Pitch (card game)
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Pitch (card game) | |
---|---|
Alternate names | High-Low Jack, Setback |
Type | trick-taking |
Players | 2-4 |
Deck | 52-card |
Cards | Anglo-American |
Play | Clockwise |
Card rank (highest to lowest) |
A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
Origin | North America |
Related games | Smear, All-Fours |
Pitch is a card game played with a standard 52-card pack of playing cards. It may be played by three players (cutthroat) or by four players organized in teams of two. Pitch involves bidding and trick-taking. Pitch may involve betting or gambling of any sort. A very similar variation on Pitch is High-Low Jack.
Contents
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[edit] Rules of Pitch
[edit] General Rules
[edit] Dealing
One player deals each hand. The cards are dealt in 3-card batches to each player, such that the dealer distributes two sets of 3-card batches to each player. At the end of each hand, the dealer passes the cards to the player to his or her left. That player becomes the new dealer for that hand.
[edit] Card Rankings
Cards are ranked, from lowest to highest: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. A card of the trump suit of any rank outranks any card of another suit.
[edit] Scoring Categories
There are 10 possible scoring categories in Pitch, though all points may not be counted, depending on house rules.
High -- The highest ranked card of the trump suit among cards dealt in a hand is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.
Low -- The lowest ranked card of the trump suit among cards dealt in a hand is worth one point to the player or partnership dealt that card.
Jack -- The Jack of the trump suit is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.
Lone-Jack, sometimes called Loner -- The Jack of the same color as the trump suit. It is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.
Big Joker -- If one joker is placed in the deck, this joker is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile.
Little Joker -- If two jokers are placed in the deck, each joker is worth one point to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile. To distinguish, one joker is deemed the "big" joker and the other the "small" joker, unless the "first Joker played" rule is used. In some areas, particularly Nebraska, the first Joker played is considered to have the higher rank. If two Jokers are played on the same trick and no other higher card is played, the player who played the first Joker wins the trick.
The Three or The Trey -- The three of the trump suit is worth three points to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile. In some variants, like 13 point pitch, the off-trey is worth three points as well.
Game -- The player or partnership with the highest tally of "game points" in their scoring pile earns one point. Every Jack is worth one "game point," every Queen is worth two "game points," every King is worth three "game points," every Ace is worth four "game points," and every 10 is worth ten "game points." For example, if Team A has a 10 and a King (10 + 3 = 13 "game points") among the cards it has taken as tricks and Team B has three Jacks and two Aces (3x1 + 2x4 = 11 "game points") among cards it has taken as tricks, then Team A earns one point for Game. In case of a tie, either no point is awarded for Game. In some variations, the team who won the bid and selected trumps wins the point for Game in the event of a tie.
[edit] Three-player Pitch
[edit] Dealing and Bidding
In three-player Pitch, each player is independent of the other two players. No teams are formed. The dealer deals six cards to each player.*** Beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may bid for the privilege of declaring the trump suit for the hand. Valid bids are Pass, 2, 3, and 4 (some variants: Pass, 3, 4). The bid represents the number of points the player thinks he or she can earn that hand. If no bid has been made, the dealer must make the minimum bid (2 or 3) and declare the trump suit. The dealer may not pass if both other players have passed.
[edit] Declaring Trump
The player who made the high bid (the "making player") declares the trump suit. Trump is determined by the first card played by the making player. In some variants, beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may discard any number of cards from their hands and receive that many new cards from the dealer. (Typically, all cards of non-trump suits are discarded this way.)
[edit] Playing a Trick
Beginning with the making player and proceeding clockwise, players then play one card from their hand. Each pass around the table is called a "trick." The first player to play in a trick is called the "trick leader." The trick leader may play any card from his or her hand. Players following the trick leader must play according to the following rules:
1. A card of the trump suit may always be played.
2. If a player cannot or will not play a card of the trump suit, a card of the same suit as the card played by the trick leader must be played if possible.
3. If a player cannot or will not play a card of the trump suit and can not play a card of the same suit as the card played by the trick leader, then any card may be played.
