Pitch is a card game played with a standard 52-card pack of playing cards. It may be played by three players (cutthroat) or by four players organized in teams of two. Pitch involves bidding and trick-taking. Pitch does not involve betting or gambling of any sort. A very similar variation on Pitch is High-Low Jack.

Rules of Pitch

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General Rules

Dealing

One player deals each hand. At the end of each hand, the dealer passes the cards to the player to his or her left. That player becomes the new dealer for that hand.

Card Rankings

Cards are ranked, from lowest to highest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. A card of the trump suit of any rank outranks any card of another suit.

Scoring Categories

There are four possible scoring categories in Pitch.

High -- The highest ranked card of the trump suit among cards dealt in a hand is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.

Low -- The lowest ranked card of the trump suit among cards dealt in a hand is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.

Jack -- The Jack of the trump suit is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.

Game -- The player or partnership with the highest tally of "game points" in their scoring pile earns one point. Every Jack is worth one "game point," every Queen is worth two "game points," every King is worth three "game points," every Ace is worth four "game points," and every 10 is worth ten "game points." For example, if Team A has a 10 and a King (10 + 3 = 13 "game points") among the cards it has taken as tricks and Team B has three Jacks and two Aces (3x1 + 2x4 = 11 "game points") among cards it has taken as tricks, then Team A earns one point for Game. In case of a tie, no point is awarded for Game.

Three-player Pitch

Dealing and Bidding

In three-player Pitch, each player is independent of the other two players. No teams are formed. The dealer deals six cards to each player.*** Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may bid for the privilege of declaring the trump suit for the hand. Valid bids are Pass, 2, 3, and 4 (some variants: Pass, 3, 4). The bid represents the number of points the player thinks he or she can earn that hand. If at least one bid has been made, the dealer may always match the top bid and claim the privilege of declaring the trump suit. If no bid has been made, the dealer must make the minimum bid (2 or 3) and declare the trump suit. The dealer may not pass if both other players have passed.

Declaring Trump

The player who made the high bid (the "making player") declares the trump suit. Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may discard any number of cards from their hands and receive that many new cards from the dealer. (Typically, all cards of non-trump suits are discarded this way.) In some variants, players play with the hands they were dealt without discarding and receiving new cards; in this case, trump is determined by the first card played by the making player.

Playing a Trick

Beginning with the making player and proceeding clockwise, players then play one card from their hand. Each pass around the table is called a "trick." The first player to play in a trick is called the "trick leader." The trick leader may play any card from his or her hand. Players following the trick leader must play according to the following rules:

1. A card of the trump suit may always be played.

2. If a player can not or will not play a card of the trump suit, a card of the same suit as the card played by the trick leader must be played if possible.

3. If a player can not or will not play a card of the trump suit and can not play a card of the same suit as the card played by the trick leader, then any card may be played.

After each player has played a card, then the player who played the highest ranking card of the trump suit wins the trick. If no cards of the trump suit were played, then the player who played the highest ranking card that shares the suit of the card played by the trick leader wins the trick. That player collects all cards played that trick into his or her scoring pile and becomes the trick leader for the next trick.

Scoring

After all six tricks of the hand have been played, players evaluate their scores for the hand as explained above. Three-player Pitch utilizes the High, Low, Jack, and Game scoring categories. If the making player failed to earn at least as many points as he or she bid, then the value of that player's bid is subtracted from his or her score. Otherwise, the making player adds to his or her score the number of points earned that hand. Each other player adds to their score the number of points earned that hand.

Winning the Game

Play proceeds until one or more players has 11 points at the end of a hand. If the making player has 11 points at the end of a hand, that player wins the game, regardless of the other players' scores. If one or more non-making players have 11 points at the end of a hand, the player with the most points wins the game; in case of a tie, play continues until a clear winner is established.

Four-player Pitch

Dealing and Bidding

Players are organized into two teams. Players should sit at the table such that partners are sitting across from one another and not next to one another.

