3 to 7 players

OBJECT OF THE GAME

The object of Pit is to corner the market on Barley, Corn, Flax, Hay,
Oats, Rye and Wheat by trading cards with other players.

PLAYING THE GAME

Pit can be played by three to seven players. There are nine cards in
each suit. If three play, use only three complete suits. If four play,
use four complete suits, etc. Use the complete Pit deck for seven
players.

To play the basic version, remove the Bull and Bear cards from the
deck. Place the trading bell in the centre of the table (bell optional)
and select one player to shuffle the deck and deal out nine cards to each
player. The Dealer should allow the players 30 seconds to sort their
cards and decide mentally on which commodity (Wheat, Rye, Oats, etc.)
they will attempt to corner. Players should try to corner the commodity
of which they hold the most cards.

When the cards have been sorted, the Dealer (strikes the bell and)
announces "The Exchange is open." Then, any player may begin to trade
cards with other players. To trade, he takes from his hand one to four
cards of the same suit, holds the cards up so that the suits do not show
and calls out, "Trade ONE! ONE!" or "TWO! TWO!" depending on the number
of cards being traded. Players continue calling out their numbers until
the cards have been exchanged.

If a player wishes to exchange cards with another player, he must call
in return, "One! One!", "Two! Two!" and so on, and trade an equal number
of cards of the same suit to that player. If a player wishes to trade
three or four cards and other players will only exchange lower numbers,
he may drop his bid and trade the smaller number of cards.

Trading continues until one player gets nine cards of the same suit.
That player must quickly (ring the bell and) call out "Corner on
commodity!" for whatever the commodity may be. The player then scores
the amount marked on the commodity he has cornered:

The score is recorded on a score pad. When a corner is won, all the
cards are reshuffled and dealt by the last winner and another corner is
played for. The game is won by the first trader to get 500 points.

THE BULL AND BEAR CARDS

To play with the bull and bear cards, play as per the normal rules of
Pit, except that you add the bull and bear cards before you shuffle and
deal. When the cards are dealt, two players will have 10 cards, all
other players will have 9.

Players try to get a corner on any nine cards of one suit. However
players should not the values and penalties attached to the Bull and Bear
cards. If a player holds a Bull or Bear card when another player makes a
"corner", that player loses twenty points from his score or, if he has no
score, he is marked minus 20 for that round. If both cards are held,
that player loses 50 points. It should be evident that the bear card is
a bad thing and should be traded at all costs. The bear card may be
traded as one of the cards of a set. For example, if you were trading 4
corn, you could trade 3 corn and the Bear.

If a player holds the Bull card, he can call a "corner" if he can get
eight other cards (instead of nine) of the same suit. This is called a
Bull Corner. If a player gets nine cards of the same suit and the Buill
card, he has attained a "Double Bull Corner" which doubles the score for
that corner. A corner is always obtained when you have all nine cards
of one suit, regardless of any other card you may be holding.