How to Play Pitch
Pitch, also called Setback or All Fours, is a fast trick-taking game for two to six players. Everyone gets six cards, the first card led decides trump, and each hand is worth up to four points: High, Low, Jack and Game. The first player (or partnership) to the target score wins, 11 by default.
House Rules Cards plays two styles. In Standard Pitch nobody bids: the player left of the dealer leads, and every point you take is yours. In Auction Pitch players bid for the right to lead, and a bidder who falls short goes backwards. Auction is the more common game and the default.
The deal
Section titled “The deal”A standard 52-card deck, with Aces high and 2s low. Each player gets six cards. The rest of the deck is not used this hand.
The deal passes to the left after every hand. With the Short Deck variant the 3s, 4s and 5s are taken out first.
Choosing trump: the pitch
Section titled “Choosing trump: the pitch”There is no trump until somebody plays a card. The first card of the hand is the pitch, and its suit is trump for the whole hand.
- Standard Pitch: the player to the dealer’s left pitches.
- Auction Pitch: whoever won the bid pitches.
The pitcher can lead any card they like. Leading a high trump is common: it pulls trumps out of everyone else’s hands and protects the points you hold.
Playing a trick
Section titled “Playing a trick”Play goes clockwise. The highest trump played wins the trick, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner leads the next trick.
Following suit works a little differently from most games, and it is the rule people most often get wrong:
- If you hold a card of the suit that was led, you must play one of them or a trump. You may always trump, even when you could follow.
- If trump was led, you must follow with a trump if you have one.
- If you can’t follow the suit that was led, you may play anything.
So a trump is never illegal. A card of a third suit is illegal only while you still hold the suit that was led.
The four points
Section titled “The four points”When all six tricks are played, the hand is scored. Each point is worth one, and they are always awarded in this order:
| Point | Who gets it |
|---|---|
| High | Whoever ends up with the highest trump played, usually by winning the trick it was in. |
| Low | Whoever was dealt the lowest trump played, even if they lost it in a trick. |
| Jack | Whoever ends up with the jack of trump. If nobody was dealt it, nobody scores Jack. |
| Game | Whoever took the most pips in their tricks: Ace 4, King 3, Queen 2, Jack 1, Ten 10, and nothing for the rest. A tie means nobody scores Game. |
High and Low always exist (at least one trump is played, the pitch), and if only one trump is played it is both High and Low. Jack and Game can go unscored.
Under the Low to Trick Winner variant, Low goes to whoever wins the trick the lowest trump is played in, instead of whoever was dealt it.
Example
Section titled “Example”Hearts are trump. You were dealt the 2 and lose it in a trick to Avery’s A. Avery scores High for the A, and you score Low for the 2, because Low belongs to whoever was dealt it. The J was never dealt, so nobody scores Jack. Avery’s tricks hold A, 10 and K (17 pips), more than anyone else, so Avery also scores Game.
Bidding (Auction Pitch)
Section titled “Bidding (Auction Pitch)”Starting left of the dealer and going once around the table, each player either bids or passes. A bid is the number of points you promise to take, from the minimum (1, or 2 if the table plays a minimum bid of 2) up to 4. Every bid must be higher than the one before, and the dealer bids last.
- If everyone passes, the same dealer deals again.
- With the Dealer Steal variant the dealer may take the bid by matching it, and if everyone else passed, the dealer must bid the minimum.
The highest bidder pitches. When the hand is scored:
- If the bidder took at least their bid in points, they score everything they took.
- If they took fewer, they are set back: they score nothing and lose the amount they bid. Scores can go below zero (“in the hole”).
- Everyone else scores the points they took, either way (unless the table plays No Junk Points).
A bid of 4 is a smudge: you promise every point. Under Automatic Smudge Win, making it wins the game on the spot, unless your side is in the hole, where it just scores 4.
Winning, and the tiebreak
Section titled “Winning, and the tiebreak”The first player or partnership to reach the target wins, 11 by default (21 when playing partners). The target can be set anywhere from 7 to 21.
Points are awarded in order, High, then Low, then Jack, then Game, and the game ends the moment someone reaches the target. That order is the tiebreak: if two players could both reach 11 this hand, whoever’s point comes first wins, and the points after it are never scored. Anyone can go out, bidder or not.
Example
Section titled “Example”You have 10 and Blair has 10, playing to 11. You take Jack, Blair takes Low. Low is awarded before Jack, so Blair reaches 11 first and wins. Your Jack is never scored.
Players and partners
Section titled “Players and partners”Pitch plays with 2 to 6 players, each for themselves. With 4 or 6 players you can play Partners: teams of two, sitting opposite each other, who pool their points. Six players make three teams. Partners still play their own cards; the team scores together and bids count for the team.
Variants
Section titled “Variants”House Rules Cards supports these, alone or together:
- Partners: teams of two at 4 or 6 players.
- No Junk Points: only the bidding side can score.
- Dealer Steal: the dealer may match the high bid, and must bid if everyone passes.
- Low to Trick Winner: Low goes to the trick that takes it.
- Automatic Smudge Win: bid 4 and make it to win outright.
- Short Deck: no 3s, 4s or 5s.
The style (Standard or Auction), the number of players, the minimum bid and the target are chosen on the Play tab, next to the rules.