Pitch Help

Help is organized in the following sections.

• Pitch Rules
• Preset Game Rules
• Learning Features
• Rule Options
• Computer Players
• Frequently Asked Questions

Pitch Rules

Pitch is played with 4 players. The default rules are described here. Rule options are described in the following section.

Pitch makes use of the standard 52 card deck. The play is broken down into hands. Hands are played until the game is over. You form a team with the player across from you and accumulate points from each hand played. There are up to 4 points possible for each hand.

Each hand consists of four stages: dealing, bidding, playing, and scoring.

Dealing

At the start of the game, the dealer is chosen randomly. From then on, the deal rotates clockwise until the game ends. Each player is dealt 6 cards, the remaining 28 cards are not in play for the hand.

Bidding

The player who bids the highest wins the bidding and is the maker. The maker will choose the trump suit and make the first lead however the maker's team is required to take at least the amount of points bid. Bidding begins with the player to the left of the dealer and rotates clockwise. Each player either bids the number of points they expect their team can capture this hand or may pass. The first bidder may bid the minimum bid of 2 or pass. The players to follow must either bid greater than any previous bid (at least the minimum bid) or pass. The exception is the dealer, when the bidding reaches the dealer. If no one has bid the dealer must make a non-pass bid.

Play

The play consists of 6 tricks, with each trick consisting of 4 cards, 1 card from each player. For each trick, there is a leader, a suit led, and a winner. The leader is the player who played the first card. The suit led is the suit of the card played by the leader. The winner of the trick is determined by the best card played of the suit led. However, if a trump card was played on the trick, then the winner is determined by the best trump card played.

The maker leads first and must lead a card from the trump suit. Play continues clockwise to the left with each player playing a card in turn. Players may play either the suit led or the trump suit if they have the suit led. If the player does not have the suit led, any card may be played.

After each player has played a card on the trick, the winning player takes the trick and places it aside until the scoring stage. This player is the leader of the next trick. Play continues until players have no cards left in their hands.

The best card in a given suit is determined by the rank of the card. Here are the card rankings in increasing order.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K, and A.

Scoring

After the hand has been played out, cards captured by the teams determine the points awarded as follows. There are 4 points possible.

• 1 point for capturing the highest trump.
• 1 point for capturing the jack of trump.
• 1 point for capturing the lowest trump.
• 1 point for capturing the most game points (on ties the game point is not awarded).

Game points are counted as follows.

• Ace - 4 points
• King - 3 points
• Queen - 2 points
• Jack - 1 points
• Ten - 10 points

Some cards may not be in play. If the jack of trump was not dealt to any player then there will not be a point awarded for the jack of trump for the hand.

If the maker's team scores points greater than or equal to their bid they receive the points scored. If they scored fewer points than their bid, they receive minus their bid. In any case, the defending team receives the amount of points they scored.

The first team to reach a total score of 11 points wins the game.

Web links

There are many helpful web sites discussing Pitch. Here are a few we found helpful.

• Wikipedia
• Bicycle Cards
• Pagat.com

Preset Game Rules

Pitch can be played with many different rule options. We have included some preset rules to show some of the variety. See Rule Options to customize the rules.

We have preset options for the following game rules.

