How many players can play Setback?

Setback can be played with 2 to 7 players.

How to Play Setback

An American bid-auction trick-taking game descended from All Fours: players bid, winner 'pitches' any card to set trumps, and points go for High, Low, Jack, and Game. Failing to make the bid is a setback (penalty). First to 11 points wins.

How to Play

Setback (usually called Auction Pitch or just Pitch in modern American usage) is the bid-auction descendant of the 17th-century English game All Fours, in which the opening lead itself 'pitches' (sets) the trump suit rather than the dealer turning a card up. Each player is dealt 6 cards; a bidding auction decides who will pitch (the highest bidder), and the pitcher leads any card to trick 1, whose suit becomes trump for the hand. Standard scoring uses 4 points: High (highest trump in play), Low (lowest trump in play), Jack (the Jack of trumps, if captured), and Game (most pip value in captured tricks using A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, T=10). If the pitcher scores at least their bid they win those points; if they fall short they are 'set back' by the bid amount (subtracted from their score). First player or partnership to 11 points (or sometimes 7 or 21) wins the match.

Download rules (PDF)

Quick Reference

Goal

Make your bid (as pitcher) by scoring at least that many of the 4 trump-based points; first to 11 points wins the match.

Setup

2 to 7 players, standard 52-card deck. 6-card hand each.
Clockwise bidding; min bid 1, max bid 4 (smudge).
Highest bidder pitches (leads to trick 1); that card's suit is trump.

On Your Turn

Each player in turn follows suit OR plays any trump (permissive trumping).
If void of led suit and out of trumps, play any card (cannot win).
Highest trump or highest of led suit wins the trick.

Scoring

High: 1 pt to holder of highest trump at start.
Low: 1 pt to holder of lowest trump at start.
Jack: 1 pt to capturer of trump Jack. Game: 1 pt to highest pip total (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, T=10).
Pitcher meets bid: scores earnings. Misses bid: subtracts bid (setback).

Tip: Lead the Ace of trumps on your pitch; it secures High immediately and forces opponents to spend their trumps.

Players

2 to 7 players, best played as a 4-player partnership (two fixed pairs opposite each other). 3-player cutthroat is the most common individual form. Deal and play rotate clockwise. A full match to 11 points typically lasts 20 to 40 minutes.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card French-suited pack with jokers removed. Within each suit cards rank A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (low). The trump suit is decided each hand by the pitcher's opening lead.

Objective

As the pitcher, score at least as many of the 4 trump-based points as you bid. As a non-pitcher, capture as many points as you can (all points you earn count positively). Across hands, the first side (individual or partnership) to reach 11 points wins the match. If you are the pitcher and miss your bid, subtract the bid from your score (you can go negative).

Setup and Deal

Choose first dealer by high card (Ace highest, 2 lowest). Deal and play rotate clockwise after each hand.
Shuffle the 52-card deck. The pone (player to the dealer's right) cuts the deck.
Deal 6 cards to each player, 3 at a time, face down, starting with the player to the dealer's left.
No card is turned up from the stock; the trump suit is determined later by the pitcher.

Bidding

Starting with the eldest hand (the player to the dealer's left) and moving clockwise, each player may bid or pass. The auction has one pass-or-bid round.
Minimum bid: 1 point. A bid of 1 commits you to winning at least 1 of the 4 trump-based points (High, Low, Jack, or Game).
Higher bids: Must exceed the previous highest bid. Bids can rise through 2, 3, and 4 (the maximum under the 4-point rules). A 4-bid is sometimes called 'shooting the moon,' 'slam,' or 'smudge.'
Dealer's privilege: The dealer may bid last. If all previous players have passed, the dealer may take the hand at 1 (a minimum bid). Under strict rules, a bid of 1 is always valid for the dealer even without anyone opening (force-bid rule).
Partnership bidding: In partnership Pitch, one partner may bid, opening the auction for the team. The highest partnership bid wins; that partnership becomes the pitching side.
Winner: The highest bidder is the pitcher (or 'maker'); they will lead to the first trick and thereby establish trumps.

