Deal & Tally
A partnership trick-taking game for 4 players, popular across the Midwest and New England. Also called Setback or Auction Pitch.
Setup
Partners sit across from each other. Deal six cards to each player, three at a time.
Bidding
- Starting left of the dealer, each player bids 2, 3 or 4, or passes. Each bid must be higher than the last.
- If everyone else passes, the dealer must bid at least 2.
- The winning bidder leads the first card, and its suit becomes trump. This is called pitching.
Play
Follow suit if you can. You may play a trump at any time, even if you could follow suit. Highest trump wins, otherwise highest card of the led suit.
The four points
| High: whoever is dealt the highest trump | 1 |
| Low: whoever is dealt the lowest trump | 1 |
| Jack: whoever takes the jack of trump (if it was dealt) | 1 |
| Game: most card points in tricks taken | 1 |
For Game, count 10s as 10, aces 4, kings 3, queens 2 and jacks 1.
Scoring
If the bidding team takes at least as many points as they bid, they score what they took. If not, they're set back and lose the amount they bid. The other team always scores what they took.
Winning
The first team to 11 wins. If both teams pass 11 on the same hand, the bidding team wins.