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									News - Pinochle Forum				            </title>
            <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/</link>
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							                    <item>
                        <title>Snoman</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/snoman/</link>
                        <pubDate>Fri, 21 Nov 2025 15:27:17 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Snoman has quit so many games that I’ve been playing, yet only shows he abandoned 1 game, how can that be?

He is a nuisance to this game…]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Snoman has quit so many games that I’ve been playing, yet only shows he abandoned 1 game, how can that be?

He is a nuisance to this game…]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/snoman/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Players not abandoning, but not playing</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/players-not-abandoning-but-not-playing/</link>
                        <pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:11:08 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Very frustrated with so many players giving up and having to wait for the timer to expire.

Please penalize these players.

Jim D, this means you.]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Very frustrated with so many players giving up and having to wait for the timer to expire.

Please penalize these players.

Jim D, this means you.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/players-not-abandoning-but-not-playing/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>players quitting or not playing when it’s their turn</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/players-quitting-or-not-playing-when-its-their-turn/</link>
                        <pubDate>Wed, 18 Jun 2025 21:52:24 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Can you please do something about this, it’s become an epidemic….   I don’t understand how they cannot play their turn all game and not be penalized.]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Can you please do something about this, it’s become an epidemic….   I don’t understand how they cannot play their turn all game and not be penalized.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>James</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/players-quitting-or-not-playing-when-its-their-turn/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>playing tricks</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/playing-tricks/</link>
                        <pubDate>Sat, 08 Feb 2025 18:02:15 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[I am not sure bit it seems like you don&#039;t have to play trump when you are out of a suit. Is this correct and why? Also you don&#039;t have to play a higher card in a suit if you have one. This is...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[I am not sure bit it seems like you don't have to play trump when you are out of a suit. Is this correct and why? Also you don't have to play a higher card in a suit if you have one. This is not the true way pinochole is played. Please explain the rules for playing tricks]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Gigi</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/playing-tricks/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Adjustments to Ratings, Abandoned Rate and Penalties</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/adjustments-to-ratings-abandoned-rate-and-penalties/</link>
                        <pubDate>Mon, 30 Sep 2024 22:32:19 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Based on some requests from players given the recent issues with server/network errors and game crashes (which hopefully will continue to be much improved after the last update) I decided to...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Based on some requests from players given the recent issues with server/network errors and game crashes (which hopefully will continue to be much improved after the last update) I decided to conduct a review/audit of the server logs to identify players who were impacted by these errors and received an abandoned penalty resulting from an error that was not intentional.

In cases where the review shows that players were unfairly recorded as abandoned as a result of an error, the penalty will be reversed and ratings will be adjusted.

Unfortunately, these logs only go back 3 months and do not necessarily capture all events but I think it's only fair for those cases where it can be clearly determined an error that those penalties are reversed.

In the future, I am considering an appeal process and will consider automating this type of review but in the meantime wanted to provide an explanation for anyone who notices slight adjustments to their stats today.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/adjustments-to-ratings-abandoned-rate-and-penalties/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Changes to Expert Tables</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changes-to-expert-tables/</link>
                        <pubDate>Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:00:18 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Thanks to a suggestion from @Mike-Ox-Big we will be testing new requirements for the expert level tables. About a month ago we updated statistics to include Winning Trend, which represents a...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Thanks to a suggestion from @Mike-Ox-Big we will be testing new requirements for the expert level tables. About a month ago we updated statistics to include Winning Trend, which represents a player's winning percentage for the last 50 games played. In addition to minimum ratings, we will now require minimum trend to play at the expert tables. The goal is to make the expert tables more exclusive for more skilled players and create an incentive for people who are still learning to play to eventually work up their rating and trend to qualify for these tables. We will monitor stats for the next couple weeks and see how this goes.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changes-to-expert-tables/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Changing Points to Win for Double Deck Partners to 300</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changing-points-to-win-for-double-deck-partners-to-300/</link>
                        <pubDate>Fri, 12 Apr 2024 22:56:33 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[As part of the changes to introduce expert tables and standard tables, we have changed the setting for Points to Win from 500 to 300 for the standard table. This is to shorten the game time ...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[As part of the changes to introduce expert tables and standard tables, we have changed the setting for Points to Win from 500 to 300 for the standard table. This is to shorten the game time for more casual players.

