Pit

The box and cards for Pit
Years active	1904
Genre(s)	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
Skill(s) 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 was developed for Parker Brothers and first sold in 1904. This popular version of the game was developed by Edgar Cayce,^[1] who would also become famous for his psychic predictions.^[2]

The inspirations were the Chicago Board of Trade (known as 'The Pit') and the US Corn Exchange and it was likely based on the very successful game Gavitt's Stock Exchange, invented in 1903 by Harry E. Gavitt of Topeka, Kansas (and reprinted in 2004 in an authentic "heirloom" edition by Out of the Box Publishing). Versions of the game have been marketed under the names Billionaire, Business, Cambio, Deluxe Pit, Quick 7, and Zaster.^[2]

Contents [edit]

Each deck consists 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 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 [edit]

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.

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 cards. The two parties then exchange the cards face down.

When a player has nine cards of the same commodity, he or she will call out "Corner on..." the commodity they have obtained, ending the round. (In deluxe editions of the game, a bell is rung instead.) That player then earns points equal to the number value of the commodity they "went out" with.

The Bull and the Bear [edit]

The Bull card is considered wild and can be used to complete any set. If a player wins a round while holding all nine cards of one commodity as well as the Bull, they earn double the score for that round. A player cannot win while holding the Bear. At the end of each round, the player holding the Bear and any losing player holding the Bull each forfeit 20 points.

The game ends when either a set number of rounds have been played, or when a player reaches a certain agreed-upon point total.

Variations [edit]

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 [edit]