PITCH WITH FIVES

Hey there, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood card player. Today, I want to tell you all about a cool game called Pitch with Fives. It’s a game for four players, and we split up into two teams of two. You and your teammate will sit across from each other, like partners in crime.

So, what’s the goal of the game, you ask? Simple – it’s all about getting to 31 points. You and your partner will bid on how many tricks you think you can win in each round, and if you’re right, you’ll score some sweet point cards. Keep in mind, some folks call this game Catch Five, just so you know.

SETUP

Alright, let’s get the show on the road. The first dealer is chosen randomly (no funny business, now) and they pass the deck to the left after each round. The dealer will shuffle up the deck and then deal each player a hand of six cards – three cards at a time. Now we’re ready to start the bidding round, so let’s get into it, shall we?

Card Rankings and Values

Hey there! Let’s talk about Pitch with Fives rankings. In this game, we have two rankings – one for the trump suit and one for the non-trump suits. Exciting, isn’t it? The best part is that the trump suit can change with each round, adding a little mystery to the game.

Now, let’s dive into the rankings. When it comes to the trump suit, the Ace takes the crown as the highest card. Following closely behind, we have the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and finally, holding the lowest rank, the 2.

The other suits, though not as fancy as the trump suit, also have their own ranking. Just like the trump suit, the Ace is at the top, ruling with its high value. Then we have the King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3, all following suit.

But wait, there’s more! Pitch with Fives has a scoring system too. Only the cards from the trump suit can earn you points. Let’s break it down:

• The Ace of trump is worth 1 point.
• The Jack of trump is also worth 1 point.
• The Ten of trump carries 1 point as well. And hey, don’t forget about…
• The Five of trump! This special card is worth a whopping 5 points!
• And finally, we have the 2 of trumps, worth 1 point.

Now, when it comes to scoring, the players who win the Ace, Jack, Ten, and Five cards in tricks get to celebrate! They earn those points for their hard-fought victories. On the other hand, the lucky players who were dealt the 2 of trumps right at the beginning of the game also get to score some points.

So, that about wraps it up! Pitch with Fives is a game of strategy and luck, filled with exciting card rankings and a thrilling scoring system. Are you ready to give it a try?

BIDDING

Let’s talk about bidding. It’s a crucial part of the game that determines who gets to call the trump suit. The bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer. At this point, they have two options: they can either make a bid or pass.

If a player decides to bid, they must offer a higher bid than the previous one. The minimum bid is 2. Keep in mind that the bid represents the player’s desire to win the opportunity to call the trump suit.

If all three players before the dealer pass, the dealer is obliged to make a bid of at least 2. However, the dealer has an advantage – they can always snatch the highest bid and take control of the game.

Once the bidding is over and a winner emerges, they have the honor of calling the trump suit for the round. After that, each player must discard all their non-trump cards face down. Then, the dealer distributes enough cards to every player, including themselves, to replenish their hands to 6 cards. If a player already has 6 cards, no additional cards are dealt to them.

GAMEPLAY

When we play in a team, our goal is to win the tricks that have the valuable point cards. But here’s the catch: if my team wins the bid, we have to make sure we win at least the same number of tricks that we bid in order to score our point cards.

Starting the game is easy – the player who won the bidding round gets to kick things off. Then, we take turns playing our cards clockwise. The starting player can choose any card to lead. As for the rest of us, we have to follow suit if we have cards of the same suit. But if we don’t have a card that matches, we can play a trump card or any other card we like. The winner of each trick is determined by either the highest trump card played or, if trump isn’t used, the highest-ranked card of the suit led. And the winner of each trick gets to lead the next one.

Here’s How We Score

Once all the tricks have been played, it’s time to tally up our scores. Even if our team didn’t win the bid, we still get points based on the cards we collected. So, it doesn’t matter whether the other team successfully completed their bid or not – we still score points for our own cards.

If we manage to complete our bid, we will earn all the points we scored during the tricks. However, if we fail to complete our bid, we will lose the same number of points that we won in those tricks.

GAME OVER

Throughout multiple rounds, teams keep track of their scores, and the first team to reach 31 points emerges victorious.

Throughout multiple rounds, teams keep track of their scores, and the first team to reach 31 points emerges victorious.