The expert-level double deck Pinochle table will remain set to 500 points to win.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changing-points-to-win-for-double-deck-partners-to-300/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>New Expert-level Tables</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/new-expert-level-tables/</link>
                        <pubDate>Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:24:41 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Based on recent feedback, there will be a new Pinochle release coming out soon introducing Expert tables. The Android release should start rolling out tonight and the Apple update will hopef...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Based on recent feedback, there will be a new Pinochle release coming out soon introducing Expert tables. The Android release should start rolling out tonight and the Apple update will hopefully come out over the weekend.

The Expert tables will be exclusive for players with a rating of 100 or higher, and players with a high rate of abandoning games will be ineligible. The goal of this is to incentivize better game play and discourage people from abandoning games. We want to create a better experience for serious players but still welcome newcomers and encourage new players to earn their way up towards the expert level.

These changes are experimental and may require some tweaking as everyone adapts. This may result in slightly longer wait times as our players will now be divided between more tables. Hopefully, we can quickly balance this out.

If these changes are effective we will follow suit for the Cutthroat tables as well in the near future.

Please share feedback, or any questions or concerns.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/new-expert-level-tables/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Changes to the Rating System</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changes-to-the-rating-system/</link>
                        <pubDate>Fri, 15 Mar 2024 21:41:53 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[A lot of users have given feedback lately about other players abandoning games without finishing. This is understandably annoying, especially with repeat offenders. We will be implementing s...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[A lot of users have given feedback lately about other players abandoning games without finishing. This is understandably annoying, especially with repeat offenders. We will be implementing several new features to combat this behavior starting with changes to the rating system effective today.

We have started tracking every time a player abandons a game. We have implemented an increasing penalty system, whereby the penalty for abandoning a game will go up depending on how often a player leaves a game without finishing.

We understand that occasionally players might close the game by mistake, lose their Internet connection, have an emergency, etc. so on the first offense the penalty will be low, but if happens repeatedly over a period of time, the penalty will steadily increase.

We hope this will help to discourage this behavior and isolate the players with high abandoned rates. We will start displaying the number of abandoned games on player's profiles.

In the near future, we will be introducing new exclusive tables for players with higher ratings. Players with high abandoned rates will not be allowed to join these tables.

We hope this will create an incentive for players to play more respectfully and will separate the serious players from those just here to try it out.

Please let us know if you have any feedback on these changes.

Thanks,

Josh]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/changes-to-the-rating-system/</guid>
                    </item>
				                    <item>
                        <title>Lots of new features this month</title>
                        <link>https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/lots-of-new-features-this-month/</link>
                        <pubDate>Tue, 22 Aug 2023 18:38:00 +0000</pubDate>
                        <description><![CDATA[Well, since I&#039;m on vacation this week and have nothing better to do than code, there&#039;s a lot of new features coming to the apps and web this month.

New Forum: if you&#039;re reading this you&#039;v...]]></description>
                        <content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, since I'm on vacation this week and have nothing better to do than code, there's a lot of new features coming to the apps and web this month.

New Forum: if you're reading this you've noticed we've added a forum to our site. We want to encourage people to engage more with our new online community and are hoping this becomes a place where people can leave feedback, ask questions, get support if they're having problems, report bugs, and hopefully get to know other people who love Pinochle.

New Friends and Blocking Features: a couple weeks ago we added the ability to add friends if you like the people you play with online, and block users if you don't want to get matched with another user again. This week we've started adding this to the web as well. We plan on expanding these features more over time, perhaps adding messaging and better ways to match with friends. Taking this slow to ease people into the changes.

Today's Best Hand: we added a feature to highlight the player who has the highest meld points of the day, updated in real time.

Planned New Spectator Mode: I am hoping our next big feature will be the ability for spectators to watch real time games in progress. Haven't started coding this yet but I think it will be cool.

Planned Money/Chip System: we've had a lot of people ask about being able to bet with money or chips to make the online games more interesting and to give people some skin in the game so they don't drop out when they get a bad hand. There's a lot to think about in planning something like this but this is definitely something on the long-term roadmap.]]></content:encoded>
						                            <category domain="https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/">News</category>                        <dc:creator>Josh</dc:creator>
                        <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.pinochle.net/forum/news/lots-of-new-features-this-month/</guid>
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