Game: Pit

Thread: Re: pit spoons

aslansown — 2008-11-21T03:55:00+00:00

We also played this variant for years, but we used small-ish bean bags for less battle damage.

The really fun part to this was to be as sly as possible in grabbing bags when you could get away with it. It was always fun to slowly watch people catch on until one final person was calling "Two! Two!" while everyone else sat and watched him. Then he would sheepishly realize he was the last one... Good times!

p.s. I like the idea of point values for different spoons (bags). Would introduce a new level into it!

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onegodoneloveoneway — 2008-11-18T05:42:23+00:00

The back of the Billionaire box - a themed version of pit

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onegodoneloveoneway — 2008-11-18T05:40:17+00:00

The front of the Billionaire box - a themed version of Pit

Thread: Re: how many cards should i have?

counterrefinisher — 2008-11-14T04:23:40+00:00

Deck protectors for pit. I know I'm already 3 years late in responce but I'm sure you've already gone through 1 maybe 2 sets of protectors. For what? Play the game, lets the cards wear. If the card get too recognizable buy a new game. It cost you the same as replacing sleeves (which you always have to replace all of them because the new ones will look better). Play the game and enjoy it. Give the old cards to someone who doesn't own it and doesn't yet know how all the card are marked. It'll also let you finally start using your second deck.

Thread: Re: Pit Strategy?

counterrefinisher — 2008-11-14T04:01:18+00:00

pmagnus wrote:
timstellmach wrote:

I'm pretty sure the appropriate house rule to fix this is "If we catch you doing that, get out of my house."

Although there is something lacking in a game design when the game can be made utterly impossible by one intransigent player.

Not really, most people are playing a game because they want to. People who don't want to play a game can kill one hand like that before not having to play the game anymore. But if you actually eventually want to win you'll give up that strategy because you'll accidently hand one of your sets of 2 to the person that needs it.

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fabricefab — 2008-11-12T18:25:38+00:00

Pit repos edition in the box

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fabricefab — 2008-11-12T18:24:34+00:00

Pit new repos edition cards

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adamdynris — 2008-11-11T02:35:36+00:00

New box from Repos Prod.

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Toynan — 2008-11-10T01:26:12+00:00

the bag from the new Repos Prod edition

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Toynan — 2008-11-09T13:50:49+00:00

the new Repro Prod edition

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jsper — 2008-11-08T16:45:41+00:00

Promotional sheet in french

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jsper — 2008-11-07T12:07:29+00:00

Reverse of cards in new edition

Thread: Rules in ger. or engl. available for Repos PIT

Braz — 2008-11-06T00:30:32+00:00

Does anyone know, whether there are english or german rules for the Repos Prod. PIT available somewhere...?!

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jsper — 2008-09-28T16:44:17+00:00

New edition in spanish

Thread: Re: New version coming from Repos Production

Yuglooc — 2008-09-08T22:53:18+00:00

I just found out about this in the Essen pre-release info. I'm saddened to read that this won't be marketed in North America. This is one game I may consider ordering through a European distributor for two reasons:
--- the amusing theme (various types of cows instead of grains)
--- the Repos edition will handle TEN players (current editions published in North America handle no more than eight)

Thread: Re: Pit Strategy?

pmagnus — 2008-07-08T19:16:13+00:00

timstellmach wrote:

I'm pretty sure the appropriate house rule to fix this is "If we catch you doing that, get out of my house."

Although there is something lacking in a game design when the game can be made utterly impossible by one intransigent player.

Thread: Re: Pit Strategy?

timstellmach — 2008-06-08T17:59:09+00:00

hurstdm wrote:
I've had two people pull the trick of collecting one or two of every card type and then just either stopping trading or just cycling through their one extra card while everyone else knocked themselves out trying to finish unfinishable sets.
I'm pretty sure the appropriate house rule to fix this is "If we catch you doing that, get out of my house."

