NeuralPlay · Rules & Help

Pitch Help

Learn bidding and play, explore popular variations, and match your preferred rules.

Pitch Rules

Pitch is played with 4 players. The default rules are described here. See Rule Options for the many supported variations.

Pitch uses a standard 52-card deck. You form a team with the player sitting across from you. The game is played as a series of hands, with each team accumulating points from hand to hand. Under the default rules, up to 4 points are available in 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. The deal then rotates clockwise after each hand. Each player is dealt 6 cards. The remaining 28 cards are not used in that hand.

Bidding

The player who makes the highest bid wins the bidding and becomes the maker, also called the pitcher. The maker chooses the trump suit and leads the first trick. The maker's team must capture at least the number of points bid.

Bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise. Each player bids the number of points they expect their team to capture in the hand, or passes. The first bidder may bid the minimum of 2 or pass. Each later player must make a higher bid or pass. If the first three players pass, the dealer must make a non-pass bid.

Play

The hand consists of 6 tricks. Each trick contains 4 cards, 1 card from each player. The player who plays the first card is the leader, and the suit of that card is the suit led. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick unless a trump card is played; in that case, the highest trump wins.

Cards rank from low to high as follows.

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A.

The maker leads the first trick and must lead a trump card. Play proceeds clockwise, with each player playing one card. A player who holds the suit led may play either that suit or trump. A player who does not hold the suit led may play any card.

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.

Scoring

After all tricks have been played, the captured cards determine the score. Under the default rules, 4 points are available.

Game points are counted as follows.

Because 28 cards are not dealt, some scoring cards may be out of play. For example, if the jack of trump was not dealt, the jack point is not awarded.

If the maker's team captures at least the number of points bid, they score all the points they captured. If they capture fewer points than they bid, they are set and lose the number of points bid. In either case, the defenders score the points they captured.

The first team to reach 11 points wins the game.

Web Links

There are many helpful websites discussing Pitch. Here are a few we found especially useful.

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.

Preset options are included for the following game rules.

Learning Features

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

Rule Options

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

NeuralPlay Pitch offers many popular rule options so you can customize the game to your liking. Options include the following.

Dealing

Bidding

Discarding

Playing

Scoring

Game Over

Computer Players

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

The computer players use different AI methods depending on the level. Levels 1 and 2 use simple methods designed for beginners.

Level 3 uses a rule-based AI. Its rules include examples such as "In third seat, do not trump partner's high card" and "In fourth seat, play just high enough to take the trick when an opponent is winning." These rules provide consistent, logical play.

Levels 4 through 6 use Monte Carlo simulation to determine the best play. The AI deals the unknown cards randomly, tries each legal play, and plays the hand to the end to get a result. This is repeated for many possible deals. The average result for each legal play is computed, and the play with the best average result is chosen.

Levels 4 through 6 differ in how many possible deals they simulate. In general, more simulations produce more accurate estimates and better play. The tradeoff is that more simulations take more time, so level 6 may play more slowly than level 4, depending on the device.

Because levels 4 through 6 do not follow a fixed set of rules, you may observe either surprisingly good plays or odd mistakes that do not appear logical. Overall, our tests show that these levels play better than the rule-based level 3. The randomness also makes the computer players feel more human and less predictable.

If you prefer more consistent, logical, and predictable computer partners or opponents, level 3 may be best.

Whichever level you choose, you may adjust bidding aggressiveness. For individual control, choose Custom, which provides separate settings for North, East, South, and West. For each seat, you may adjust play thinking, bid thinking, and bidding aggressiveness. South's custom settings control the strength of the hints you receive.

We are continuing to research and develop improvements to the computer players.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I change the hand sorting?

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

How do I reset my game settings to the defaults?

Go to the main screen and choose Menu → Reset.

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

These are the player positions around the table. You are always South. In partnership games, North is your partner and West and East are your opponents.

What does "claim" mean?

Claiming means that you or your team expect to take all the remaining tricks. When your hand is clearly high, you may claim to speed up play. The AI checks the claim; if it succeeds, the remaining tricks are awarded and the hand ends.

How do I contact NeuralPlay with suggestions and feedback?

Please contact us at support@neuralplay.com.