After each player has played a card, then the player who played the highest ranking card of the trump suit wins the trick. If no cards of the trump suit were played, then the player who played the highest ranking card that shares the suit of the card played by the trick leader wins the trick. That player collects all cards played that trick into his or her scoring pile and becomes the trick leader for the next trick.
[edit] Scoring
After all six tricks of the hand have been played, players evaluate their scores for the hand as explained above. Three-player Pitch utilizes the High, Low, Jack, Off-Jack, Joker, Joker, The Three and Game scoring categories. If the making player failed to earn at least as many points as he or she bid, then the value of that player's bid is subtracted from his or her score. Otherwise, the making player adds to his or her score the number of points earned that hand. Each other player adds to their score the number of points earned that hand. Shooting the moon results in an automatic win if the player gets every trick, and high, low, jack, and game. If, however, the player does get it, he doesnt get any pie of any sort
[edit] Winning the Game
Play proceeds until one or more players has 11 points at the end of a hand. If the making player has 11 points at the end of a hand, that player wins the game, regardless of the other players' scores. If one or more non-making players have 11 points at the end of a hand, the player with the most points wins the game; in case of a tie, play continues until a clear winner is established.
In some variants, the game only ends when the making player's score reaches 11 or higher. That is, the game does not end when a non-making player's score reaches 11. This is often referred to as the "bid-to-go-out" or the "take and make" rule, since you must make your bid and reach 11 to win the game.
Another variation is that the game may be won by being the first to reach -11 points. However this feat is hard to achieve and so one should be careful if going in a negative direction.
[edit] Four-player Pitch
[edit] Dealing and Bidding
Players are organized into two teams. Players should sit at the table such that partners are sitting across from one another and not next to one another.
The cards are dealt as for three-player Pitch. And bidding proceeds as for three-player Pitch. A player is permitted to outbid his or her partner, and the dealer is allowed to take the highest bid on the table.
[edit] Declaring Trump
The player who made the high bid (the "making player") declares the trump suit. Trump is determined by the first card played by the making player. In some variants, beginning with the player to the dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, players may discard any number of cards from their hands and receive that many new cards from the dealer. (Typically, all cards of non-trump suits are discarded this way.)
[edit] Playing a Trick
Play proceeds as for three-player Pitch. Note that in four-player Pitch, players are playing as teams. All tricks won by players of the same team will be scored together. If a player's team mate has already played the highest ranking card in the trick, that player is not required (or encouraged!) to play a higher ranking card. Of course, if a player's only "legal" play, by the rules given above, is a card that outranks his or her team mate's card, then that player must play that card.
[edit] Scoring
Scoring piles are evaluated as for three-player Pitch except that teams are scored together.
[edit] Winning the Game
Play proceeds until one or more teams has 11 points at the end of a hand. If the making team has 11 points at the end of a hand, that team wins the game, regardless of the other team's score. If the non-making team has 11 points at the end of a hand and the making team does not, the non-making team wins the game. If two or more non-making teams reach 11 points at the end of a hand, the game will be awarded to the team who scores points in the following order: High card of trump, Low card of trump, Jack of trump, total game points.
In some variants, the game only ends when the making team's score reaches 11 or higher. That is, the game does not end when a non-making team's score reaches 11. This is often referred to as the "bid-to-go-out" rule, since a team must make their bid and reach 11 to win the game.
[edit] Variations
[edit] Five Point Bid
Regardless of the amount of players or by teams, a "Five Bid" can only be won if the bidder or his team wins every trick, and must include the jack. A perfect hand for this bid would be ace, king, queen, jack, ten and nine of trumps.
[edit] Five Card Bid
Five -- The 5 of the trump suit is worth five points to the player or partnership holding that card in their scoring pile. (Five is used only in four-player Pitch.) The cards are dealt as for three-player Pitch. Bidding proceeds as for three-player Pitch, except that valid bids are now Pass, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 (some variants: Pass, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.)
[edit] Nines-Fives Pitch
Nines-Fives pitch is another variant of pitch, played with two teams of two people each. The 5 of trump is worth five points and the 9 of trump is worth nine points. The rank of the suits is not changed.