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

ACK ACK — 2008-05-31T08:48:39+00:00

That sounds like pure joy. Nice one. Not too many times does that happen in a person's life.

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

tallboy — 2008-05-30T02:23:29+00:00

Hoodlumsx4 wrote:
Sounds like total chaos!

Perfect description...controlled chaos of course.

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

grosse_au — 2008-05-29T23:35:49+00:00

Cool!

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

garry_rice — 2008-05-29T21:37:31+00:00

I'd say add the rules. There's enough youth group leaders here that would probably be happy to give this a try...I know we're always on the lookout for new games to do as a group. Sounds like alot of fun!

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

Hendal — 2008-05-29T21:17:54+00:00

I remember the days of Pit, where our whole family was yelling at the tops of our lungs, what a great game. You 48 person version sounds amazing. I would say you need to add your rules to the BGG, I don't see me using them , but you never know.

Great Report thanks for sharing

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

Hoodlumsx4 — 2008-05-29T18:05:45+00:00

I would of loved to of seen that game in action, all the kids running, trading, yelling. Sounds like total chaos! My kind of game. I love playing Pit and the variations make it a game you never get tired of.

Wendy

Thread: Re: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

WillT — 2008-05-29T17:37:03+00:00

That sounds like a hilarious time! Great write-up too.

FYI, in "Pit" the two extra cards are the "Bull" and the "Bear" (since its a commodity trading game and a Bull market is good and a Bear market is bad), and they work the same as the "Billionaire" and the "Taxman".

Thread: Pit for FIFTY players! And it was great fun.

tallboy — 2008-05-29T16:07:20+00:00

Okay, so there was only 48 players but it could be done for 50. And beyond that number too.

Earlier this month I ran a weekend camp for kids aged from 15 -17. On Friday night, about two hours after they had all met each other we had a giant game of Pit. You'll need to know Pit to understand what follows.

But first I need to give you some background information. I have never played Pit. In Australia we have a game called Billionaire. Punch it into BGG and you get Pit, so it is Pit by another name.

I imagine they are similar to the cards for Pit, but the cards used for Billionaire are important so you can have a look at them here.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/94590 - these are the sets of cards to be collected
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/46254 - this shows the Billionaire and Taxman card, I imagine there is an equivalent in Pit.

And now on with the game. One more thing, the weekend is based around working together all weekend as a group of six, and this is the first proper activity that they do as the group.

Once the players are all in their groups spread out around the edge of the room, the cards are shuffled and dealt into piles, one for each group. A group member comes and collects the 'group's hand' - the cards belong to the group not to an individual.

The idea is the same as a normal game, you have to collect a full set of one type to win. One MAJOR VARIATION - no player can ever hold more than one card.

Once trading starts, which is all in - no turns in order or anything like that, groups who wish to trade come to the centre of the room (the trading area) calling the number of cards they have to trade.

Trades can only be done with matching cards - if I want to trade two cards I must offer a matching set, three cards for trade have to be a set of three....there are two exceptions which I'll mention later. Proper trades have to be monitored initially but the kids were more than happy to get the game stopped so they could point out who had tried a dud trade and so that it could be reversed.

Here is how the fun works as a group activity. As a player can never have more than one card, if a group has two cards to trade, two players must together enter the trading area calling the number of cards they wish to trade. Same rules apply for three players, four players etc. - which looks even funnier as three players from one group meet three players from another group, exchange cards and rush back to their group.

To prevent everyone from the group grabbing one card and rushing out to the trading area shouting one and continually exchanging the card until they get the one they want, the trading floor is first only open to trades of three or four cards.

Then those wishing to trade two cards can join. Finally, single trades are allowed. This is hilarious when the single trades are announced as all the triples and couples seeking trades immediately break up and all start yelling 'one' whilst those on the sidelines with only one card to trade rush to join the mayhem.

Once you think the group has traded for enough time, close the trading floor.

In a normal game trading will continue until someone has a set of cards to win. Normally, as an individual, you continually reassess the cards you hold and change stragey as you go. As a group activity, with everyone rushing around yelling, the group reassessment can not occur.