The cards are dealt as for three-player Pitch. And bidding proceeds as for three-player Pitch. A player is permitted to outbid his or her partner.

Declaring Trump

The player who made the high bid (the "making player") declares the trump suit. Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may discard any number of cards from their hands and receive that many new cards from the dealer. (Typically, all cards of non-trump suits are discarded this way.) In some variants, players play with the hands they were dealt without discarding and receiving new cards; in this case, trump is determined by the first card played by the making player.

Playing a Trick

Play proceeds as for three-player Pitch. Note that in four-player Pitch, players are playing as teams. All tricks won by players of the same team will be scored together. If a player's team mate has already played the highest ranking card in the trick, that player is not required (or encouraged!) to play a higher ranking card. Of course, if a player's only "legal" play, by the rules given above, is a card that outranks his or her team mate's card, then that player must play that card.

Scoring

Scoring piles are evaluated as for three-player Pitch except that teams are scored together.

Winning the Game

Play proceeds until one or more teams has 21 points at the end of a hand. If the making team has 21 points at the end of a hand, that team wins the game, regardless of the other team's score. If the non-making team has 21 points at the end of a hand and the making team does not, the non-making team wins the game.

Variations

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Five Card Bid

Five -- The 5 of the trump suit is worth five points to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile. (Five is used only in four-player Pitch.) The cards are dealt as for three-player Pitch. Bidding proceeds as for three-player Pitch, except that valid bids are now Pass, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (some variants: Pass, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.)

High-Low Jack

High-Low Jack is another card game that is almost identical to Pitch. It is also referred to by the name of Setback in some parts of the Northeastern United States. However, the rules stay the same no matter how many players there are. It usually is not played without at least 4 players so that teams can be formed. The five of trump plays no significant role and is worth no game points. One largely superfluous and mostly traditional rule is that cards are dealt in threes when playing High-Low Jack. Thus, the deal gives three to the player to the left of the dealer, three to the next, and so on until every player has six cards. Also, cards are never exchanged once trump has been declared, no matter how many players there are. Trump is not announced; the highest bidder simply plays a card. The suit of that card becomes trump.

One rule variation involves playing with 8 players. The eight players form 4 teams of 2 partners. The three's of the deck are removed, so that 48 cards are dealt out, ensuring that the Ace of trump is always high, and the 2 of trump is always low. This also ensures that a jack of trump is always in play.

Two Player Pitch

The players are dealt 9 cards, and the 5 of trump counts as one point. The dealer must accept a minimum bid of two but cannot take the bid of the first player by offering the same bid as the non-dealer. If either player's highest card is a 10, they are permitted to "throw in" their hand, showing their cards to the other player and asking for a new deal. No kitty is employed and players must play with the hands that they are dealt. Scoring is to 21.

Oklahoma Ten Point Pitch

Ten Point pitch is another variant of pitch, played with two teams of two people each. Six cards are dealt to each player. After the initial dealing, bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left. Players bid on the number of points that they will take, and can either pass, bid from 1-9, or "shoot-the-moon". A "shoot-the-moon" bid means that the player believes that his/her team can take all 10 points. The winning bidder declares the trump suit, and each player discards any non-trump cards (except for the Jick, or "off-Jack") and jokers. After discarding, the dealer will deal each player back up to six total cards. Any leftover cards are given to the dealer to "fill up" his or her hand.

This variation uses both jokers and the king and queen have no points. Each joker is worth one point and are labeled high and low. The jokers are not wild, simply extra cards which are always trump cards. The new rank for the trump suit is A, K, Q, J, Jick (or "off-Jack"), High Joker, Low Joker, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, off-3 (if used), 2. All point cards are worth one point, except for the 3, which is worth three points. In addition, the player who plays the 2 card gets to keep that point, regardless of who takes the trick.

There are six total tricks that are played. Each player can only play cards that are in the trump suit (except for the off-Jack). Once the player is out of cards, he/she is out of the game until all six tricks are played.

