Talk:Pitch (card game)

message: What no five hand pitch and I was under the impression one had to "Shoot the Moon" if one thought he could recieve all points in one round and then and only then could he win with out recieving full points.
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Let's say three players are down to one card each.  The trump suit is diamonds.  P1 has Kd, P2 has Jd, P3 has 2d.  P1 takes the trick.  Do the points for High, Low, and Jack go to P1 or are the points based on starting hand?
- In the version I play, high and jacks go to the trick winner, and low goes to the starting hand.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 73.115.118.216 (talk) 04:55, 29 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: This may be a regional variation, I have played it this way with more than one group in Missouri.  I don't know a name for it, it was always called "Pitch".  If someone has a name for this specific variation, please change the subsection title.Rt66lt 01:47, 30 October 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Pitch with jokers

message: Is "Oklahoma Ten Point Pitch" what some people actually call the game?  Or does that heading mean that the rules described are how pitch is played in Oklahoma?  In Nebraska we played the game like this, but we just called it "Pitch". Bugloaf 04:28, 26 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Oklahoma?

message: I have played around mid new york and encountered anecdotally many rule variations on pitch.  One of the main problems in trying to describe this game is that many regions use the same name to describe different variations all described on this page.
I have heard of a variation which allows for a 5 bid where the 5th point is a called "smudge".  It involves collecting all the tricks in addition to the 4 points standard to pitch, High, Low, Jack, and Game.
There is another variation which involves using the 5 of trump as a point, a single point, such that there are 5 points in a game.  I use this to play 2 handed, to avoid the pattern of only the first 2 tricks determining 2 of the points, and playing through what is normally 4 empty tricks to find out that there is no more points for game and no jack in play.
It is possible to play pitch for money, when allowable by law.  It involves no teams, so cuthroat up to 8 players.  A bid cannot be matched by the dealer, and the dealer cannot be forced to bid.  The player who makes the bid either wins or loses : a set value is agreed upon for each point.  If the player wins, he receives that value multiplied by the amount per point.  If the player fails to make his bid, he pays that value multiplied by the amount per point to each remaining player.  Another slight variation involves "Double on spades" where the amount wagered is doubled if spades is chosen as the trump suit.
: I'm also familiar with the "smudge" bid when I've played pitch.--BigCow 04:10, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rule variations. 

message: I've played where a single joker is added to the deck and called the "jick", it's a trump, worth one point, worth 1/2 point toward game, and is played between the 10 and the jack. It has the effect on gameplay of making the jack of trump more powerful, since it can score one more point, and the ten of trump less powerful since there is one more card that can take it. Makes a 5 bid valid, obviously, and also provides some nice variation within a hand once trump is pitched. By the way, my understanding of the name "Pitch" comes from "pitching" trump, the first card played. It's never required to state the trump suit, only to "pitch" it.  Jdaniels2007 01:14, 15 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Another Variant 

message: I'm looking to get feedback on the entry I added for Contway 6-point.  Indeed, we use the joker as a 1/2 point towards game as mentioned by Jdaniels.  We also place it between the Off-Jack and the 10 during normal play.  We also are completely off the map in the usage of the word "pitch".  We have used it to denote when a player is re-dealt all 6 cards.  They got "pitched".  If the redeal has no trump either, after play is over, people will say they got "double pitched".  Perhaps this is from pitching the discards?  Might be unique to our game.  
I realize that my entry only adds to the variation problem and I was a bit wary to change sections to add exceptions such as our variation that you can throw trump on the redeal when that isn't played anywhere else from what I've read.  ShemJ (talk) 15:20, 30 August 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Contway 6-point

message: And what about what is the key defining difference between pitch and smear, is there any? Variant called smear is played to 21 points and tends to have jick and other extra points? I don't think this amounts enough for smear to have its own page. Merge?
--Eero Ketonen88.195.7.227 (talk) 12:22, 2 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Smear vs Pitch

message: I'd like to add a regional variant of pitch detailed below to the Nine-Five variants section. I had edited the page earlier but it was pointed out that I had initially referenced a person that is not considered notable by Wikipedia standards. I understand that point and removed the reference in the description below. It was also suggested that this version has the same or very similar rules to other variants on this page but it is different for the reasons detailed below. Unfortunately I don't have any online references to this specific ruleset, but that is sort of the point of adding it here. It is a variant that has been alive and well and played on a daily basis for decades, even if it is only a regional variant.
It is certainly a Nine-Five variant, but it doesn't match up to any of the listed Nine-Five variants.
Some of the differences from the "Nine-Five variants of Pitch" section of the page are:
* Forced 1 bid to dealer if everyone passes
Differences from "Nine-Five" section:
* 6 initial cards dealt rather than 9 in the Nine-Five main variant
* Dealer is not allowed to look at the remaining deck
* 64 points to win
* There is a 4-card kitty
Differences from "Variant" section
* All of the above 
* The bidder must lead trump on the first trick
* (Hotshot sounds like shooting the moon in the Bonanza version)
"Nine_Five Regional (Northwest Connecticut)" and "Nine_Five Regional (Northeast Connecticut)" are even more different than the previous variants.
I also can't tell if the 18 points for the Nine-Five variants section are the same 18 points listed in the Bonanza variant I brought up since they are not explicitly listed on the wikipedia page.
Here are the rules of this particular variant that I would like to add.
Bonanza Pitch
Four players play in 2 sets of partners, with partners sitting across from each other. Each player is dealt 6 cards, with 4 face-down cards in the kitty. There are 18 total points that can be earned in a round: High (1 pt), Low (1 pt), Jack (1 pt), 10 (1 pt), 9 (9 pts), and 5 (5 pts). There is an auction bid that continues until all but one player has passed. Players can bid up to 18 or Shoot the Moon. If all other players pass, the dealer is forced to bid 1.
The player that wins the bid must declare trump before collecting the kitty. Players then discard all cards that are not trump. If the player that wins the bid has more than 6 cards, they must discard down to 6 cards and show the other players which trump cards are being discarded. The dealer then deals each player back up to 6 cards. The player that won the bid must lead trump on the first trick. Players must always follow suit when possible. If a player does not have a non-trump suit that was led, they may play a trump card to take the trick.
Shooting the moon means that the team that won the bid must get all 18 points. Teams cannot shoot the moon if they are "in the hole" (they have a score below zero) or if either team has a score of 46 or above. If they succeed, they win the whole game. If they fail to win all 18 points, that team loses the game.
A team has won the game when it reaches a score of 64 or above. If both teams exceed 64 points on the same hand, the team the won the bid for that hand wins the game, even if that team has a lower score.
LWileczka (talk) 20:31, 12 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah! OK, forgive my misunderstanding. Thank you for explaining. Please go ahead and restore your edits; I won't revert it again. Jtrevor99 (talk) 15:29, 13 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Adding Pitch Variant