 points plus their melds. Otherwise play begins.
• Melds: Before the first trick everyone shows their combinations. A family, meaning the ace, ten, king, queen and jack of one suit, scores 100, or 150 in trumps. A pair of king and queen of the same suit counts 20, or 40 in trumps. Four aces of all four suits score 100, four kings 80, four queens 60 and four jacks 40. The binocle itself, the queen of spades with the jack of diamonds, is worth 40. Held twice, things get expensive: a double binocle 300, eight of a kind 1000, a double family 1000 and in trumps 1500. Melds count only for a player who takes at least one trick.
• Taking tricks: Forehand leads. You have to follow the suit led and play higher if you can. If you are out of that suit, you have to trump, again higher if possible, and only with neither the suit nor a trump may you throw off any card. If two identical cards fall in one trick, the one played first wins.
• Scoring: The declarer adds up the tricks, the discarded cards, the last trick and the melds. If that reaches the bid, the declarer scores the lot; if not, the declarer loses twice the bid. The two opponents each score what they took and melded.

The first player to reach 1500 points wins the match. If the declarer reaches it in the same round as someone else, the declarer takes precedence, and an extra round settles a tie. On Easy the computer opponents bid very cautiously, play many cards without thinking and never surrender; on Hard they play through possible distributions of the hidden cards.

A few tips for your twelve cards:

• Count your melds first: Before your first bid, work out what your hand brings in melds with the best trump suit, and keep in mind that the dabb may still add something.
• Remember the dabb: Because it is shown to everyone, even as a defender you know four of the declarer's cards and where some of the aces and tens are.
• Discard with care: Aces and tens you lay away are yours for certain. But hold on to everything that belongs to a meld, because discarded cards do not count toward melds.
• Make sure of a trick: As a defender, your melds count only if you take a trick. So grab one early, for example with an ace in a suit nobody has trumped yet.
• Surrender in good time: If you clearly cannot make it, surrendering costs only your bid instead of double, even though the opponents each get 50 points and their melds in return.

Keep bidding: five games for fans of the dabb and the meld

After the final tally, more card games are waiting for you here:

• Skat: Also for three, with bidding and face-down cards in the middle that the declarer picks up, only two of them instead of four. Instead of melds, it is matadors and game values that count.
• Doppelkopf: Again every card exists twice, and of two identical cards the one played first wins. There are four players at the table, though, Re against Kontra.
• Schafkopf: Another card game from southern Germany, for four with 32 cards, and the ace the declarer calls decides who the partner is.
• Canasta: Melding is at the heart of this one too, except that you lay out cards of the same rank until they make a canasta of seven.
• Durak: Trumps and beating cards, but no melds. Anyone unable to beat an attacking card, whether in its suit or with a trump, has to pick up everything on the table.