Pitch is a trick taking card game for 2 to 4 players, most often four in two partnerships, played with a standard 52 card deck. You bid for how many of four points you'll win in a hand (high, low, jack and game), the winning bidder leads a card that sets trumps, and in the partnership game the first team to 21 points after making its bid wins.
Pitch comes from the old English game All Fours. Bicycle dates All Fours to the 17th century and says it was once known to nearly every card playing American. Today it's a midwest family staple, and pagat.com says you'll also hear it called Setback or High Low Jack. Here's the four player partnership game, with notes on the cutthroat version Bicycle describes.
Players, the six card deal and card ranks
| What you need | Partnership pitch |
|---|---|
| Players | 4, in two teams, partners sitting opposite (Bicycle also covers 2 or 3 playing alone) |
| Deck | One standard 52 card deck |
| Card ranking | A (high), K, Q, J, 10 down to 2 |
| Cards each | 6, dealt three at a time |
| Points per hand | 4: high, low, jack and game |
| Winning score | 21 for partnerships, 7 in Bicycle's cutthroat auction pitch |
The four points you're playing for
Every hand is a fight over four single points. Learn these and you've learned pitch.
| Point | Who scores it |
|---|---|
| High | The side holding the highest trump in play, usually the ace |
| Low | The side that wins the trick containing the lowest trump in play, usually the 2 |
| Jack | The side that wins the trick containing the jack of trumps. If it wasn't dealt, nobody scores it |
| Game | The side with the most card points in its tricks: ace 4, king 3, queen 2, jack 1, ten 10 |
Look at that game row again. The ten is worth 10 card points, more than any other card, even though it only ranks fifth in the trick play. Pagat.com puts the deck total at 80 card points, and a well timed ten usually decides who takes game. If both sides tie on card points, nobody gets it.
Bidding and stealing the bid
- Starting on the dealer's left, each player passes or bids once. The bids are two, three, four or smudge.
- Each bid must be higher than the one before, except for the dealer, who bids last and can steal the bid by matching the highest bid.
- If the first three players pass, the dealer must bid two. Pagat.com calls this a force bid.
- The winner of the bid is the pitcher.
Smudge is a bid to win all four points and all six tricks too. In Bicycle's auction pitch, smudge is simply a bid of four that nobody can take away from you, and a player who smudges and makes it wins the game on the spot, unless they're in the hole.
The pitch: how the first lead sets trumps
This is where the game gets its name. Nobody announces trumps. The pitcher leads a card to the first trick, and whatever suit that card is becomes trumps for the hand.
- The pitcher leads any card. Its suit is now trumps.
- Going clockwise, each player plays one card. If you hold the suit led, you must either follow suit or trump.
- Unlike most trick games, you can trump even when you could follow suit.
- If you have none of the suit led, you can play anything.
- The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if there's no trump in it. The winner leads next.
- After six tricks, award high, low, jack and game, then score the hand.
Getting set back and why it's called Setback
If the pitcher's side makes at least its bid, it scores every point it won. If it falls short, it's set back: the full bid comes off its score, while the other side still keeps whatever points it took. Scores can go below zero. Bicycle says a minus score is called being in the hole, and it's written on the sheet with a ring around it.
Here's the rule that surprises new players. Pagat.com explains that in partnership pitch you can only win at the end of a hand where your side made its bid. Reach 21 while defending and you keep playing. That means the winning team can finish with fewer points than the losers. Bicycle's cutthroat game has a similar tiebreak: if the pitcher and another player both reach 7 on the same hand, the pitcher wins.
Pitch variations and other names
- Setback and High Low Jack: other names for the same game.
- Draw: after trumps are set, everyone throws away cards they don't want and the dealer tops their hands back up to six.
- Ten point pitch: extra scoring cards like the off jack (the other jack of the same colour) and two jokers, often with nine cards dealt.
- Smear: a family of close relatives with their own rules.
- Pedro and Cinch: pitch with the five of trumps worth five points.
- Cutthroat pitch: no partners, everyone plays alone, which is the version most card books describe.
Pitch sits happily alongside Spades and Hearts in my roundup of trick taking card games, and if your group wants a lighter warm up first, my guide to Crazy Eights takes two minutes to teach.
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My advice before you deal your first hand
Pitch suits groups who want something quicker than bridge with plenty of table talk. It's easy to learn in one hand and still has room to get clever. Agree two things before you start: whether you play with the draw, and whether low goes to whoever wins the 2 or whoever was dealt it, because tables split on that. The mistake to avoid is throwing your ten on a trick the other side is winning. That ten is your game point, so save it for a trick your partner already has under control.
For the rest of the series, see the Free Games to Play Offline and Online: Every Guide in One Place (2026).
Frequently asked questions
What are the four points in pitch?
High, low, jack and game. High is the top trump in play, low is the lowest trump, jack is the jack of trumps, and game goes to the side with the most card points in its tricks.
How do you choose trumps in pitch?
The player who wins the bid leads the first card, and the suit of that card becomes trumps for the hand.
What does smudge mean in pitch?
Smudge is a bid to win all four points and all six tricks. In Bicycle's auction pitch it's a bid of four that can't be taken away.
What score do you play pitch to?
Partnership pitch is usually played to 21, and you can only win on a hand where your side made its bid. Bicycle's cutthroat version is played to 7.
Is pitch the same as setback?
Yes. Pagat.com lists Setback and High Low Jack as other names for pitch.