Nine cards are dealt to each player. After the initial dealing, bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left. Players bid on the number of points that they will take, and can either pass, bid from 4-18, "smudge", or "blind smudge". A "smudge" bid means that the player believes that his/her team can take all six tricks and is awarded 19 points if they succeed. A "blind smudge" bid means that the player believes that his/her team can take all six tricks without looking at his/her initially dealt hand and is awarded 20 points if they succeed. The bidding continues in a circle until one person is the high bidder (once a player passes, they cannot re-enter the bidding). The dealer always has the option of matching an 18, "smudge", or "blind smudge bid".
The winning bidder declares the trump suit, and each player discards any non-trump cards (if a player is dealt more than six trump cards, he/she must discard down to six cards and show what trump cards are being discarded). After discarding, the dealer will deal each player back up to six total cards. The dealer is allowed to look at any remaining cards to bring his/her hand to six total cards (this ensures that all trump cards are in play); if not enough cards are remaining, the dealer is allowed to choose any discarded cards to bring his/her hand to six total cards.
Game play is normal with the 2 winning conditions: the first team to win a bid that brings them above 100 points or if a team reaches -100 points the other team is declared winner. (A variant to the scoring is that if a team reaches -200 points it is considered a "backdoor" and the game is a draw.)
[edit] High-Low Jack
High-Low Jack is another card game that is almost identical to Pitch. It is also referred to by the name of Setback in some parts of the Northeastern United States. However, the rules stay the same no matter how many players there are. It usually is not played without at least 4 players so that teams can be formed. The five of trump plays no significant role and is worth no game points. One largely superfluous and mostly traditional rule is that cards are dealt in threes when playing High-Low Jack. Thus, the deal gives three to the player to the left of the dealer, three to the next, and so on until every player has six cards. Also, cards are never exchanged once trump has been declared, no matter how many players there are. Trump is not announced; the highest bidder simply plays a card. The suit of that card becomes trump.
One rule variation involves playing with 8 players. The eight players form 4 teams of 2 partners. The three's of the deck are removed, so that 48 cards are dealt out, ensuring that the Ace of trump is always high, and the 2 of trump is always low. This also ensures that a jack of trump is always in play.
[edit] Two Player Pitch
The players are dealt 9 cards, and the 5 of trump counts as one point. The dealer must accept a minimum bid of two but cannot take the bid of the first player by offering the same bid as the non-dealer. If either player's highest card is a 10, they are permitted to "throw in" their hand, showing their cards to the other player and asking for a new deal. No kitty is employed and players must play with the hands that they are dealt. Scoring is to 21.
[edit] Kansas Five Point Pitch
This version of Pitch can be played with anywhere from 3 to 8 players. It can be played with partners or teams if there are an even number of players, however, playing every person for themselves is usually considered more challenging and provides for a more exciting game. The game is played like normal cutthroat pitch, except that you use a 53 card deck, with one of the jokers put in. That is where you get the 5 points. The points, therefore, are High, Low, Jack, Joker, and Game. With only High, Low, and Game being guaranteed to be out in every hand. The player who plays low gets to claim that point. All other points must be taken by playing the highest card. The joker is a trump that falls in between the jack and ten in order of importance. The game is won when one of the players, or teams, reaches 11 points.
[edit] Ohio Five Point Pitch
This version of Pitch is played with 4 players, partners sitting opposite one another. With Ohio Pitch, there are 5 possible points: High, Low, Jack, Off-Jack and Game. Off Jack is the Jack of the same color. The rank of the cards in the trump suit is as follows, from low to high: 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,Off-Jack,J,Q,K,A. The game is played to a pre-determined point [11, 21, 47, 69], and the winning team must bid or set in order to win. The game is started with two rounds of 3 cards to each player. After the initial bid, the dealer has the option to run the cards and increase the minimum bid by one. The dealer can choose to run either 3 or 4 cards on the first run, but generally chooses 3. The dealer has another option, and can run out the remaining cards and increase the minimum bid by 1. Scoring in Ohio Pitch is as follows: The bidding team wins the number of points that they earn in a particular deal, provided this number is equal to or greater than the number that was bid. If the bidding team fails to earn their bid, then the team loses the number of points that was bid. The non-bidding team wins however many points that they earn in a particular deal. Some versions of this game allow for a 6 bid when the winning team wins all of the points and also wins all of the tricks. In Ohio Pitch, the highest bidder declares trump by leading a card of the trump suit. Gameplay allows a player to play a trump card at any point during the hand, provided they have a trump card. If a trump card is led, each player must play a trump of their own if they have one. For all other leads, a player may trump at any point during the hand.
