Pit (game)

Pit

The box and cards for Pit
Publishers	Parker Brothers (Hasbro)
Years active	1904–present
Genres	Trading card game
Players	3 to 8 players
Setup time	1 to 2 minutes
Playing time	1 to 10 minutes per round, any number of rounds
Random chance	Dealing cards, blind trades
Skills required	Hand management, Deal making

Pit is a fast-paced card game for three to eight players, designed to simulate open outcry bidding for commodities. The game first went on sale in 1904 by the American games company Parker Brothers, having been developed by the clairvoyant Edgar Cayce.^[1][2]

The inspirations were the Chicago Board of Trade (known as 'The Pit') and the US Corn Exchange. The game itself was likely based on the very successful game Gavitt's Stock Exchange, invented in 1903 by Harry E. Gavitt of Topeka, Kansas.

While the name Pit remains trademarked in many countries by Hasbro, versions of the game have been marketed under names, including Billionaire, Business, Cambio, Deluxe Pit, Quick 7, Zaster.^[2]

Contents[]

Some decks consist of 74 cards with nine cards each of eight different commodities. The specific commodities have varied over the various editions of the game, but those used in most modern editions are Barley, Corn, Coffee, Oranges, Oats, Soybeans, Sugar and Wheat. The classic version has seven commodities: flax, hay, oats, rye, corn, barley, and wheat. Two special cards are also included, the Bull and the Bear; use of these cards is optional.

Versions of the game starting in the 1970s contained a bell used to start trading. The first player to hold all nine cards of a commodity would ring the bell.^[2]

Play[]

A group of people playing Pit.

The number of commodities included in each round is equal to the number of players. Each player is dealt nine cards; two players get ten if the Bull and Bear are included in play.

Pit has no turns and everyone plays at once. Players trade commodities among one another by each blindly exchanging one to four cards of the same type. The trading process involves calling out the number of cards one wishes to trade until another player holds out an equal number of commodity cards. The two parties then exchange the cards face down.

As soon as a player has nine cards of the same commodity, they must throw their cards onto the middle (the corner board if available) and call out "Corner on (the name of the commodity they are holding)!", ending the round. That player then earns points equal to the number value of the commodity they were holding. In deluxe editions of the game, the player with a full set of nine has to ring the bell instead of throwing their cards.

The first player to reach an agreed-upon point total wins the game.

The Bull and the Bear[]

The Bull card is considered wild and can be used to complete any set. A player can win a round by either holding eight cards of the same commodity and the Bull ("Bull Corner!") or nine cards of the same commodity and one card of any other commodity, after which they earn points equal to the number value of their commodity. If the player wins a round with a full set of nine and the Bull ("Double Bull Corner!"), they receive double the value of their commodity. The Bear card serves as a hazard for players, and prevents its holder from winning the round, even if they have a full set.

At the end of each round, if the winning player had neither the Bull nor the Bear, the holders of those cards lose 20 points each. If a player holds both the Bull and the Bear at the end of a round, they lose 40 points. It is possible for a player to have their total score go below 0.

Phrases often used during play[]

• Chasing the bear: When one attempts to follow the progress of the Bear after trading it away by watching the following trades.
• Corner on the cob: Winning a round with a full set of corn.
• Going for a hay ride: When one attempts to pick up all of a commodity that one has little of, because one has traded enough of it back and forth that one has an idea where it is all located.
• Slip them the bear: When one trades away the Bear, usually just before the round is about to end.
• The granary: A player's hand.
• Getting flaxed: Inadvertently acquiring an abundance of flax, the commodity with the lowest value.
• Flaxing out: Winning a round with a full set of flax.
• Bear trap: Receipt of the Bear just preceding the ring of the bell to signify the game's end; doubly nasty if receipt of the Bear was part of the final trade that facilitated the winning hand.

Variations[]

A New Zealand edition of the game showing cards with different values.

The original edition contained only seven commodities.

Newer versions include seven or eight commodities, replacing Flax, Hay and Rye with Oranges, Coffee, Sugar and Soybeans.

The 100th anniversary edition, released in 2004, included a reproduction of the original edition as well as a brand new edition that featured 8 "modernized" commodities.

References[]