Get Ready for Some Pitch with Fives Fun!

Hey there! Let me introduce you to an awesome card game called Pitch with Fives. It’s perfect for four players, and you’ll split into two teams of two, with your teammate sitting right across from you.

In this game, the goal is simple. You want to reach 31 points before the other team does. How do you do it? Well, it’s all about bidding and winning tricks with special point cards.

Some people also call this game Catch Five. Cool, huh?

First Things First: Setting Up

To get started, we need a dealer. Just pick one randomly, and make sure to switch dealers after each round. The dealer will be in charge of shuffling the deck and dealing out the cards. Each player gets six cards, and they’re dealt in sets of three. Once the dealing is done, it’s time to start bidding!

Understanding Card Rankings and Values

Hey there, let’s talk about Pitch with Fives. This game has two rankings: one for the trump suit and another for non-trump suits. And guess what? The trump suit can change each round, so the rankings can change too.

When it comes to the trump suit, we have Ace at the top (that’s the highest), followed by King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 (the lowest of the low). Now, the other suits also follow the same ranking, starting with Ace at the top.

But there’s more! In Pitch with Fives, only the cards from the trump suit have points. The Ace of trump is worth 1 point, the jack of trump is worth 1 point, the ten of trump is worth 1 point, the five of trump is worth 5 points, and the 2 of trumps is worth 1 point.

Now, let’s talk about scoring. The players who win the cards in tricks will get points for the Ace, Jack, 10, and 5s. But here’s the twist: the player who was dealt the 2 at the start of the game gets the points for that card. So, it’s all about strategy and making the right moves to win those points!

Let’s Talk About Bidding

When we start the bidding, the first person to go is the player on the left side of the dealer. They have two choices: they can either make a bid or pass. If they decide to bid, they have to offer a higher number than the previous bid. The lowest bid you can make is 2. The purpose of the bid is to win the chance to choose the trump suit, which is important in the game.

If all three players before the dealer pass, then the dealer must make a bid of at least 2. But here’s an interesting twist – the dealer can steal the bid from any other player by making the highest bid.

Once the bidding is over, the player who won the bid gets to call the trump suit. After that, each player gets rid of all their non-trump cards by placing them face down. The dealer then deals cards to all the players, including themselves, to make sure everyone has 6 cards in their hand. If a player already has 6 cards, they don’t get any more cards.

Now Let’s Talk About Gameplay

When my team plays our game, our goal is to win the tricks that have the point cards. We have to be strategic and make sure we win at least the number of tricks we bid. That’s how we earn points for our cards.

Whoever wins the bidding round gets to start the game. It’s exciting because it could be any one of us. We take turns clockwise, starting with the winner. They get to choose any card they want to play. The rest of us have to follow suit if we can, but if we can’t, we can play a trump card or any other card we like. The trick is won by the player who plays the highest trump card, or if there are no trumps, the highest ranked card of the suit led. The winner of the trick then gets to lead the next one.

SCORING

When all the tricks have been played, we tally up our scores. Even if our team didn’t win the bid, we still get points for the cards we have. It doesn’t matter if the other team completed their bid or not, we still get those points.

If I manage to complete my bid, I get to keep all the points I won during the tricks. But if I don’t complete my bid, I’ll lose the same amount of points I won in the tricks. It’s a risky situation!

The Game Ends

Throughout multiple rounds, teams keep adding up their scores. The team that reaches 31 points first wins the game. It’s a thrilling race to the finish line!

Throughout multiple rounds, teams keep adding up their scores. The team that reaches 31 points first wins the game. It’s a thrilling race to the finish line!