Pitch
High, Low, Jack, Game. Pitch the trump and grab points. 3–4 players.
Also known as Setback, High Low Jack, and Auction Pitch.
How to play Pitch
- 1Everyone gets six cards. Starting left of the dealer, each player bids once: 2, 3 or 4, higher than the bid so far, or passes. If everyone passes, the dealer must bid 2.
- 2The winning bidder leads first, and the suit of that first card becomes trump.
- 3When a plain suit is led you may follow it or play a trump; if you have neither, play anything. When trump is led you must follow with a trump if you can.
- 4Four points are up for grabs each hand: High (the highest trump played), Low (the lowest trump played), Jack (whoever wins the jack of trump in a trick) and Game (most card points in tricks: 10s count 10, aces 4, kings 3, queens 2, jacks 1).
- 5High and Low score for whoever played them. A tie for Game scores nobody.
- 6The bidder must win at least the number bid or lose that many points. The first to 11 wins; the bidder goes out first if both reach it.
- 7With four players, everyone plays for themselves (no partners).
- 8If nobody has won after 60 hands, the highest score wins.
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