Gameplay

Pitch the trump: The pitcher leads any card to the first trick. The suit of this led card is the trump suit for the entire hand.
Follow-suit-or-trump rule (permissive pitch form): Each subsequent player in turn may either play a card of the suit led OR play any trump card (unlike strict Whist, non-trump cards of the led suit are not required). Playing a trump is called trumping; playing a higher trump on top of a trump is called overtrumping.
Void in led suit AND out of trumps: Play any card; it cannot win.
Winning a trick: The highest trump in the trick wins; with no trump played, the highest card of the suit led wins. Winner leads the next trick.
Complete the hand: Play all 6 tricks in the hand.
Last trick: No special bonus; the Game point is decided by total captured card values across all 6 tricks.

Scoring

High: 1 point. The player who HELD the highest trump in play at the start of the hand (Ace of trumps is the default, unless no Ace is in play in which case King of trumps). Awarded at the end of the hand to the original holder.
Low: 1 point. The player who HELD the lowest trump in play at the start of the hand. Awarded to the original holder regardless of whether they captured it.
Jack: 1 point. The player who CAPTURED the Jack of trumps in a trick. If no Jack of trumps is dealt (e.g., because it was not in any player's hand after a misdeal recovery), no one scores this point.
Game: 1 point. The player with the highest total pip value captured across all 6 tricks, counting Ace = 4, King = 3, Queen = 2, Jack = 1, Ten = 10, and 2-9 = 0. Tied Game goes to the pitcher if they are tied, otherwise split or skipped.
Bid evaluation: The pitcher counts their 4-point earnings. If earnings ≥ bid, pitcher scores the full earnings. If earnings < bid, pitcher is 'set back' by the bid (subtract the bid amount from score; score can go negative).
Defender scoring: Non-pitcher points (or partnership points) are scored positively regardless of the bid outcome.
Match target: First player or partnership to 11 points (standard) wins; 7 and 21 are common variant targets.

Winning

The first player or partnership to reach the target score (11 points standard) wins the match. If multiple players reach the target on the same hand, the pitcher's score takes precedence (since the pitcher's scoring is resolved first each hand). A tie between non-pitchers is broken by playing one more hand.

Common Variations

Ten-Point Pitch: Expands scoring to 10 points per hand by adding Off-Jack (Jack of the same colour as trump, scoring 1 point for the capturer), Joker scoring (often 1 point for capturing a Joker used as a trump), and finer Game point accounting. Widely played in Midwestern tournaments.
Partnership Pitch (Pedro): Two fixed partnerships (partners opposite). Pedro adds the 5s of the trump suit (2 points) and off-color (3 points) for additional scoring cards; related to but distinct from base Pitch.
Cutthroat Pitch: Every player competes individually without partnerships.
No-junk-points rule: Only the pitcher scores; defenders' points are ignored. Changes the game from a 4-point scramble to a bid-only contest.
Shoot the Moon / Smudge: A bid of 4 (all 4 points) that, if successful, wins the match outright. Failed smudge is an automatic loss.
Forced-bid rule: If all three players pass, the dealer must bid at minimum 1.
Ace of Hearts Pitch: Southern US variant where Hearts are permanent secondary trumps scoring extra points.

Tips and Strategy

Bid only when you can see 2 guaranteed points in your hand (typically the Ace and Jack of trumps in one suit, or Ace and an expected Game capture). A 1-bid is almost always safe; a 3 or 4 bid requires careful hand evaluation.
When pitching, lead your highest trump (the Ace) to secure High immediately and force opponents to spend their trumps. Leading a middle trump gives away the lead unnecessarily.
The Jack of trumps is a capture point (not held) and is the most volatile of the 4 points. If you hold the Jack of trumps but not the Ace, you often must work to protect the Jack from an opponent's higher trump.
In partnership play, lead high trumps when your partner signals strength; let partner win tricks that capture Jacks of trumps when they can protect them.
The Game point is won through 10s. Capturing a 10 is 10 points of Game value, compared to 4 for the Ace or 3 for the King. An ace that captures a 10 is worth 14 Game points and almost always locks the Game point.
Avoid bids of 4 (smudge) except with a self-sufficient hand: the Ace, Jack, 10, and several mid-trumps in the same suit. Failed smudge sets you back 4 points, a third of the match.