By closing the trading floor, groups then reconvene and discuss what they are going to do when the trading floor reopens. They check their cards, develop a new strategy and get ready to trade again in couples, triples or singles when the trading floor opens.

Once the trading floor is opened, all the mulitple trades get done first before the trading floor is opened up to the noise of single trades.

The aim of the game is to be the first to collect a set of cards of the one type - after which there is much yelling and rejoicing. The exceptions I mentioned above are two cards, the Billionaire and the Taxman.

They can be traded alone as 'one', together as 'two' or with any other set of cards as a greater numbered set. At the end of the game the Billionaire can be used as a wild card to make up the numbers to a set of cards, or as a bonus card to double the value of a set of cards. If the Billionaire is held by a group not calling Billionaire then that group gets penalised. No one ever wants the Taxman as you get penalised for that.

This was a regular highlight. Once a group called Billionaire and won, the scan of the room to find the Billionaire and the Taxman was always funny as often the group that had it did not know, as it was held by one player who had got caught with it in a final trade before a team claimed victory.

We worked our way into the game by making the finish of the first round when one group collected six of a type. This increased to seven for the second round, then eight and finally nine. All scores were put up on a big board and we finished that game with a final round of nine, worth double points.

One more thing - an optional extra. We gave each team a balloon that they had to burst it if they were the first to call Billionaire. This made it even funnier when groups miscounted and burst their balloon prematurely, calling the game to a halt whilst their cards were checked and counted. Once the other groups had finished laughing at them, we gave them another balloon and allowed them to rejoin the game with one penalty. They could not win the game with the same type of cards they had just tried to win with - so they had to trade them all away.

Of course no one wanted to trade with them as they didn't want those cards. Once the trade floor was accepting single trades they all got traded in the mayhem as no one recognised anyone well enough not to trade.

It was one of the funniest games I have ever watched and damn noisy. We got great feedback on it all weekend and it got plenty of mentions in the evaluation of the weekend a couple of days later.

I wrote a set of instructions for it and can send you them if you want to have a look. Player instructions now uploaded as a file to Pit. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/33061

It worked much much better than I thought it would, and better than any big game of Werewolf I have played as no one gets eliminated, it is loud, noisy and fun. May not work as well with inhibited adults.

PS We also played six player games of Break the Safe (made for four), session report to come.

Thread: New version coming from Repos Production

Germarish — 2008-05-28T13:14:38+00:00

Looks as if Repos Production is making a new edition of Pit which has players trading different types of cows

Here's a link to the article on Boardgame News:
http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Thread: Re: Balanced scoring variant

GaryP — 2008-05-20T16:27:33+00:00

Very neat idea! I love the game, but we generally just play for "fun". We keep score, but it is more about winning the current round, and not the whole game. We like Pit best with 6 to 8 players, but that means it is very easy to end with a score of 0 or -50. Thus, I think I will try your idea (or something very similar) next time to let players accumulate some points. However, I might do a simple subtraction rather than 1/3, just to keep scoring quick with so many players.

Thread: Balanced scoring variant

pillar — 2008-05-19T04:39:51+00:00

Pit has been great to get those of our family to play that normally aren't playing, but the scoring has seemed weak to me. I pondered it a while and came up with a variant rules for scoring. I tried them yesterday with the family and they liked it a lot. It turned out I wasn't the only one not liking the scoring. So here is how we played:

The winner gets the score normally. Other players receive additional points if,

- missing only one of the set: 1/3 of the score of their set (rounded up to the closest 5 or 10)
- missing only two of the set: 15 points.

This way the scoring was more balanced, more people got at least some points and the game seemed better to us. Let me know what you think.

Thread: Re: Lo! I have met Pit and it is awesome!

harris_family — 2008-05-16T18:30:53+00:00

gjdad wrote:
Again a picture is worth a thousand words!