• Team auction. The standard pitch rules with teams and bidding. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack and game.
• Team auction II. Like team auction except that low point is awarded to the original owner of the low trump card.
• Solo auction. The standard pitch rules with bidding and each player competing individually. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack and game.
• Team. The standard pitch rules with teams but without bidding. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack and game.
• Solo. The standard pitch rules without teams and without bidding. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack and game.
• Team auction (5 point). The standard pitch rules with teams and bidding. The off-jack (jack of the same color as trump) becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, and game.
• Team auction (6 point). The standard pitch rules with teams and bidding. The off-jack becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. A joker is added to the deck and ranks below between the 10 and off-jack. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, joker, and game.
• Team auction (7 point). The off-jack becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. Two jokers are added to the deck. Nine cards are initially dealt and players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding. Players are dealt additional cards to give them six cards in the hand before play. The minimum bid is 3 and the game ends at 21 points. The winning team must take the final bid to win. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, jokers, and the ten of trump.
• Team auction (9 point). The five of trump is valued at 5 points. Nine cards are initially dealt and players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding. Players are dealt additional cards to give them six cards in the hand before play. The minimum bid is 3 and the game ends at 31 points. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, game, and the five of trump.
• Team auction (10 point). The off-jack becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. Two jokers are added to the deck. The three of trump is valued at 3 points and the ten of trump is valued at 1 points instead of game. Nine cards are initially dealt and players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding. Players are dealt additional cards to give them six cards in the hand before play. The low point goes to player who plays the card (not captures it). The minimum bid is 5 and the game ends at 32 points. The winning team must take the final bid to win. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, jokers, three of trump, and ten of trump.
• Team auction (11 point). The off-jack becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. Two jokers are added to the deck. The three of trump is valued at 3 points and the ten of trump is valued at 1 points instead of game. The off-ace becomes trump and ranks below the ace of trump. Nine cards are initially dealt and players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding. Players are dealt additional cards to give them six cards in the hand before play. The low point goes to player who plays the card (not captures it). The minimum bid is 5 and the game ends at 52 points. The winning team must take the final bid to win. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, jokers, off-ace, three of trump, and ten of trump.
• Team auction (13 point). The off-jack becomes trump and ranks below the jack of trump. Two jokers are added to the deck. The three of trump is valued at 3 points and the ten of trump is valued at 1 points instead of game. The off-three is worth 3 points, becomes trump, and ranks below the three of trump. Nine cards are initially dealt and players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding. Players are dealt additional cards to give them six cards in the hand before play. The low point goes to player who plays the card (not captures it). The minimum bid is 5 and the game ends at 52 points. The winning team must take the final bid to win. Points are awarded for capturing high, low, jack, off-jack, jokers, three of trump, off-three, and ten of trump.
• Arizona 29-card (5 point). Played with a 29-card deck consisting of a joker and ranks 6, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. The joker ranks between the ten and jack of trump. Points are awarded for low, high, jack, joker, and game. The game ends at 11 points. When both teams are reach 11 points the last declaring team wins.
• Smear (4 point, teams). Played with a 32-card deck consisting of ranks 7 to A. 6 cards are dealt to each player, and 3 cards are dealt to a kitty. The low point goes to the original owner of low. Game over at 15 points.
• Smear (5 point, teams). Played with a 28-card deck consisting of ranks 2, 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A. 6 cards are dealt to each player. Points are awarded for low, high, jack, off-jack, and game. The off-jack ranks between the ten and jack of trump. The low point goes to the original owner of low. Bidding continues until three players have passed, there may be multiple rounds of bidding. Once a player has passed, the player may not reenter the bidding. The game is over at 12 points.
