Rules for Pitch
Rules For Pitch:
Objective: Reach 11 points
Point Scoring per hand:
High Card, 1 pt
Low Card, 1 pt
Jack, 1 pt
Joker, 1 pt
Game (High Hand Points), 1 pt
The object of the hand is to maintain or take the High Card, Low Card, Jack, Joker of the trump suit during gameplay.
*Note: The low card can not be taken, it remains with the player to whom it was dealt and they receive the point.
Game point is determined by hand points. Whoever has the highest hand points receives the 1 game point. Hand Points are counted from the cards a player has at the end of the hand from the stacks they have "won" during gameplay.
Scoring for Hand Points:
Aces = 4 points
Kings = 3 points
Queens = 2 points
Jacks = 1 point
10s = 10 points
Joker = 1 point only as a tie breaker
All players can receive and lose points, not just the winning bidder. The benefit of being the winning bidder is choosing trump and playing first, essentially having the chance to control the hand and gameplay.
Hands are played until 1 player reaches 11 points.
*Note on "going out": If the winning bidder reaches 11 points during gameplay, the game ends before hand is complete.
Dealing:
Strip the deck of all 2s, 3s, 4s so that 5 is the "Low Card" (6 players)
The dealer deals three cards at a time to players in clockwise order. Each player receives 6 cards.
A few cards will be leftover, reshuffle these cards back into the deck after a hand is over.
Trump explained:
Whoever wins the bid (bids the most points), decides what suit will be trump and leads the hand. A card of this suit must be played as the first card out.
Trump must be played if trump is led. Any other card is suitable in absence of trump.
Trump does NOT have to be played if a suit is led that does NOT trump and the player does not have cards of the played non-trump suit.
The JOKER is a trump card, greater than 10, less than Jack. It can be taken by any trump face card.
Bidding:
The first bid is the player seated to the dealer's left.
Each player will "bid" on how many points they intend to take. The minimum bid is 2. Players can bid or pass.
Players must bid higher than the player before them or "pass".
Should a player overbid, the player will lose all points bid. For example, player bids 3, but only takes 2 points, this player will lose 3 points from their score.
*Note: Players can not go "below the line". If a player has 0 points but does not hit their bid, they do not receive negative points.
*Note: If a player "shoots the moon" and bids all 5 points AND wins all 5 points, the game is over.
*Note: If all players "pass" and there is no bid, all cards are turned back in and reshuffled and redealt.
GamePlay:
The player who won the bid plays first and must play a trump card first. Bidder decides the trump suit.
Each player plays one card per play, keeping the stacks that they "win" and using the entire stack at the end to count "game points".
The highest card takes the stack, or if trump is played, the highest trump card wins the stack. (Aces are high)
Points are counted at the end of each hand, with the exception of the bidder "going out".
Dealer responsibility moves to the left with each hand.
Witan Brandy Callahan