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This is the vicious Marie! (on the right)
I take it the market isn't open yet since both of these players are still sitting down!

Simon

Thread: Re: Lo! I have met Pit and it is awesome!

gjdad — 2008-05-16T16:01:57+00:00

Again a picture is worth a thousand words!

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This is the vicious Marie! (on the right)

Thread: Lo! I have met Pit and it is awesome!

Gnomekin — 2008-05-15T20:31:12+00:00

Long have I heard tales of Pit, the stock market game of myth and legend. People spoke to me in hushed whispers of its wonders, of the trading and of the bell. Once, I even saw a single wheat card in the coat closet of an ex-girlfriend’s mother.

However, never once had I played Pit. I even went so far as to get my own copy, making careful sure to get one with the bell. However, it merely lingered in my closet, whispering to me of its magic. I would put it in my bag but it went unplayed, its bell went unrung.

Then, I went to one of Chicago’s Board Game Meet Ups. There, a man called Dave brought it forth from his bag and said “This is Pit! Let all marvel at its wonder! Let the bell ring and the market open!”

Well, okay, he might have something more like “It’s a great game. You guys will love it.”

And, after years of hearing about Pit and even owning my own copy, I finally got to play the game.

Pit’s an old game. The first version of it came out in 1903, which boggles my mind. They have stock markets back then? There are sets of nine cards equal to the number of players in the game. You get a random hand of nine cards and off you go.

Trading is a simple matter of trading number of cards. They have to be the same type of card and you must make an even trade so that everyone always has nine cards. When you get all nine of a set, you ring the bell and listen while people curse your name.

There were six of us around the table and I can’t imagine ever playing Pit with fewer than five. You really need to have enough people to keep the trading going fast and furious.

And, oh, it was pretty fast and furious that night. At one point, Marie nearly took Dave’s hand off at the wrist she went for the bell so fast. She proceeded to sidle her hand up to the bell and demurely ring it the next turn.

I didn’t win the game. Joe won it. At least, I think his name was Joe.

However, the moral of the story is this. Pit is a really fun game. I had a great time. More than that, everyone else either had a great time or lied about it. I was told afterwards that the entire room was watching as we traded and yelled and rang the bell and chopped people’s hands off.

I am going to be dusting off my copy of Pit and seeing if I can ring out some magic from it too.

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

tada — 2008-04-25T19:37:49+00:00

Simon, I like your avatar. Check out this thread: Myst Movie

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

harris_family — 2008-04-25T19:27:14+00:00

ironcates wrote:
This version has hay and flax and special bull and bear cards as well.

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One of the many signs of getting older being when the things you're looking at have the word 'classic' in the title.
Incidentally, is this version sufficiently 'de-luxe' to have the bell? And where could I source it that ships to the UK?

Simon

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

swaits — 2008-04-25T16:25:12+00:00

tada wrote:
I've never played this or even knew what it was about until now, even though I've seen it on the store shelves forever and I'm 2 years away from the half century mark. Sounds fun! I'll have to get it now. Thanks for the review.
I adapted the rules for playing Pit with a regular decks of cards. They're located here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/28936

--Steve

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

ironcates — 2008-04-25T16:07:18+00:00

harris_family wrote:
Nice review! I'm with you on this one - it is a true classic! Our family have been playing it for *years*. Without giving away too much sensitive information, I'm in my second half-century and my *parents* both played it as kids! We had (but can inevitably no longer find!) the edition with the purple pictures on the cards. I recall it had commodities like 'Hay' and 'Flax' - never mind this new fangled 'Coffee' and 'Soya' for goodness sake!
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Simon
Edit: found the image!

This version has hay and flax and special bull and bear cards as well.

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Thread: Re: pit spoons

dumsumdumfai — 2008-04-25T15:53:11+00:00

we also played this with the silent version combined.

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

tada — 2008-04-25T14:07:34+00:00

I've never played this or even knew what it was about until now, even though I've seen it on the store shelves forever and I'm 2 years away from the half century mark. Sounds fun! I'll have to get it now. Thanks for the review.

