Pitch Six
Pitch Six Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
52 Cards
Preparation
Choose one player to be the scorekeeper. This player should take a pencil and paper and write down everyone's name with a 0 beneath each.
[Illustration: a score sheet with four player names, Millie, Chris, Karen and Deb, each with a 0 beneath.]
Now choose a dealer. The dealer takes the deck of cards, shuffles it, and deals 6 cards (in groups of 3) to each player. Do not show the other players any of the cards in your hand.
The dealer places the remaining cards, face-down, off to the side. These cards are out of play until the next hand.
Object
Have 12 or more points scored on a turn when you make your bid. You can lose points in this game and even go into negative points, so it will take several hands, probably 6 or so, to reach 12 or more points.
Overview
Six cards are dealt to each player. The rest of the cards are placed to the side, facedown, out of play.
Players bid on how many points they think they can take with their hand. See The 6 Points to Pitch 6. Remember: Not all of the cards are dealt out; so some of the cards worth points may not come into play.
The highest bidder gets to "name trump," and then tries to take at least as many points as she bid. The other players try to take points for themselves.
Each hand consists of 6 tricks. (If that doesn't make any sense, please read the box titled "What is a trick-taking game?") After all tricks are played, players add up how many points they each took and the scorekeeper marks these scores on the score sheet. The bidder will be rewarded or penalized, depending on whether she took enough points (see Scoring).
After all scores have been marked, all of the cards are reshuffled and a new hand is dealt. The first player to have 12 (or more) points at the end of a turn when she makes her bid, wins!
Part I: Bidding
Look at your cards and try to guess how many points you will take this hand. The player to the left of the dealer bids first and may bid any number from 3 to 6 (see The 6 Points to Pitch 6) or may pass. The next player (to the left) must either raise the bid (by bidding higher than the previous high bidder) or pass. This continues around the table until the bid gets back to the dealer. The dealer may pass, bid higher than the current high bid, or may bid EQUAL TO the current high bid. This special privilege of matching the bid instead of raising it is for the dealer only. If no one bids (all players pass) then the dealer MUST "take the bid" for at least 3.
Editor's note: in the source scan, the phrase "from 3 to 6 (see The 6 Points to Pitch 6)" is printed with a strike-through line. It is transcribed here as struck through, exactly as it appears; the printed rulebook gives no separate bid range.
The player who bids the highest after one round of bidding wins the bid and gets to name trump. This player must now make her bid by taking at least as many points or she will be penalized!
Keep in mind that trump may be any suit and it is the player who wins the bid who gets to decide which suit it will be. Therefore, some of those point cards in your hand may be worth nothing if someone else wins the bid and names a different suit as trump.
QUICK TIP: Bid conservatively until you get the hang of the game. Unless the Jack or 6 of trump is in your hand, never assume they are in play.
Part II: Playing 6 Tricks
After everyone has bid and one player has won the bid, play begins.
The player who won the bid names trump by leading with a trump card on the first trick. For example, if you win the bid and want spades to be trump then you must lead a spade as your first card. If you play a heart, then you have just named hearts as trump. After the first trick, any card may be led. Just remember that the suit named as trump remains trump until the end of that hand.
Each player, in turn, must then play a card. A player who has a card of the suit led must either follow suit or trump in. This is a unique rule in Pitch 6: Players may trump in on a trick, even if they can follow suit. This differs from most (if not all) trick-taking games. A player who has no cards of the suit led can play anything - including a trump card.
Whoever wins the first trick plays the first card of the next trick. Play the remaining tricks and then add up the scores.
Example: Playing a Trick
After winning the bid, Millie names clubs as trump by leading with the 8♣. Chris, to the left of Millie, has clubs and must play one because it is both the suit led and trump. Chris decides to play the 3♣. Karen has no clubs so she plays the K♥. Deb has only one club, the Q♣, and must play it. Deb played the highest club, the Queen, and wins the trick. Even though the King♥ is higher in rank, the Queen is the highest trump in play.
Deb takes the four played cards, turns them facedown and places them in front of her (not in her hand). Since she won the trick, she plays the first card of the next trick.
Deb decides to lead the second round with a non-trump card and plays the 5♦. Millie has one diamond, the Jack, and plays it. Chris has diamonds but chooses to play clubs, which is still trump. Chris plays the 7♣. Karen has neither diamonds (the led suit) nor clubs (trump) and so plays the A♥.
Although the Ace is the highest ranked card, it is not the suit led nor is it trump. The J♦ was the highest card of the led suit and normally Millie would win the trick; however, Chris "trumped in" with the 7♣. Even though the 7 is not the highest ranked card on the table, it is the highest trump and, therefore, Chris wins the trick.
