Ranking of Cards

• Ace
• King
• Queen
• Jack
• Off-jack (left bauer, jack of same color as trump suit)
• Joker
• Joker
• 10
• 9
• 8
• 7
• 6
• 5
• 4
• 3
• 2

Play begins with the dealer dealing nine cards to each player with the remainder being held until later. Score is kept for two teams. Each player has a partner who "sits" across from them with the oposing team being the other two players.

Bid begins with player to the dealer's left. The minimum bid is four. Each player has the option to bid or pass. If they chose to bid they must bid higher than the standing bid. Each player gets one chance to bid concluding with the dealer. If no one bids (ie everyone passes) the dealer MUST take the bid for four.

After each player has a chance to bid, the high bidder then chooses a suit whick is then considered "trump." Only those cards belonging to the trump suit are allowed as legal plays for the remainder of the hand. Each player then discards the cards in his/her hand which are not in trump. Any cards which are part of the trump suit that are thrown out are considered "fair game."

Each player, in turn, then asks for a number of cards to fill their hand to six cards. Any cards remaining are given to the bidder. If the bidder so choses he/she can pass those cards to his/her partner provided he/she has not looked at them. In the event someone has more than six cards in the trump suit they must "burn" cards until they have only six. Burned cards are removed from play for that hand.

The bidder then leads a card followed by the others in a clockwise order. Highest card takes the trick and the person taking the trick leads the following trick unless they have no more cards in trump. In this case the person to his/her left leads. A person having no cards in trump is "out" and watches the remainder of the hand. In other words, this person is no longer allowed to play cards during the remainder of the hand.

If the bidder takes the number of points, or more, stated in thier bid, they receive that number of points. If not, the bidder is "set" and the amount of the bid is subtracted from their team's score. The first team to reach 52 points is declared the winner.

Anothe option to bidding is the "shoot the moon." Shooting the moon means takin all 10 points. If the bid is shoot the moon the bidding team advances their score to 52 if their score was above zero or to zero if their score was below zero. Failure to score all ten points constitutes loss of game.

The point cards: each of the following is worth one point - ace, jack, off-jack, joker, joker, ten, and two. The three is worth three points. The two goes to the person who plays it. It cannot be taken away by a higher card.

Variations

• Five-Handed
  Game played as above with ten cards dealt to each player. The remaining four cards are kept as a blind. The high bidder not only choses the suit but calls for the card he/she wants to see played. Whoever has that card in their hand is the bidder's partner against the other three. The blind then goes to the bidder. In the event the card is in the blind, the bidder has no partner agains the other four AND is required to lead the card that was called.
• Point Variations
  
  • 5 Point
    
  Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the jokers and the three are not counted as points.
  • 7 Point
    
  Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the three is not counted as a point.
  • 8 Point
    
  Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the jokers are not counted as points.
  • 13 Point
    
  Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that the off-three is also included in the game and is worth three points.
  • 11 Point
    
  Same as 13 point pitch with the exception that the jokers do not count as points.
  • 16 Point
    
  Same as 10 point pitch with the exception that ALL off-points are used and count as a point each except for the off-three which is three points. All off cards rank below their counterparts.
  • 15 Point
    
  Same as 16 point pitch with the exception that the off-two is not counted as a point.
  • 14 Point
    
  Same as 16 point pitch with the exception that the jokers are not counted as points.
• Other
  
  • Dirty
    In dirty pitch the two is not an automatic point. It must be "carried" as any other card would be.
  • Reverse Hierarchy
    In reverse hierarchy pitch the cards rank in the same order but from top to bottom. The two is the most powerful card with the ace being the lowest.