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

scottsnew1 — 2008-04-25T14:03:27+00:00

we used to play this all the time when i was a teenager. i really got to get this game again! it is a blast!

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

Hendal — 2008-04-25T11:51:14+00:00

We got this 1 christmas when on vacation in Florida, I am the youngest of 5 kids, and man did we have loads of fun and we where so loud. The management had to ask us to not play it as we where way way to loud playing this one. We played a lot when I was oh so young.

Great write up, thanks for sharing..

Game On'

Thread: Re: Pit is so fun!

harris_family — 2008-04-25T08:41:32+00:00

Nice review! I'm with you on this one - it is a true classic! Our family have been playing it for *years*. Without giving away too much sensitive information, I'm in my second half-century and my *parents* both played it as kids! We had (but can inevitably no longer find!) the edition with the purple pictures on the cards. I recall it had commodities like 'Hay' and 'Flax' - never mind this new fangled 'Coffee' and 'Soya' for goodness sake!
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Simon
Edit: found the image!

Thread: Pit is so fun!

gameguythinks — 2008-04-25T05:35:38+00:00

Pit has been a popular family card game since 1904. It is fast-paced, loud, and lots of fun. The game simulates the pit of the commodity market exchange. Players attempt to corner the market on a particular commodity like barley, corn, or coffee. The rules are simple, and once things get going, play gets very frantic and loud. All commodity cards are shuffled and passed out, and play begins with all players offering cards for trade at the same time. You hold up from one to four cards that must be the same commodity, and offer them for trade. The first player to collect all of one particular commodity will end the round by indicating that they have cornered the market. This is done by shouting corner! while slapping your cards down on the table, ringing the bell if you happen to purchase the deluxe version of the game, or by jumping up out of your seat and doing a victory dance while singing Celebrate by Kool and the Gang.

Things get even more interesting once you add the Bull and Bear market cards. The Bull card acts as a wild card or as a bonus card if you have it in your hand when you corner a particular market. However, both the Bull and Bear card count against you if you are caught with them in your hand when someone else corners a market. You can slip these in with your cards as you trade, which adds sort of an Old Maid element to the trading, but since all trades are happening at the same time, you have to make sure nobody realizes that you just got passed the Bear (or Bull).

It’s no accident that this game has been around as long as it has been. It is a great game for young and old. Seriously, the next time Grandma says,

Those games you kids play are too new-fangled for me! Back in my day, we played with sticks and spiderwebs, and we were thankful!

You can say,

But Grandma, this game is older than you are!

The game comes with one deck of 74 commodity cards, plus a Bull card and a Bear Card, and a piece of cardboard called “the corner” which is totally useless, unless you need a coaster for your drink. The Deluxe version of the game comes with a cool bell you can ring. I know it seems silly, but the bell is worth the extra few bucks. This game gets five stars on the gameguy scale, as it corners the market on family fun!

Thread: Re: House Rules

rootbeer — 2008-04-25T00:19:35+00:00

Christian: Excellent stuff. I really look forward to Spanish Pit, Pit Fall and Cow Pit.

Andrzej: You now must change the subject of this thread to "Flippin' Awesome House Rules."

Thread: Re: pit spoons

biscotti75 — 2008-04-12T16:44:28+00:00

This sounds like a fun variation. My thought, in reading this, was to put different point levels on the spoons, such as +10 and +20. That way, people would also have to think about which spoon to grab on top of everything else! Just a thought.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

Warhippo — 2008-03-09T20:15:48+00:00

My Dad taught me and my sister this game when we were around 8 or 9 years old - we absolutely loved it. Funny thing was, I played the game a few years back against some adults. They all started quietly calling out "2 2 2" and "I have 3, will anyone trade?" and so on. Well stuff that! The game changed dramatically when I started playing it in the form that my father taught it - screaming as loudly as you can until someone stuffs the cards into your hands just to shut you up (ala old style trading rooms). Of course the other players soon reached my decibels when they realised just how much fun you can have shrieking until your lungs try to vacate your body.