[edit] Ohio Five Point Pitch - Capture Low
In some versions of Ohio Pitch, a capture low format is used. In this game, the team that wins the trick containing the lowest card of the trump suit wins the point for low. In this version, the entire deck is frequently dealt and the most common bid is 4.
[edit] Rhode Island Ryan's Partner or Cutthroat
In the RIR version of pitch, nine cards are dealt to each player in a three or four player game (Cards are dealt three at a time to each player). There are only four points to get - High, Low, Jack & Game. For Game, face cards are all worth their normal value, and 10s are worth ten points. These are the only game points to attain. Dealer bids last, and can "steal" the bid of a previous bidder. (Ex. If the person to the dealer's right bids two, the dealer may steal, and bid two in his/her own suit). Minimum bid is always 2. If everyone passes before the dealer, the dealer cannot pass, and is forced to bid the minimum in his/her best suit. Maximum bid is 4. The maximum bid can only be attained by securing all four points (high, low, jack of trump, and game) Play goes to 10 points. Whichever single player, or team reaches 10 points first, wins.
[edit] Oklahoma Ten Point Pitch
Ten Point pitch is another variant of pitch, played with two teams of two people each. Six cards are dealt to each player. After the initial dealing, bidding begins with the player to the dealer's left. Players bid on the number of points that they will take, and can either pass, bid from 1-9, or "shoot-the-moon". A "shoot-the-moon" bid means that the player believes that his/her team can take all 10 points. The winning bidder declares the trump suit, and each player discards any non-trump cards (except for the Jick, or "off-Jack") and jokers. After discarding, the dealer will deal each player back up to six total cards. Any leftover cards are given to the dealer to "fill up" his or her hand.
This variation uses both jokers and the king and queen have no points. Each joker is worth one point and are labeled high and low. The jokers are not wild, simply extra cards which are always trump cards. The new rank for the trump suit is A, K, Q, J, Jick (or "off-Jack"), High Joker, Low Joker, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, off-3 (if used), 2. All point cards are worth one point, except for the 3, which is worth three points. In addition, the player who plays the 2 card gets to keep that point, regardless of who takes the trick.
There are six total tricks that are played. Each player can only play cards that are in the trump suit (except for the off-Jack). Once the player is out of cards, he/she is out of the game until all six tricks are played.
If the team that won the bid gets that many points or more, that amount is added to their overall total. If not, the team goes "set", and the amount of their bid is deducted from their overall total. The team that does not win the bid will always get the amount of points that they collected, added to their overall total, and cannot go "set". If a team shoots the moon and wins, they receive 41 points. If they do not win all ten points, they go set 41 points: (10 x 4) + 1 = 41.
When one team reaches (the number of points) x (the number of players) + 1 overall points, they are declared the winner, and the game is over. If call your partner or six-player pitch is being played, the number of players would be five or six, respectively.
In some variations, 52 points are needed to win. In these variations, a shoot-the-moon bid is worth 52 points.
[edit] Sub-Variations of Oklahoma Ten Point Pitch
[edit] Number of Cards Dealt
In some versions, initially, all players are dealt nine cards. After bidding, a trump is announced and all non-trumps are discarded by the players. Cards are dealt to bring the hands back to six cards with the winner of the bid receiving the entire pack to pick through. In one variation, the winner may pass trump cards to his partner. If any point cards must be discarded, it is considered a mis-deal. When the two of trumps is played, it is retained by the person dealt it and does not go to the winner of the hand. If any one player receives no point or face cards (only 4-9) in the initial bidding round of dealing, it is considered a mis-deal.
In another variation, all players are dealt nine cards and everybody draws back to six cards. The winner of the bid will go through the undealt cards one at a time until the hand has six trump. The remaining cards are then given to the partner to go through. If the partner is full of trump, the remaining cards can be given back to the winner of the bid. If anyone has more than six trump in their hand, a non-point trump can be "buried" on the first trick. If a player ends up with more than six point cards in their hand, the hand is considered a mis-deal.