If the team that won the bid gets that many points or more, that amount is added to their overall total. If not, the team goes "set", and the amount of their bid is deducted from their overall total. The team that does not win the bid will always get the amount of points that they collected, added to their overall total, and cannot go "set". If a team shoots the moon and wins, they receive 52 points.

When one team reaches 52 overall points, they are declared the winner, and the game is over.

Sub-Variations of Oklahoma Ten Point Pitch

Number of Cards Dealt

In some versions, initially, all players are dealt nine cards. After bidding, a trump is announced and all non-trumps are discarded by the players. Cards are dealt to bring the hands back to six cards with the winner of the bid receiving the entire pact to pick through. In one variation, the winner may pass trump cards to his partner. If any point cards must be discarded, it is considered a mis-deal. When the two of trumps is played, it is retained by the person dealt it and does not go to the winner of the hand.

In other versions, the players are dealt six cards initially.

Razzle-Dazzle

10 or 13 point pitch in which there is a kitty dealt, it varies depending on how many people are playing; the normal amount of players are 5 person and 7 person. The players bid clockwise of the dealer (minimum d is usually 5), the winner takes the kitty and THEN decides what trump will be, he must burn enough to get down to 6 cards. Everyone throws away all but the trump, but do not get any new cards. The winner of the bid then calls for his partner by selecting a card that he wants played on that turn; example: I pick up the kitty and have a good spades hand, but not the trey, i can call for the trey and play the Ace, the person who played the trey would be my partner for that round. If you go set, you bring your partner down with you. A very fun game overall.

Missouri Eleven Point Pitch

This variation adds the off-ace (Ace of the same color as trump) as the second highest card, which also counts for one as a point. All other rules are as in Oklahoma 10 point, except for the winning bidder is the player that receives the balance of the deck to "fill up" his hand. Valid bids are 3-10, and shoot the moon to bid 11. This game is also played with six players in three partnerships. In this version, each player receives 9 cards, and discards 3 after the trump is declared, there is no exchange.

Thirteen Point Pitch

Another variation, this time of ten-point pitch, except that the "off-three" is worth three points. The off-three would be the 3-card in the same color of the trump suit.

Call Your Partner Pitch

Ten and thirteen point pitch can be played in a variation called "Call Your Partner". In this version, there are no set teams. The winning bidder can call for a specific card, and the person with that card will become that person's partner, until the next bid. Overall point totals are kept for individuals, rather than teams.

• In the Northeast Variety of Pitch, which springs largely from Connecticut and the Worcester area of Massachusetts, cards are dealt in three-card bunches, such that each player receives two distributions of three-cards each per hand.

Another variety of pitch played in the Worcester, MA area is Thirteen Card Pitch. This is played with four players meaning that all the cards are dealt. Only three and four bids are permitted and the game is played to fifteen.

Partnership Draw Pitch

Concept and Objective

Partnership Draw Pitch is somewhat like euchre, except a full deck is used, and the goal is to get points, not necessarily tricks. It is the quality of the tricks, not the quantity that determines the outcome of the game. Other differences from euchre include: 15 points for a win, the highest card is the Ace, and trump may be thrown at any time, regardless of what is lead. The only reneging that can occur is if a non-trump card is led, and you have that suit, but choose to throw a different non-trump card.