Fun times (oh and nice review).

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

corriefunk — 2008-02-25T06:02:15+00:00

Great game for any age, as long as you're not looking for depth. I spent many nights playing this game "silently" with my 4 siblings, as not to bother grandma. It's a different game when you're just holding fingers out instead of yelling at the top of your lungs. Nice simple review.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

Larry Welborn — 2008-02-23T16:28:05+00:00

rplea wrote:
You might want to check out Knizia's Wheedle too. It's a similar game which compares well with Pit according to reviewers and raters at least. I must admit I haven't played it myself.

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

rplea — 2008-02-23T12:27:39+00:00

You might want to check out Knizia's Wheedle too. It's a similar game which compares well with Pit according to reviewers and raters at least. I must admit I haven't played it myself.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

Twinge — 2008-02-23T07:32:22+00:00

I traded for the game originally, and then found a copy at a thrift store I picked up just for the bell =)

My favorite moment in this game is the time I triumphantly slammed the bell and yelled out "CORNER ON... nothing..." as I looked at my hand I realized I just mis-traded.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

harris_family — 2008-02-23T00:17:57+00:00

historysteph wrote:
The Bell: Children love to ring the bell. Both my children love to start the round by ringing the bell and saying "The market is open". And, of course, it is also fun to ring the bell and say "The market is closed" when you have completed your set.

Wow, you actually have time to do this? When we play, the trading begins before the person's hand comes off the bell.

Of course, we are older than 6 & 5, so we're rather rough.

The more players with this one, the better.
Sadly, the UK version doesn't come with a bell - by the time someone has made a 'corner' the volume is so high they can scarcely make themselves heard! Mind you, this has become a fixture of Christmas 'post-lunch family game session', so we're pretty 'relaxed' by then

Simon

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

gjdad — 2008-02-23T00:03:20+00:00

earthboot wrote:
Thanks for the review, I just bought this at an op shop very cheaply - without the bell - and I'm looking forward to playing it with my kids. Now I just need a bell....

Careful my family cheats by stealing the bell during the trading round.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

historysteph — 2008-02-22T23:53:52+00:00

The Bell: Children love to ring the bell. Both my children love to start the round by ringing the bell and saying "The market is open". And, of course, it is also fun to ring the bell and say "The market is closed" when you have completed your set.

Wow, you actually have time to do this? When we play, the trading begins before the person's hand comes off the bell.

Of course, we are older than 6 & 5, so we're rather rough.

The more players with this one, the better.

Thread: Re: A GREAT game for children -- and why

earthboot — 2008-02-22T21:32:23+00:00

Thanks for the review, I just bought this at an op shop very cheaply - without the bell - and I'm looking forward to playing it with my kids. Now I just need a bell....

Thread: A GREAT game for children -- and why

Larry Welborn — 2008-02-22T15:56:16+00:00

Pit is a wonderful family game and is especially suited to playing with children. This has become a favorite to play with my two children, ages 6 & 5. Here's why:

Simple Rules: The object of the game is to trade cards with the other players until your hand consist of 9 cards of the same commodity (suit). Trades are blind as a player calls out that he has a number of identical cards to trade for the same number of identical cards. For example, a player would call out "I got Two" rather than "I have two sugar to trade." When a player completes his set he rings the bell, which closes the market and ends the round/game. Even young children can understand the game in only a minute or two.

Ease of play: A player is simply trying to trade away cards he doesn't need, while trying to get cards to complete his set. There is not a lot strategy involved and the mechanic is very easy to grasp.

Rules are scalable: The game includes "Bull" & "Bear" cards which can add a layer of depth to the game. However, the cards are not needed and can simply be left out if you choose. I do not use the cards when playing with my children. Also, the commodities have different values and you can play to a point total. You can also just ignore the points and play that each commidity counts the same, and the first player to win X rounds wins the game. You can also make it even simplier and play each round as a standalone game.

