How do you keep score in Pitch? The short version
Scoring Pitch is quick once it's a habit. After all six tricks are played, you award up to four points, check whether the bidder made it, and update two numbers on the score pad.
Those four points are High (the highest trump in play), Low (the lowest trump in play), Jack (the jack of trump), and Game (the most counting cards in your captured tricks). Each one is worth one point, so a hand is worth at most four. Everything else in Pitch scoring is just bookkeeping around those four points and the bid. The steps below turn that bookkeeping into a routine that takes less than a minute per hand.
Step 1: Award High, Low, and Jack
First, find High: who played the highest trump? Then Low: the lowest trump (to whoever played or captured it, depending on your house rule). Next, Jack: who captured the jack of trump? If the jack was never dealt, nobody scores it.
A quick way to do this is to have each team spread its trick pile face up and pull out every trump card. Line them up in order and the answers jump out. High always goes to the team that held the top trump, because the highest trump cannot be captured. Jack goes to whichever team won the trick containing it, which may not be the team that was dealt it.
Step 2: How do you count Game points?
Each team counts its captured cards: tens are 10, aces 4, kings 3, queens 2, jacks 1. The higher total wins Game. Tens are worth more than everything else combined in most hands, so whoever captures the tens usually takes Game.
Counting cards of every suit is important here, not just trump. A ten of clubs counts the same as a ten of hearts for Game, even when hearts are trump. Count out loud by pulling the tens first, then the aces, kings, queens, and jacks, and keep a running total. Have one person from each team count while the other checks, and disagreements become rare.
If the totals tie, many groups award Game to nobody, while others give it to the non-bidding team or to the dealer's side. Agree on a tie rule in advance, because ties are more common than people expect.
Step 3: Check the bid
Compare the bidding team's points to its bid. If it made it, add all the points it won. If it fell short, subtract the bid from its score. Then add whatever the other team won to its score.
Notice that a team that makes its bid scores everything it won, not just the bid. Bid 2 and take 3, and you add 3. But bid 3 and take only 2, and you subtract 3, not 2. That asymmetry is what makes bidding tense. Some groups add extra bonuses, such as doubling a successful bid of 4, sometimes called a smudge or shoot the moon. Those bonuses vary widely by region, so write yours down.
A sample hand, scored from start to finish
Here is a full example. Hearts are trump and Team A bid 3. Team A played the ace of hearts and captured the jack of hearts, so it takes High and Jack. Team B's player held the 2 of hearts and kept it in a trick Team B won, so Team B takes Low under either rule.
For Game, Team A's tricks hold two tens, an ace, a king, and the jack of hearts, for 28 points. Team B's tricks hold one ten, a queen, two kings, and a jack, for 19 points. Team A wins Game. Team A took High, Jack, and Game for 3 points, which makes its bid of 3, so it adds 3. Team B adds 1 for Low. If Team A had bid 4 instead, it would have lost 4 points while Team B still added 1.
How should you set up a Pitch score sheet?
You need only a pencil and paper. Draw two columns, one for each team, and write the hand number down the left edge. After each hand, write the change in small numbers and the new running total next to it, circling the bid when a team gets set. This makes it easy to audit a disputed hand later.
Some families use a cribbage board or a dry-erase board instead. Whatever you use, give one person the job of scorekeeper for the whole game and have them announce both totals before the next deal.
Step 4: Watch for the finish
The first team to reach 11 wins. If both teams pass 11 on the same hand, the bidding team usually wins. A simple score sheet with two columns, one per team, and a running total is all you need.
Some tables also require the winning team to be the bidder on the final hand, meaning you cannot win the game by defending, only by making a bid. Others play that a team in the hole must reach the target from below zero like anyone else. These are house rules rather than universal ones, so mention them before play starts if your group uses them.
What are the most common Pitch scoring mistakes?
The most common scoring mistakes are forgetting to count non-trump tens toward Game, crediting Jack to the team that was dealt it instead of the team that captured it, and subtracting only the points a team missed by rather than the full bid. Another frequent slip is scoring Low under one rule while playing the other. A quick checklist of High, Low, Jack, Game, then bid, said in that order every hand, prevents almost all of them.
How do you keep score in cutthroat Pitch?
In cutthroat Pitch, where three or more people play for themselves, keep one column per player instead of one per team. The scoring steps are identical: award High, Low, Jack, and Game to the individual who earned each, then check whether the bidder made the bid. Only the bidder can be set, and everyone else simply adds the points they won.
With more columns, it helps to write each player's initials at the top and announce every total after each hand. Ties for Game are also more likely with several players, so settle in advance whether a tie means nobody scores Game.
Let the table do the math
Prefer not to count at all? pitch.ac scores every hand automatically and shows who took each point at the end of the round, which also makes it a handy way to learn the scoring.
It is free in the browser and on iPhone and iPad, with no download or sign-up needed. You can play solo against AI players to practice, choose games to 7, 11, or 21 points, and create a free account if you want your game history and stats saved.