Definitions

• Points: Won by winning high, low, jack, or game
• High: The highest card of trump in play, with Ace as the highest, King as the second highest, etc.
• Low: The lowest card of trump in play, with deuce as the lowest, and 3 as the second lowest, etc.
• Jack: The jack of trump, but may not always be in play. Jack has no special values besides its one point.
• Game: The sum of the corresponding values of face cards and tens. Aces are worth 4, Kings worth 3, Queens worth 2 Jacks worth 1, and tens worth ten, regardless of whether they trump or not. These point values apply only to game. Do not confuse the point values for game with the points of high, low, jack, or game. "Game" is won by having more point values than your opponent.
• First round of dealing: Deal 3 cards to each player twice, making for a total of 6 cards per player
• Bid: The number of points (high, low, jack, or game) that you believe you and your partner (sitting diagonally from you) can accumulate. Bids can be 2, 3, 4, or moon. Bidding only goes around once, players can overbid each other, and the dealer can be stuck. When bidding, only a number is called, but the suit of trump is not announced until after bidding is over. This is to make sure people bidding after an initial bidder do not know that the initial bidder is strong in one suit or the other.
• Second round of dealing: After a bid is made and trump is called, all players throw away the cards they do not want. However, TRUMP CANNOT BE DISCARDED. You may hang onto other cards you like, but this limits your chances of getting trump in the second deal.
• Moon: The situation in which a player has a hand similar to a Dutchman in euchre. A player who goes moon believes they can win high, low, jack, and game, and also take every trick. When going moon, the bidder gets to lead, and does not dealt in the second round of dealing
• House hand: The situation where during the first round of dealing when a the cards a player were dealt are all 3 through 9. The hand can be laid down, revealing the cards to the other players, and 6 new cards are dealt to the player with the house hand.

Steps

1. Assemble in euchre formation
2. Find dealer by dealing for first black jack
3. First round of dealing
4. Bidding
5. Announce the trump
6. Second round of dealing
7. Play game

New Yorker Pitch

New Yorker Pitch is somewhat like euchre, except a full deck is used, and the goal is to get points, not necessarily tricks. It is the quality of the tricks, not the quantity that determines the outcome of the game. Other differences from euchre include: 15 points for a win, the highest card is the Ace, and trump may be thrown at any time, regardless of what is lead. The only reneging that can occur is if a non-trump card is led, and you have that suit, but choose to throw a different non-trump card.

Definitions

• Points: Won by winning high, low, jack, or game
• High: The highest card of trump in play, with Ace as the highest, King as the second highest, etc.
• Low: The lowest card of trump in play, with deuce as the lowest, and 3 as the second lowest, etc.
• Jack: The jack of trump, but may not always be in play. Jack has no special values besides its one point.
• Game: The sum of the corresponding values of face cards and tens. Aces are worth 4, Kings worth 3, Queens worth 2 Jacks worth 1, and tens worth ten, regardless of whether they trump or not. These point values apply only to game. Do not confuse the point values for game with the points of high, low, jack, or game. “Game” is won by having more point values than your opponent.
• First round of dealing: Deal 3 cards to each player twice, making for a total of 6 cards per player
• Bid: The number of points (high, low, jack, or game) that you believe you and your partner (sitting diagonally from you) can accumulate. Bids can be 2, 3, 4, or moon. Bidding only goes around once, players can overbid each other, and the dealer can be stuck. When bidding, only a number is called, but the suit of trump is not announced until after bidding is over. This is to make sure people bidding after an initial bidder do not know that the initial bidder is strong in one suit or the other.
• Second round of dealing: After a bid is made and trump is called, all players throw away the cards they do not want. However, TRUMP CANNOT BE DISCARDED. You may hang onto other cards you like, but this limits your chances of getting trump in the second deal.
• Moon: The situation in which a player has a hand similar to a Dutchman in euchre. A player who goes moon believes they can win high, low, jack, and game, and also take every trick. When going moon, the bidder gets to lead, and does not dealt in the second round of dealing
• House hand: The situation where during the first round of dealing when a the cards a player were dealt are all 3 through 9. The hand can be laid down, revealing the cards to the other players, and 6 new cards are dealt to the player with the house hand.

Steps

1. Assemble in euchre formation
2. Find dealer by dealing for first black jack
3. First round of dealing
4. Bidding
5. Announce the trump
6. Second round of dealing
7. Game on

External links

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• A free online game for Windows
• A great pitch game for the Palm OS platform
• Rules and Variations for Pitch
• Partnership Draw Pitch

Anglo-American playing card games | Trick-taking card games