• Smear (10 point, teams). Ten cards are initially dealt. Except for the maker, players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding, their hands are then refilled to 6 cards from the stock. The maker then receives all the cards remaining in the stock and discards down to 6 cards. There are 10 points in a round: high (ace), low (two), jack, game, off-jack, two jokers, and the three of trump (worth 3 points). The low point goes to player who plays the card (not captures it). The minimum bid is 4. The game ends at 52 points.
• Nine-five (18 point). Nine cards are initially dealt. The minimum bid is 4. Except for the dealer, players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding, their hands are then refilled to 6 cards from the stock. The dealer then receives all the cards remaining in the stock and discards down to 6 cards. There are 18 points in a round: high (ace), low (two), jack, game, the five of trump, and the nine of trump. The 9 and 5 of trump are worth 9 and 5 points respectively. Low point goes the player who plays the card. The game ends at 100 points.
• Nine-five (Connecticut). Based on the Nine-five rules above. The differences are: 6 cards are initially dealt; players discard all nontrump and refill to 6 cards; the dealer does not receive the stock; the minimum bid is 9; a player with a 9 and 2+ cards in a suit must bid 9 or more when no other player has bid; and the player to the left of the maker leads initially and may lead any suit.
• Pedro (14 point, teams). Nine cards are initially dealt. Except for the dealer, players must discard all nontrump cards after the bidding, their hands are then refilled to 6 cards from the stock. The dealer then receives all the cards remaining in the stock and discards down to 6 cards. There are 14 points in a round: high (ace), low (two), jack, ten of trump, five of trump, and the off-five (same color as trump, ranks just below the five of trump). The 5 and off-5 are worth 5 points each. The low point goes to player who plays the card (not captures it). The minimum bid is 6. On the initial lead, any suit may be led. The game ends at 62 points.
• Pidro (14 point, teams). Like Pedro, however only trump cards are played. A player that runs out of trump sits out and does not participate in the play.
• King Pedro (44 point, teams). There are 44 points in a round. The high, low (goes to the original owner), jack, and ten are worth 1 point each. The 5 and off-5 are worth 5 points each. The king is worth 30 points. 12 cards are initially dealt. The minimum bid is 30. The player to the left of the dealer begins the bidding and the bidding proceeds clockwise until all players have passed. Once a player has passed, the player may not reenter the bidding. The winning bidder receives the kitty. All players discard nontrump cards down to 6 cards. The winning bidder leads and may lead any suit. The game ends at 200 points, the winning team must make the last bid to win.
• Sixty-three (63 point, teams). There are 63 points in a round. The high, low (goes to the capturer), jack, and ten are worth 1 point each. The king is worth 25 points; the 3 is worth 15 points; the 9 is worth 9 points; and the 5 and off-5 are each worth 5 points. 9 cards are initially dealt. The minimum bid is 30. The player to the left of the dealer begins the bidding and the bidding proceeds clockwise until all players have passed. Once a player has passed, the player may not reenter the bidding. All players except the dealer discard nontrump cards down to 6 cards. The dealer receives the stock and discards nontrump cards down to 6 cards. The winning bidder leads and may lead any suit. The game ends at 152 points.
• Eighty-three (683 point, teams). There are 83 points in a round. The high, low (goes to the capturer), jack, and ten are worth 1 point each. The king is worth 25 points; queen is 20 points; the 3 is 15 points; the 9 is 9 points; and the 5 and off-5 are each worth 5 points. 12 cards are initially dealt and the remaining cards are placed in the kitty. The minimum bid is 30. The player to the left of the dealer begins the bidding and the bidding proceeds clockwise until all players have passed. Once a player has passed, the player may not reenter the bidding. The winning bidder receives the kitty then declarers trump. All players discard nontrump cards down to 6 cards. The winning bidder leads and may lead any suit. The game ends at 200 points.
• High Nine (25 point, teams). Nine cards are dealt to each player. The 9 and off-9 are each worth 9 points. The high, low, jack, off-jack, ten, and two jokers are worth one point each. Bidding continues until three players have passed. Once a player has passed, the player may not reenter the bidding. A player may shoot bid to shoot the moon, failure results in the loss of the game. The winning bidder declarers trump. Other than the bidder, the players discard all nontrump and their hands are refilled up to 6 cards. The bidder receives the remaining stock and discards down to 6 cards. The bidder begins the play by leading any card. Players must follow suit, when they do not have the suit led, any card may be played. The game ends at 52 points.

