Smear in one paragraph
Smear is what a lot of the Midwest calls its favorite partnership card game — and if you grew up playing Pitch, you already know most of it. Players bid on how many points their team will take, the high bidder names trump with the first card they lead, and teams race to a target score.
The difference is in the points. Where 4-point Pitch scores High, Low, Jack, and Game, Smear usually adds at least one more point to the hand, which makes bidding a little bolder and a lot more fun.
Players, deck, and the deal
Smear is most often played by four players in two partnerships, partners sitting across from each other. A standard 52-card deck is used, and some tables add one or two Jokers.
Each player is dealt six cards, three at a time. The deal passes to the left after every hand.
The points: High, Low, Jack, Jick, and Game
High: the highest trump played in the hand. Low: the lowest trump played (at many tables it goes to whoever played it, at others to whoever captured it). Jack: the jack of trump. Jick: the jack of the same color as trump, which counts as a trump card for the hand. Game: the team with the most card points in its captured tricks, counting tens as 10, aces as 4, kings as 3, queens as 2, and jacks as 1.
Tables that add a Joker usually treat it as a low trump worth one more point. Always settle which points are in play before the first deal — house rules vary more in Smear than in almost any other card game.
How bidding works
Starting left of the dealer, each player gets one chance to bid or pass. A bid is the number of points your team promises to take, and each bid must beat the one before it. The highest bid wins; many tables allow a bid of all the points in play, sometimes called a smudge or a shoot.
If everyone passes, most tables make the dealer take the bid at the minimum — the stick-the-dealer rule — so a hand is never thrown in.
Setting trump and playing tricks
The winning bidder leads the first card, and its suit becomes trump. Players must follow the suit led if they can, though most Smear tables let you play a trump at any time instead. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the led suit if no trump was played.
The winner of each trick leads the next one, until all six cards have been played.
Scoring and getting set
If the bidding team takes at least as many points as it bid, it scores every point it won. If it falls short, it is set: the bid is subtracted from its score, which can drive a team below zero. The other team always scores the points it captured.
Games are usually played to 11 or 21. If both teams would cross the line on the same hand, the bidding team typically goes out first.
Smear strategy in a nutshell
The extra point changes strategy. A Jick in your hand is a hidden trump that can quietly steal a trick, so hands with a jack of each red suit (or each black suit) bid stronger than they look. Protect your Low, lead your high trump early to pull the opponents' trump, and count the ten-cards — Game is often decided by who captures the tens.
If you want to practice the bidding and trump play before your next family game, pitch.ac plays the classic 4-point version free against AI or friends, with no download needed.