Glossary

Pitch: The opening lead, which establishes the trump suit for the hand.
Pitcher (or Maker): The winning bidder, who leads trick 1.
High: The point for holding the highest trump at the start of the hand.
Low: The point for holding the lowest trump at the start of the hand.
Jack: The point for capturing the Jack of the trump suit in a trick.
Game: The point for capturing the highest total pip value (A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, T=10) across all tricks.
Setback: Failing to make the bid; the bid amount is subtracted from the pitcher's score.
Smudge (or Shoot the Moon): A 4-point bid that, if made, may win the match outright.
Off-Jack: In Ten-Point Pitch, the Jack of the same colour as the trump suit; scores an extra point when captured.

Tips & Strategy

Bid only when you can count 2 guaranteed points in hand (typically Ace and Jack of trumps). Lead the Ace of trumps on your pitch to secure High and force opponents to spend their trumps. The Game point is usually won through captured 10s (10 pips each); capturing a 10 with your Ace is worth 14 Game points. Avoid smudge (4-point) bids unless your hand is nearly self-sufficient.

Pitch balances a simple 4-point scoring with a sharply punitive setback mechanism, making bid evaluation the game's most important skill. The Low point (awarded to the HOLDER of the lowest trump in play) is the most variable because it depends on what's dealt; the Jack point is the most volatile in play because it is a capture, not a hold. Expert players count their guaranteed points (typically 0, 1, or 2 before play begins) and bid 1 if they have 1-2, 2 if they have 2-3, and pass or force the bid to the dealer otherwise. Overbid rates over 10% of hands is a tell that a player is not counting correctly.

Trivia & Fun Facts

Pitch tournaments are a beloved tradition in the American Midwest (Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, the Dakotas), with some weekend events drawing several hundred competitors and offering cash prizes. The Kansas City Pitch Club has held continuous monthly tournaments since 1952. The word 'Pitch' in the game's name is a contraction of 'Pitch the trump,' referring to the pitcher's act of leading a card whose suit becomes trumps, a distinctive feature that gave the game its American identity.

01What happens to a player's score in Pitch when they fail to meet their bid?

Answer They are 'set back' (hence the name Setback): the bid amount is subtracted from their running score, and they can go negative.
02What are the four standard scoring points in traditional 4-point Pitch, and how is each awarded?

Answer High (1 pt, to the player who held the highest trump at the start of the hand), Low (1 pt, to the player who held the lowest trump at the start), Jack (1 pt, to the player who captured the Jack of trumps in a trick), and Game (1 pt, to the player with the highest captured pip total counting A=4, K=3, Q=2, J=1, T=10).

History & Culture

Setback (also known as Auction Pitch) evolved from the 17th-century English game All Fours, first described in 1674 by Charles Cotton. The distinctive auction-and-pitch mechanism developed in mid-19th-century America as a refinement that made the choice of trumps a player decision rather than chance, elevating the strategic depth of the game. The 4-point core scoring (High, Low, Jack, Game) is unchanged from All Fours and remains the foundation of modern Pitch. The 10-Point and Pedro variants emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are popular in regional American tournaments, particularly in the Midwest.

Pitch is one of the quintessential American card games, rooted in rural and small-town card-playing tradition. It remains a staple of Midwestern social life, played at family gatherings, weekly club nights, and large public tournaments. The game has spawned several regional variants (Pedro in Oklahoma, 10-Point Pitch in Nebraska, Smudge in Iowa) each with slightly different scoring cards, reflecting the game's long evolution across American regional cultures.

Variations & House Rules

Ten-Point Pitch adds Off-Jack and Joker scoring for 10 total points per hand. Pedro adds the trump 5 (2 points) and off-colour 5 (3 points) as additional scoring cards. Cutthroat is the pure individual competitive form. No-junk-points restricts scoring to the pitcher only. Smudge is a 4-point bid that wins the match if made. Forced-bid requires the dealer to bid if all players pass. Ace of Hearts Pitch makes Hearts a permanent secondary trump.

For beginners, play cutthroat (individual) with 4-point scoring and a target of 7 points for shorter games. For intermediate players, play partnership with 11 points. For advanced play, introduce 10-Point Pitch with Off-Jack and Joker scoring. Enforce strict misdeal rules (all four players draw for first deal; 6-card miscounts trigger redeal) to eliminate arguments.