Learning Features

NeuralPlay Pitch offers many features to help you learn and improve your play. These features may be enabled, disabled, and/or adjusted in settings. The features include the following.

• Hints. By default the AI will show you a hint when you ask for one. In settings, you may ask the AI to always show you a hint. Or, you may ask the AI to check your bid or play and show you a hint only when it differs from yours.
• AI points estimate. When enabled, the AI will show an estimate of the number of points that will be scored for each legal play. This is an estimate of the expected value of each legal play, averaged across many simulation results. Note that the AI suggested play may not be the estimate resulting the most points or the play suggested by the AI. This may be due to strategic considerations or noise.
• Card counter. When enabled, a card counter of the cards that have been played during play will be shown.
• Analyze bid. When enabled, an "Analyze" button will be shown during the bidding. Tap the button and enter a bid to get an estimate of the chance of the bid making. See settings to enable.

Rule Options

Many different variations of Pitch are played around the world. The default variation offered by NeuralPlay Pitch is also known as Auction Pitch.

NeuralPlay's Pitch offers many popular rule options for you to customize the game to your liking. Options include the following.

Dealing

• Remove cards from deck. Optionally, remove some cards to make a smaller deck. Many options are supported. Options range from removing cards of ranks 2-8, cards of ranks 3-4, or just cards of rank 10.
• Number of cards. Choose to deal from 5 to 13 cards initially to each player.
• Kitty. Optionally play with a kitty with 2 to 6 cards that goes to the maker.

Bidding

• Bidding. By default bidding is a single round where each player, starting from the left of the dealer bids once. When bidding is disabled, the player to the left of the dealer will choose the trump suit. You may also choose to allow multiple rounds of bidding. In this case, bidding continues until all players have passed. Once a player passed, the player may not reenter the bidding.
• Stick the dealer. Choose to make the dealer bid when all other players have passed. Optionally allow the dealer to take a set for the minimum bid instead of bidding.
• Dealer can steal. Choose whether or not the dealer may bid the same as the current bid to steal the bid. If the dealer may steal, choose whether this applies to all bids or only the maximum bid.
• Minimum bid. Set the minimum required bid.
• Shooting the moon. Shooting the moon comes in several variants.
  • An extra point is awarded for taking all the tricks and all points (known as a smudge bid, for 4-point pitch the maximum bid will become 5 and bidding 5 is an attempt to shoot the moon).
  • Shooting the moon may be an instant win (when the shooter's score is not negative). The player must bid and make the maximum bid but not necessarily take all the tricks. When the shooter's score is negative the bid points will be added to the score and play will continue.
  • Shooting the moon is be worth game points. Success awards game points, but the penalty for failure is the loss of game points. The player must bid and make the maximum bid but not necessarily take all the tricks.
• Shoot the moon bid. When shooting the moon is enabled the shooting the moon bid may be either the maximum bid or a separate bid above the maximum bid. When playing with an extra point awarded, the shooting the moon bid is always the maximum bid.
• Shoot the moon discarding. When shooting the moon is enabled and the rules allow for discarding, discarding may be disabled for shoot the moon contracts.
• Shoot the moon failure. When shooting the moon is enabled failure may be either an instant loss of the game or the point value of the bid will be subtracted from the score.
• Need suit to choose it. Require a player to have the suit in hand to declare it as trump.
• Misdeal. Choose to allow a player to declare a misdeal when dealt only low ranked cards. The cards will be redealt. Options for low ranked include: ranks 2-10; ranks 2-9; ranks 3-9; and ranks 4-9.
• Dealer can run it. When it is the dealer's turn to bid, the dealer has the option to 'run it'. When run it is chosen, 3 more cards are dealt to each player and the bidding continues for another round, starting with the player to the left of the dealer. Players must bid higher than the previous bid or pass, except for the dealer. The dealer may not pass if all other players pass.
• When a player has a 9 and 2+ cards in a suit, the player's minimum bid is 9. The player does not have to bid if the bidding has already reached 9. The 9 of trump must be valued at 9 points to enable this option. This rule is used for some nine-five game variations.