What is a trick-taking game?
A trick-taking game is one of the most common in card playing. Bridge, Spades, Whist, Euchre, Rook, Hearts and Pitch are all examples of trick-taking games.
In a trick-taking game, each player receives a hand of cards and arranges them by suit. In many games (including this one), players then look at their cards and bid on the number of points they think they can take with their hand. The highest bidder wins the right to name the trump suit. The trump suit acts as the predominant suit. Therefore, if you play a card from the trump suit on a card from another suit, the highest trump card wins the trick. The trump suit can change from hand to hand.
One player will "lead a card" by playing it into the center of the table. Let's say it is a non-trump suit. The player to her left will then play a card. In Pitch 6, the player can either follow suit, if able (play a card that matches the suit of the lead card) or "trump in" (play a card from the trump suit). If the player cannot follow suit, she can either trump in or throw a card away (play a card that doesn't match either the lead suit or the trump suit). Each player, in order, continues to play a card, until all players have played a card. The player who played the highest trump card "wins the trick" OR if no trump were played, the highest card of the suit led "wins the trick." NOTE: The other two suits can never win the trick.
The player who "wins the trick" takes the cards played in that trick, turns them facedown, and places them in front of her on the table. Do not put the cards back into your hand. The winner of the trick then leads the card for the next trick.
Play continues in this way until all cards in your hand have been played. In Pitch 6, there will be 6 tricks, since all players start with 6 cards.
The 6 Points to Pitch 6
- HIGH: Score 1 point for taking the highest trump card in play.
- LOW: Score 1 point for taking the lowest trump card in play.
- JACK: Score 1 point for taking the Jack of trump, if in play.
- 6: Score 1 point for taking the 6 of trump, if in play.
- LAST: Score 1 point for taking the last trick.
- GAME: Score 1 point for taking the most Game Points. Count up the Game Points as follows: 10s are worth 10 points, Aces are worth 4 points, Kings are worth 3 points, Queens are worth 2 points and Jacks are worth 1 point. All of these are marked on the cards with green numbers to help you remember. At the end of the hand, players add up ALL of the green numbers they have collected (from all suits, not just trump), and the player with the highest total scores the 1 point. If players tie with the same number of Game Points, no one scores the point.
There is always a High trump, a Low trump, and a Last trick, so there will always be at least 3 points scored per hand. There is usually a point scored for Game, but the Jack and 6 of trump may not be dealt out; and therefore, their points are not always available.
Note that if there is only one trump in play, it counts as the High and Low trump and is worth 2 points. If this card is the Jack or the 6, it is worth 3 points!
Part III: Scoring and Redealing
After all 6 tricks have been played, players check the points they "took" during that hand (cards taken by winning the trick).
First add up the points of the player who won the bid. If the points are equal to or higher than her bid then she made her bid. If the points are lower than her bid she didn't make it and is "set."
- If the bidder made her bid, she gets points EQUAL TO HER BID. For example, if someone bids 3 but takes 5 points, she still only scores 3 (her bid).
- If the bidder did not make her bid, she loses points EQUAL TO HER BID. For example, the bidder bid 4 but only took 3; then she loses 4 points (her bid).
The other players score whatever points they took.
Example: Scoring
Chris wins the bid with 3 and names hearts as trump. At the end of the hand, she has the King♥, 2♥, 6♥, and took the last trick. The Ace♥ was not in play, making the King the high trump. All players now add up their Game numbers (marked on the cards in green) and find that Chris has 6 toward Game, Millie has 15 toward Game and the other two players have 0. Chris has four points (High, Low, 6, and Last) but only scores 3 (her bid). Millie scores 1 point for having the highest Game total. Since the Jack♥ was not in play, no one scores a point for it.
The scorekeeper adds (or subtracts) everyone's score to the score sheet.
Continue Playing if...
- The bidder didn't make her bid OR
- The bidder made her bid but doesn't have 12 or more points.
The player to the left of the last dealer reshuffles and deals a new hand.
Winning
If you make your bid and have 12 or more points, you win! Remember: You have to bid and make it to win.
Note: In some cases, a player may intentionally block a player with 12 or more points from winning the bid, by bidding high (and not making it). This can create an increasing gap between the scores. If this occurs, an option is to end the game when one player has 12 points less than another. In this case the player with the highest score wins regardless of whether they won the bid or not.
Partnership Game
Pitch 6 can be played in partnership with either 4 or 6 players. In either case, teams are 2 players each and players sit so that team members are equally spaced around the table. Bidding is still individual but all tricks taken by a team are combined at the end of the hand for scoring purposes. All other rules are the same.