Game Length: Pit plays extremely fast. A round only takes a few minutes at most. Thus it is easy to scale the game length to the attention span of your children. You can play one round quickly or play many rounds to make the game last longer.

Downtime: There is no downtime during a round of Pit as all players are trading at the same time. Therefore, you do not have to worry about a child losing interest in the game when it isn't their turn.

Loud: The game can be noisy, which might be a turnoff for some adults. However, I have found that most kids enjoy loud games where they can talk and yell and Pit certainly gives a child the opportunity to do just that.

The Bell: Children love to ring the bell. Both my children love to start the round by ringing the bell and saying "The market is open". And, of course, it is also fun to ring the bell and say "The market is closed" when you have completed your set.

Conclusion: Pit is a wonderful family game that most anyone can enjoy. I do highly recommend buying a copy that includes the bell. I also highly recommend card holders for the children as it can be difficult for them to hold 9 cards in their hand.

Thread: Re: Rules for playing with standard cards..

swaits — 2008-01-07T04:44:53+00:00

You're welcome Wendy. I hope it works well for you.

Thread: Re: Rules for playing with standard cards..

Hoodlumsx4 — 2008-01-06T23:50:39+00:00

Wow, thanks for doing this. Helps when I forget to bring the game to a gathering and everyone wanted to play.

Thread: Rules for playing with standard cards..

swaits — 2008-01-03T08:38:01+00:00

I hacked this adaptation together for a family member, who was looking for free games to play at their New Year's Eve gathering.

I haven't tested them myself, and I'm interested in any feedback.

Thread: Re: House Rules

ctskas — 2007-12-30T05:08:56+00:00

Here are some of the variations we have tried:

Like you (highly suggested):

Spanish Pit (comercio uno, comercio dos, etc. or we prefer diga me uno, diga me dos, etc.) but we include the verb, and are pretty heavy on the accent

Silent Pit (show only fingers...frantically)

Ones you did not mention above:

French, German, or any foreign language where someone know how to count to four.

Cursed Pit: And since one time we ran out of languages, someone suggested we use different swear words for the different numbers. Kind of took the naughtiness out by saying them over and over. But we all laughed.

Pointing Pit: Taking a cue from baseball, we pointed to different body parts to signify the different numbers

Pit Fall: Assigning different parts of the room as the only place where you can trade that number. The bell is in the middle. Try not to run into each other.

But our favorite after all of those is:

Cow Pit (aka Cow S**t) (moo, moo-moo, moo-moo-moo, or moo-moo-moo-moo)

Even better when you have a sound machine with pasture noises in the background with cows mooing. Thanks Sharper Image.

Thread: If stockbrokers were like this we'd all be rich

filwi — 2007-11-08T11:36:34+00:00

Three, three, three, I'll sell you three! Three of what? What? Who cares, here's three, three, selling three.

Welcome, Sir, to the wonderful world of Pit, aka Gavitt's Stock Exchange, aka The Game that will Make You Rich Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. Wheel and Deal, Trade and Fade and slap, slap, slap that Deluxe Edition bell, but not too hard or it will break and you'll have to fork over ten bucks to your stingy friend for another Deluxe copy.

That's right, Sir, it comes with a bell, it comes with cards and you'll even get a bear and a bull. What for? Hell, you're getting a bear and a bull free of charge, son, don't knock it! And you know you want them! That's right, folks, a bear and a bull, trapped in a six inch box. It's worth ten dollars just to see that!

Step right up, folks, and open the box, open the box and see the cards. See the cards, see the cards, shuffling, shuffling, round they go, nine for you and nine for you, and you and you and Ding goes the bell.

Trade 'em, trade 'em, trading one, trading two, trading three and even four. Trading, trading, round and round, you never know what you get in your hand. That's right, good people, just like the real stock exchange, you might get gold, you might get manure, you never know, trade 'em, trade 'em in this 100 year old game and look at the great shape it's in, too.