Discarding

• Discarding. Choose whether or not players may discard cards after trump is determined. Discarded cards are replaced with new cards from the deck as necessary to give all players a full six-card hand. Cards are dealt clockwise, the left of the dealer receiving cards first. In the rare case that the remaining cards in the deck are not enough to replace all discarded cards, the discarded cards will be shuffled and dealt. When discarding is permitted, choose from the following.
  • Must discard all nontrump cards.
  • May choose from nontrump cards.
  • May choose from all cards.
  • May choose from nontrump cards discarding down to 6 cards, when a player has more than 6 trump cards, trump may be discarded.
• Refilling. The default is to refill to 6 cards after all players discard. Instead of all players discarding and refilling, choose to have either the dealer or the maker receive all cards from the stock and discard down to 6 cards after the other players have discarded and refilled.
• Discarding trump point cards. Choose to either allow or disallow discarding trump point cards.
• Maximum allowed discards. Optionally limit the number of cards a player may discard.

Playing

• Initial leader. The maker (pitcher) most commonly makes the initial lead. Optionally have the player to the left of the maker lead initially.
• Leading. Choose from: the initial lead must be trump; any suit may be led anytime; and trump may not be led until broken.
• Following suit. Choose from:
  • One may follow with the suit led or trump, and may play any card when void.
  • One may follow with the suit led or trump, and must trump when void, else may play any card.
  • One must follow with the suit led, and may play any card when void.
  • One must follow with the suit led, must trump when void, else may play any card.
• Play with trump only. Players must lead and follow with trump. A player that runs out of trump sits out and does not participate in the play for the rest of the hand. The hand will finish when all trump have been played.
• First joker played is high. By default, the red joker is higher than the black joker. When first joker played is high is enabled, the jokers are the same rank. The first joker played on the trick is higher than the second joker.
• Finish hand early when all points taken. Choose to skip playing the remaining tricks when the score is determined.

Scoring

• Partnership. Choose whether or not to play in a team with the player across from you.
• Junk points. The defending team also scores points taken.
• Maker scores bid only. The maker receives only the bid points when the bid is made. Points taken over the bid will not be received.
• Low point. Choose whether the point for low trump goes to the capturer or the player who played the low trump.
• Jokers. You may play with zero, one, or two jokers in the deck. Jokers are trump ranked below the jack. Jokers are worth one point each. The red joker is ranked higher than the black joker. When playing with one joker, you may choose to have it ranked below the two in the trump suit. It counts as a point but is ignored when determining the low point.
• Off-jack. Choose whether or not to make the off-jack trump and worth one point. The off-jack is the jack of the same color as the trump suit (if trump is diamonds, the jack of hearts is the off-jack). When trump, the off-jack is placed in the trump suit and ranks just below the jack of trump.
• 3 of trump. Choose whether or not to make the 3 of trump and worth 3 points.
• 5 of trump. Choose whether or not to make the 5 of trump and worth 5 points.
• 9 of trump. Choose whether or not to make the 9 of trump and worth 9 points.
• Game or 10 of trump. Choose whether a point is awarded for game; for the 10 of trump; or neither the 10 of trump nor game. When a point is awarded for game and there is bidding, the game point may either be awarded to the bidder on ties or not awarded. When there is no bidding the game point is not awarded when there is a tie.
• Off-ace. Choose whether or not to make the off-ace trump and worth one point. The off-ace is the ace of the same color as the trump suit (if trump is diamonds, the ace of hearts is the off-ace). When trump, the off-ace is placed in the trump suit and ranks just below the ace of trump.
• Off-3. Choose whether or not to make the off-3 trump and worth 3 points. The off-3 is the 3 of the same color as the trump suit (if trump is diamonds, the 3 of hearts is the off-3). When trump, the off-3 is placed in the trump suit and ranks just below the 3 of trump.
• Off-5. Choose whether or not to make the off-5 trump and worth 5 points. The off-5 is the 5 of the same color as the trump suit (if trump is diamonds, the 5 of hearts is the off-5). When trump, the off-5 is placed in the trump suit and ranks just below the 5 of trump.
• Off-9. Choose whether or not to make the off-9 trump and worth 9 points. The off-9 is the 9 of the same color as the trump suit (if trump is diamonds, the 9 of hearts is the off-9). When trump, the off-9 is placed in the trump suit and ranks just below the 9 of trump.
• Last trick. Choose whether or not a point is awarded for the last trick.
• Taking all tricks give the opponents -1 points. Choose to give the opponents -1 points when a team or player takes all the tricks.
• On failure to make the bid. The default is minus the bid points. You may choose to double this penalty.

