Pitch (1600)

Pitch, by whatever point-variant is played, is in the similar vein as Spades and Bridge as a trick taking game. Play uses a standard deck of 52 cards. Players partner with the player across from them and are each dealt 9 cards.

The bid begins to the dealer's left at a minimum of four points and goes around the table, with players increasing the bid based on what they think they can take; if everyone passes the bid, the dealer is required to take the bid at four. The player who announces the highest bid takes the position of dealer/leader and calls the trump suit, which is the only suit of import in this game (excepting the jokers and the left bauer or off-jack [jack of the same color, but not the trump suit]). All players, save the dealer, discard all the cards from their hands that are not of the trump suit and request enough cards from the remaining 18-card deck to bring their hand up to 6. (*Note: If a player mistakenly discards a trump card, or one of the three other special cards, it is a free-for-all to whomever notices and picks it up off the table first) The remaining cards in the deck are given to the bid-winner/leader, who can pick through them one-by-one, and pass any remaining unseen cards to his partner, each of them discarding to 6 before play begins.

Play begins with the dealer/leader leading in the trump suit. Play proceeds around the table, with the player playing the highest valued card taking the trick and leading the following trick. Players may only play cards that are of the trump suit, other remaining cards are useless. If a player takes a trick and no longer has cards of the trump suit, that players is out, and the player to the left then begins the trick. Cards are ranked from Ace to Two, with the Off-Jack, High Joker, and Low Joker respectively taking the positions between the Jack and Ten.

Points are accrued by teams for taking the point cards in the tricks they take, which for 10-point pitch are Ace, Jack, Off-Jack (Left Bauer), High Joker, Low Joker (one has to rank higher than the other for play continuity), Ten, Three, and Two. All are worth a point apiece, except the three, which is worth three. The two is retained by the player who played it for his or her team and is not taken along with the trick.

Both teams receive points for the point cards they take, unless the high-bidding team does not meet their bid goal, in which case they go "set" and lose their number of bid points instead of gaining. Teams play to 52 points.

Another option to bidding played in some areas is to "shoot the moon." Shooting the moon means taking all 10 points. If the bid is shoot the moon the bidding team advances their score to 52 if their score was above zero or to zero if their score was below zero. Failure to score all ten points constitutes loss of game.

VARIATIONS:

Five-Handed: Game played as above with ten cards dealt to each player. The remaining four cards are kept as a blind. The high bidder not only choses the suit but calls for the card he/she wants to see played. Whoever has that card in their hand is the bidder's partner against the other three. The blind then goes to the bidder. In the event the card is in the blind, the bidder has no partner agains the other four AND is required to lead the card that was called.

Another five-handed variation is to deal out all the cards in the deck, with no blind. Further rules are similar to the variation above.

5 Point: Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the jokers and the three are not counted as points.

7 Point: Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the three is not counted as a point.

8 Point: Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the jokers are not counted as points.

13 Point: Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the off-three is also included in the game and is worth three points.

11 Point: Same as 13 point pitch with the exception that the jokers do not count as points.

16 Point: Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that ALL off-points are used and count as a point each except for the off-three which is three points. All off cards rank below their counterparts.

15 Point: Same as 16 point pitch with the exception that the off-two is not counted as a point.

14 Point: Same as 16 point pitch with the exception that the jokers are not counted as points.

"Dirty": In "dirty" pitch the two is not an automatic point. It must be "carried" as any other card would be.

Reverse Hierarchy: In reverse hierarchy pitch the cards rank in the same order but from top to bottom. The two is the most powerful card with the ace being the lowest.