In other versions, the players are dealt six cards initially.
[edit] Razzle-Dazzle
10 or 13 point pitch in which there is a kitty dealt, it varies depending on how many people are playing; the normal amount of players are 5 person and 7 person. The players bid clockwise of the dealer (minimum d is usually 5), the winner takes the kitty and THEN decides what trump will be, he must burn enough to get down to 6 cards. Everyone throws away all but the trump, but do not get any new cards. The winner of the bid then calls for his partner by selecting a card that he wants played on that turn; example: I pick up the kitty and have a good spades hand, but not the trey, i can call for the trey and play the Ace, the person who played the trey would be my partner for that round. If you go set, you bring your partner down with you. A very fun game overall.
[edit] Missouri Eleven Point Pitch
This variation adds the off-ace (Ace of the same color as trump) as the second highest card, which also counts for one as a point. All other rules are as in Oklahoma 10 point, except for the winning bidder is the player that receives the balance of the deck to "fill up" his hand. Valid bids are 3-10, and shoot the moon to bid 11. This game is also played with six players in three partnerships. In this version, each player receives 9 cards, and discards 3 after the trump is declared, there is no exchange.
[edit] Thirteen Point Pitch
Another variation, this time of ten-point pitch, except that the "off-three" is worth three points. The off-three would be the 3-card in the same color of the trump suit.
[edit] Call Your Partner Pitch
Ten and thirteen point pitch can be played in a variation called "Call Your Partner". In this version, there are no set teams. The winning bidder can call for a specific card, and the person with that card will become that person's partner, until the next bid. Overall point totals are kept for individuals, rather than teams. This is often played when there are five players since there cannot be even-sided teams.
- In the Northeast Variety of Pitch, which springs largely from Connecticut and the Worcester, Massachusetts area, cards are dealt in three-card bunches, such that each player receives two distributions of three-cards each per hand.
Another variety of pitch played in the Worcester area is Thirteen Card Pitch. This is played with four players meaning that all the cards are dealt. Only three and four bids are permitted and the game is played to fifteen.
[edit] Partnership Draw Pitch/New Yorker Pitch
Concept and Objective
Partnership Draw Pitch (or "New Yorker Pitch") is somewhat like euchre, except a full deck is used, and the goal is to get points, not necessarily tricks. It is the quality of the tricks, not the quantity that determines the outcome of the game. Other differences from euchre include: 15 points for a win, the highest card is the Ace, and trump may be thrown at any time, regardless of what is lead. The only reneging that can occur is if a non-trump card is led, and you have that suit, but choose to throw a different non-trump card.
Definitions
- Points: Won by winning high, low, jack, or game
- High: The highest card of trump in play, with Ace as the highest, King as the second highest, etc.
- Low: The lowest card of trump in play, with deuce as the lowest, and 3 as the second lowest, etc.
- Jack: The jack of trump, but may not always be in play. Jack has no special values besides its one point.
- Game: The sum of the corresponding values of face cards and tens. Aces are worth 4, Kings worth 3, Queens worth 2 Jacks worth 1, and tens worth ten, regardless of whether they are trump or not. These point values apply only to game. Do not confuse the point values for game with the points of high, low, jack, or game. "Game" is won by having more point values than your opponent.
- First round of dealing: Deal 3 cards to each player twice, making for a total of 6 cards per player
- Bid: The number of points (high, low, jack, or game) that you believe you and your partner (sitting diagonally from you) can accumulate. Bids can be 2, 3, 4, or moon. Bidding only goes around once, players can overbid each other, and the dealer can be stuck. When bidding, only a number is called, but the suit of trump is not announced until after bidding is over. This is to make sure people bidding after an initial bidder do not know that the initial bidder is strong in one suit or the other.
- Second round of dealing: After a bid is made and trump is called, all players throw away the cards they do not want. However, TRUMP CANNOT BE DISCARDED. You may hang onto other cards you like, but this limits your chances of getting trump in the second deal.
- Moon: The situation in which a player has a hand similar to a Dutchman in euchre. A player who goes moon believes they can win high, low, jack, and game, and also take every trick. When going moon, the bidder gets to lead, and does not dealt in the second round of dealing
- House hand: The situation where during the first round of dealing when a the cards a player were dealt are all 3 through 9. The hand can be laid down, revealing the cards to the other players, and 6 new cards are dealt to the player with the house hand.