A great American game and it's even available in German. Erdgas, Erdöl, Reis, who knows what it is, who cares, trade 'em and make your fortune today and Ding goes the bell, lookie here, nine of a kind and the money is mine. Sorry folks, no win for you today, step right up and watch the cards shuffle. Shuffle, shuffle, take your draw, what will it be, nine for you and nine for me, nine of a kind will make your fortune in this small and light and very inexpensive game. Thank you very much, madam, enjoy your game and I'm sure both your children and parents will enjoy it with you.

A minute to play, make your millions on the stock exchange, sell 'em blind, sell 'em low, you never know what you're gonna get but nine of a kind makes your fortune. Slap that bell and make it ring, win the game and take it home to your friends but no more than eight, no fewer than three, that's how this game is played. Two won't play it nor will nine. Trade those cards and make them shine. Ding, looke here, nine again, too bad, Sir, no luck in the cards for you today it seems. Perhaps you might purchase a copy and practice for your big debut in the Pit.

Shuffle, shuffle and Ding goes the bell, the markets open, the game begins, trade 'em, trade 'em, selling two, two, two and we have a taker, and I'll take your three, Madam and you'll have to take them right back, all cards of one kind, Madam, no cheating allowed and I'll take those and Ding, was that eight you had? Sorry, Sir, it's nine or nothing. I'm guessing that someone's holding that last Sugar you needed, and if it wasn't Madam here. I'm sorry Ladies and Gentlemen, if you'd traded you'd have won but now that honor goes to, why, me again!

Another game, ladies and gentlemen, shuffle, shuffle, watch the cards and make your fortunes. Buy the game, now on sale, ladies and gentlemen, Deluxe Edition with a shiny, genuine, Wall Street closing bell! Make your fortune, make your fortune. It's fast, it's furious and it's live, just like the real thing. Step right up, Sir and young master. Buy the game, sir, and make your son the future king of the stock exchange. Hausse or baisse, he'll make money on the Exchange, sir. And lookie here, a bull and a bear, right into the deck they go and that will make ten for you, and ten for you and nine cards for the rest of us and Ding goes the bell.

Trade'em, trade 'em, two to trade, two, two, two, thank you young sir, and now it's three, three, three and what do I hear, a bell ringing? I'm sorry sir, you can't end a game with the bear in your hand, wouldn't want to end on a market panic, sir. Off we go again and that's three, three, thank you and Ding, goes the bell. That's eight corn I have and a bull for the joker makes nine. Two new cards makes a whole new game and I win again. Practice, practice, ladies and gentlemen, buy the game and you too can be kings of the market. Deluxe Edition, ladies and gentlemen, with a bull and a bear and a bright, shiny, Ding, bell, and here we go, trade 'em high, trade 'em blind...

******[c]
Personal rating at time of writing: 6 / 10

Pros:
Very quick
Real time
Full of action
Easy
Filler
Anyone can play it

Cons:
Stressful
Real time
Loud
Bell breaks easily (although it's not really needed to play)

Facts:
3-8 players (works better the more players there are)
10 – 30 minutes (variable point victory condition)
First published 1903 (and still playable)
Ages 5 and up (works for the whole family)
[/c]

Thread: Re: pit spoons

hurstdm — 2007-10-31T15:02:15+00:00

I read this and loved the idea. I played this way for the first time the other day and highly recommend it. We kept the bell in - because I love the bell - but the person who rings the bell is almost guaranteed to get a spoon.

I think that next time, too, I'll say that anybody that captures a spoon gets +20 points. That way, it doesn't *feel* like a penalty to miss a spoon.

And my score is often nominally positive anyway... Maybe this'll actually get us to a winning score fasterer.

Thread: Re: Playing with normal cards?

seppo21 — 2007-09-18T16:26:34+00:00

We played a six-player game last night where we took nine each of 2-7 out of three decks. It played just fine and we had a blast.