OBJECTIVE OF PAWNEE TEN POINT CALL YOUR PARTNER PITCH: The objective of Pawnee Ten Point Call Your Partner Pitch is to score the most points by winning bids.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 Players
MATERIALS: A standard 52-card decks, 2 jokers, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.
TYPE OF GAME: Trick-Taking Card Game
AUDIENCE: Adult
OVERVIEW OF PAWNEE TEN POINT CALL YOUR PARTNER PITCH
Pawnee Ten Point Call Your Partner Pitch is a 5-player trick-taking card game. The goal of the game is to score 42 points before your opponents.
This game is a variation of traditional Pitch, but I will discuss all the relevant rules below. For games similar please check out the rules for Pitch on our site.
SETUP
Before the game begins players should designate which joker will be the high joker and which will be the low joker.
The first dealer is chosen at random and passes to the left for each new deal. The deck is shuffled and dealt out each player receiving 10 card hands and 4 cards remaining in the center unrevealed. These four cards are called the widow and are used later.
Card Rankings and Scoring
The trump suit is ranked Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, off-Jack, high Joker, low joker, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (low). The other suits are the same except they do not have jokers. The off jack is the jack of the same color as the trump jack and is a part of the trump suit. It is not included in the ranking of the suit printed on it.
There are points awarded to players who win certain cards or meet certain criteria during the game. The cards that score points are the jack of trumps, off-jack of trumps, High and low jokers, and 10 of trumps. These all score the team who wins them in a trick 1 point each. The 3 of trumps if won in a trick scores the team 3 points.
There is also scoring for high and low. High means the team that holds the highest trump in play scores 1 point. Low means the team that holds the lowest trump in play scores 1 point.
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 points they can take in a round. The minimum bid is 5 and the dealer must bid 5 if all other players pass. The maximum bid is 10, also known as shoot for the moon. It can only be called if a player does not have a negative score.
Bidding ends either when all but one player passes, or if a bid of 10 is made.
After bidding the winner of the bid, also known as the bidder, calls for a card. this card decides the trump suit for the round, and the player who holds this specific card will be the bidder’s partner. The remaining players will form an opposing team.
After the bidder calls a card, they will pick up the widow. Now all players must discard down to 6 cards in hand. The called card must be played as the first card of the game and cannot be discarded. It is possible that the called card will be in the widow and the bidder will play alone against the four remaining players.
Point cards cannot be discarded but if a player has no other choice than the Ace, King, Queen, or two of trumps may be discarded. Any discarded trumps must be declared to all players.
GAMEPLAY
The called card must be the first card played. Play proceeds clockwise around the table. All players must play a trump. If you cannot play a trump, you must fold your hand. The player who played the highest trump wins the trick and leads a trump to the next trick. Play continues until all 10 tricks are played or until no players have any trumps left to play.
SCORING
Scoring happens after each round. Players will determine which if any of the additional points they will be awarded. If the bidder completed their bid, then their team each earn as many points as tricks they won, which can be more than they bid. If they did not complete the bid though, they will lose however many points they bid. The opposing players always score 1 point for each trick they won.
A successful bid of shoot the moon automatically wins the game for the bidding player, but not their teammate.
Each player keeps an independent score. Scores can be negative.
END OF GAME
The game is played until a player reaches 42 points. They are the winner.
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