Pitch the Card Game
Players and Cards.
Players:
Teams/Partnership Pitch (played with partners, obviously): either 4/6 people in teams 2
No Teams/Cutthroat Pitch (in which everyone plays for themselves): 2-6 people
Using a standard American 52 card deck with two distinguishable Jokers, designated high and low.
The Jack of the same color as the Jack of trumps is known as the Off-Jack or Jick (for example, if clubs are trumps, the Jack of Spades is the Off-Jack). The Off-Jack and High and Low Jokers are part of the trump suit and the
Ranking of trumps from high to low is: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Off-Jack, High Joker, Low Joker, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two.
Deal
If there are four players, each is dealt nine cards. If there are six players, each is dealt eight cards. The remaining undealt cards are placed face down to form a "widow" hand.
Points
There are extra points for the Off-Jack and Jokers, and optionally for the three of trumps. This makes a total of ten or seven points to bid for. The points are:
High: Scored by the team who hold the highest trump in play.
Low: Scored by the team who hold the lowest trump in play (not by the team that wins it in a trick).
Jack: Scored by the team (if any) who win the jack of trumps in a trick.
Off-Jack: Awarded to the team (if any) which wins a trick containing the Off-Jack.
High Joker: Awarded to the team which wins the trick containing the High Joker, if it is in play.
Low Joker: Awarded to the team which wins the trick containing the Low Joker, if it is in play.
Game: awarded to the team which has the higher total value of cards in its tricks. Card values are as follows:
each ace -> 4
each king -> 3
each queen -> 2
each jack -> 1
each ten -> 10
The total value of all the cards in the deck is 80, and whichever side has the higher total in its tricks gets the point for game. In case of a tie, no one gets this point.
Bidding
There is just one round of bidding. The minimum bid is two; the maximum is the total number of points available - either ten or seven, depending on whether you count the trey of trumps. The dealer is not allowed to "steal the bid".
The Discard
If playing six-handed, the bid winner picks up the six cards from the "widow" and declares the trump suit. All players then discard down to six playing cards. The bid winner then starts the play.
If playing four-handed, the bidder declares the trump suit and then all players are allowed to discard from 0 to 3 cards, and receive an equal number of replacement cards from the deck (if sufficient are available), bringing their hands back to nine cards. All players then discard down to six cards. Some play without the discard and draw feature - the players simply each discard three cards. The bid winner then starts the play.
The Play
Some play that the bidder's first lead must be a trump; others play that anything can be led.
Players must either follow suit or trump unless unable to do either, in which case they can play anything.
Scoring
The scoring and conditions for winning the game are the same as in the basic game, except that there is no 'smudge'.