Game over

• Game over. Choose whether the game ends at a predetermined number of points or after a certain number of hands.
• On reaching game over. Choose from the following.
  • Highest score wins. When multiple players reach the game over score, there may be a tie.
  • Must bid to win. The winner must make the last bid of the game in addition to reaching winning points.
  • Must bid or set to win. The winner must make the last bid of the game or set an opponent in addition to reaching winning points.
  • Must bid to win, no junk points. Junk points are scored up to the game score minus one. Suppose game over is 11 and a team has 7. If the team bids 2 and scores 4, the team total score becomes 10. Defenders also score junk points only up to game minus one.
  • Both over: makers win. For team games, when both teams reach the game score, the team that bid last wins. The winning team may have the lower score and win.
  • Ties: makers win. For team games, when both teams reach the game score and there is a tie, the team that bid last wins.
  • Score points in order. To resolve ties, the points are awarded in the order: maker, high, low, etc. The points are awarded in order while checking for the game score. The first player or team to reach game over points wins.
• Must win by two points. The winner must be ahead by two points in addition to reaching winning points.
• Set limit to game over. Choose to end the game when a team is set 2, 3, 4, or 5 times. The team that reaches the set limit loses regardless of the score.

Computer Players

NeuralPlay computer players offer 6 levels of play. Play at level 1 is reasonably easy and good for beginners. Play at level 3 should be fun for most players. Play at level 6 will be the most challenging.

The AI bots employ different AI methods depending on the level. Levels 1 and 2 use simple methods to provide an introduction to beginners. We will not describe them in detail here.

Level 3 uses a rule-based AI. The AI consists of rules such as: "In 3rd seat, do not trump partner's high card" and "In 4th seat, play just high enough to take it when an opponent is winning", etc. We find the rules work quite well and can provide good play.

Levels 4+ use Monte Carlo Simulation to determine the best play. Basically, the AI will deal out the unknown cards randomly. The AI will then try each legal play and play the deal to the end to get a result. This is repeated for many deals of the unknown cards. The average result for each legal play is computed and the legal play with the best average result is chosen.

Levels 4+ differ in how many times the unknown cards are dealt out. In general, the more deals the more accurate the simulation. This results in better quality plays. The trade-off is that more deals take more time, play may be slower on level 6 than level 4 depending on the device.

Since levels 4+ do not use rules, you may observe either surprisingly good plays or odd mistakes that may seem not to follow any logical rules. Overall, our tests show that the levels are better than the rule-based level 3. We also find the randomness makes the computer feel a bit more human-like and fun.

If you prefer a more consistent, logical, and predictable partner AI and/or opponent AI, then level 3 may be best.

We are continuing to research improvements and new computer AI algorithms. We continue to update the bots as we develop improved algorithms.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change the hand sorting?

See Settings -> Hand Sorting. You can change the rank order, suit order, and choose to alternate red and black suits.

How do I reset my game settings back to the original game settings?

Go to the Main Screen and choose Menu -> Reset.

What are North, South, East and West (and N, S, E, and W)?

These terms are used in bridge games. You are always South and your partner is always North. The terms You and South are used interchangeably.

What does claim mean?

Claim means you will take the remaining tricks. When your hand is clearly high, you may claim the remaining tricks to speed up play. If the claim is successful (the AI will check), you will receive the remaining tricks and the hand will end.

How do I contact NeuralPlay with suggestions and feedback?

Please contact us at support@neuralplay.com .