OBJECTIVE OF PARTNER PITCH: The objective of Partner Pitch is to reach a score of 21.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 Players
MATERIALS: A Standard 52-card deck, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.
TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game
AUDIENCE: Adult
OVERVIEW OF PARTNER PITCH
Partner Pitch is a trick-taking card game for 4 players. The goal is for your team to reach a score of 21 before your opponents.
This game is played with partnerships. Teammates will sit across from each other and share a score for the game.
SETUP
The first dealer is chosen at random and passes to the left for each new deal.
This deck is shuffled and dealt out each player receiving 6 cards.
Card Rankings and Point Values
The suits are ranked Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low).
For bidding, there are points awarded to players who win certain cards or meet certain criteria during the game
There is scoring for high, low, game, and jack. High means the team that holds the highest trump in play scores 1 point. Low means the team that wins in a trick the lowest trump in play scores 1 point. The game point is awarded to whichever team scores the most points (discussed more below). Finally, the jack point is awarded to the team that wins the jack of trumps in a trick. There is a total of 4 possible points to be won in a round.
For the game, point players tally their score based on the cards they won in tricks. Each ace is worth 4 points, each king is worth 3, each queen is worth 2, each jack is worth 1, and each 10 is worth 10 points.
BIDDING
Once all players have received their hands the round of bidding can begin. The player on the dealer’s left will start and in turn, each player will bid higher than the previous or pass. Players bid on how many of the above points they must win in a round.
The minimum bid is 2 and the maximum bid is a bid of Smudge (or 5). Smudge requires that all four points above are won along with all 6 tricks as well.
If all other players pass the dealer must bid 2. The dealer may also steal the high bid by bidding the same as the highest current bid.
The bidding ends once all but one player passes, or a bid of smudge is made. The winner becomes the pitcher.
GAMEPLAY
The pitcher will lead to the first trick, and the suit of the card led will determine trump for the round. The following players may follow suit or play a trump. If they cannot follow suit, they may play a trump or any other card from their hand.
The trick is won by the highest-ranked trump, or if no trumps were played, the highest card of the suit led. The winner collects the cards from the trick and leads to the next trick a card of their choosing.
The round ends once all 6 tricks are played.
SCORING
Scoring happens after each round.
The pitcher will determine if they were successful in completing their bid. If they were successful, they score the number of points earned during the round (this may be more than they bid). If they were not successful, then the number bid is subtracted from their score. It is possible to have a negative score. The opposing team scores any points earned to their score as well.
It is only possible to win a bid of smudge if you receive all 4 points and win all 6 tricks, otherwise, the bid fails. You also cannot score 5 points for smudge unless you bid it, even if you complete all the needed criteria.
If the Jack of the trump suit was not dealt, then the point cannot be won.
END OF GAME
The game is played until a team reaches a score of 21 or more in a round where they successfully completed their bid. This team wins.
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what are the rules for a reneigh ?
Hi William, I am not sure what a reneigh is? Could you provide additional information about it?
This is like a game a played in the army. But you tried to keep the partner secret. You could bid to win all or none of the tricks (alone, no partner) the player who bid the highest number of tricks got to a) name who his partner was by naming a card and they decided which deck was trumps. If a player decided they could win all or none of the tricks. The other 3 players ganged up to block them.
Anyone have any ideas as to what its called?? I only know the army name and being Army, its very rude…
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Hi Jack, I don’t know the name of the game your specifically looking for but I did find a few games where your partner is kept secret until a card is revealed. here’s a few: Doppelkopf, Koenigsrufen, French Tarot, Bavarian Schafkopf, Sheepshead, Hungarian Tarokk, and Briscola. I hope this helps.