Steps
- Assemble in euchre formation
- Find dealer by dealing for first black jack
- First round of dealing
- Bidding
- Announce the trump
- Second round of dealing
- Play game
[edit] Blind Pitch
In this variation, there is a "blind pile," all the cards are in play, and the jokers. When playing 4-handed, you remove the 3's, 4's, and Red 5's from the deck leaving 44 cards (52 - 10 + 2 jokers). The cards are then dealt out 3 to all players...the top 3 go to the player left of the dealer, then the next three to the next person etc. then 4 face down in separate piles, then 2 to all players, another one in each of the piles, then 3 to all players and a third card in each of the piles. If you don't end with the third card in the fourth pile, there was a miss deal for one reason or another. Now, each player has 8 cards in his/her hand and three cards in a pile (the blind pile). You cannot look at these cards until you decide you want to play it. After everybody looks at their cards, the bidding commences, starting with the player left of the dealer. You bet how many points you think can get in that hand. The minimum bid is 2 and a maximum of 6. After someone bids, the minimum bet is the bet plus 1. If you don't think you can make the minimum, you pass the bet to the next person. If nobody bets, the dealer must "bet" two. After this round, the actual playing continues. By definition, the suit the winning bidder plays first is trump. On the first hand, you must follow suit, if you have it...and if you don't you can play any card you want. On any following "trick," if you have the suit led, you may follow suit, trump, or go to your pile (assuming you have one). If you don't have the suit led you can play any card you want. The object is to win the points by taking the tricks that they are in. The ace is the highest card in each suit and the jokers are the lowest trump - a two beats a joker - and if two jokers are played on the same trick, the first joker played wins beats the second. To winner of the game point is the team with the most game points. Tens are worth 10 game points, Jacks 1, Queens 2, Kings 3, and Aces 4. The team with more of these points wins the one point of game. The team to first reach 15 points wins. If there is a possibility where both teams can go reach 15 at the same time, the winning team is the team that bid.
The game can also be played 6 handed with tree teams of two. The only differences in this are that all the cars are in the deck (54) and the dealing goes 2-pile-2-pile-2-pile instead of 3-pile-2-pile-3-pile.
[edit] Reverse Pitch
Reverse Pitch, invented by Tom Rosborough and John Caulkins in January of 2006, follows all of the rules of Pitch, except the low card takes each trick (the lowest card of the suit lead or lowest card of the trump suit). High, low, jack, and game points are counted in normal fashion as described above. This is the main strategic difference because the valuable cards become much harder to capture; the strength of the card itself is almost always insufficient. The game was originally named "jiggly pitch" after the game "jiggly ball", which originated on the sitcom Scrubs
[edit] High Five
High Five is a very rare Swiss variation of pitch played with two teams of two. In High Five, both fives of the trump color are used, and are worth five points each. Both Jokers and both Jacks of the trump color are also used. The Ace, Both Jacks, both Jokers, and The ten are worth on point each. The low card (usually the 2) is also worth a point, and cannot catch any other cards, but the 2 itself cannot be caught and is awarded to the team that plays it. Nine cards are dealt initially and everyone bids in a clockwise fashion to get to call the trump suit, with the last bid going to the dealer. After trump is called, everyone throws away their non-trump cards. The Dealer then deal them however many cards they need to have a six card hand (non-trumps included), skipping the person who called trump. The person who won trump will then get to choose whatever cards he/she wants out of the remaining deck, which is referred to as the "widow". Minimum Bid is Six, and is not limited, going all the way to the maximum point value of seventeen. Another bid is to "Shoot The Moon", in which one team bets that they can get all seventeen points, and if they do succeed, the game is over and they win, but if you are unsuccessful in "Shooting The Moon", the game is over and you lose. You must have a positive point value to "Shoot The Moon." A game of High Five is played to 50, and three games are often played at a time. The trump cards in order, for clubs example, would be the A,K,Q,J,Big Joker,Jack of Spades,Little Joker,10,9,8,7,6,5,5 of spades,4,3,2.