Cost: $9.95 From: Winning Moves (1-800-578-2468) Players: 4-8 Playing Time: Type of game: Card Complexity: 4 Skill level: 4 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 1.4, May/June 1993
Pit's one of those games which has been around forever, but which many people have never played. That's a shame, since Pit is a lively card game suited for all ages.
Pit's deck consists of eight suits of nine cards each, plus two extra cards called the Bull and the Bear. The suits are all types of grain-- barley, wheat, flax, etc., and each is worth from 40-100 points. Each game uses only as many suits as there are players. The deck is completely dealt out so two players get ten cards and everyone else gets nine. The object is to corner the market on one type of grain (suit) by trading with other players. On the dealer's signal, trading begins. Players may trade up to four cards of like suit at a time. The Bull and Bear cards are exceptions which may be freely traded with any suit. Thus, you could legally give away two barley, the Bull, and the Bear in one swap.
But first, you need to find someone willing to trade with you. Since everyone else is trying to do the same thing, the best way is to call out the number of cards you want to trade, hold up the appropriate number of fingers, etc. until someone agrees to trade that number of cards with you. The two of you quickly exchange cards and start trying to attract another trader. The first person to corner the market by getting all nine cards of a suit stops the trading proces and earns the value of that suit. You may also stop trading if you have eight cards of the same suit and the Bull. If one of th eplayers with ten cards gets all nine of a suit and the Bull, he earns double that suit's value. But if you have either the Bull or the Bear in your hand when someone else corners the market, you lose twenty points for each. The first player to reach a preset score is the winner.
Pit is a loud game. While trading, the room is filled with a cacaphony of voices shouting "Two! Two!" and "Three! Three!" Pit is definitely better with more players and a seating arrangement where everyone has ready access to everyone else. But it's exuberant, extremely fast, frenetic, and somewhat mindless fun.