Pit is a fast-paced card game

Card game

A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

 for three to eight players, designed to simulate open outcry

Open outcry

Open outcry is the name of a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orders...

 bidding for commodities. The game was developed for Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...

 and first sold in 1904. This popular version of the game was developed by Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce

Edgar Cayce was an American psychic who allegedly had the ability to give answers to questions on subjects such as healing or Atlantis while in a hypnotic trance...

, who would also become famous for his psychic predictions.

The inspiration was the US Corn Exchange

Corn exchange

A corn exchange or grain exchange was a building where farmers and merchants traded cereal grains. Such trade was common in towns and cities across Great Britain and Ireland until the 19th century, but as the trade became centralised in the 20th century many such buildings were used for other...

 and it was likely based on the very successful game Gavitt's Stock Exchange, invented in 1903 by Harry E. Gavitt of Topeka, Kansas

Topeka, Kansas

Topeka |Kansa]]: Tó Pee Kuh) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is situated along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...

 (and reprinted in 2004 in an authentic "heirloom" edition by Out of the Box Publishing

Out of the Box Publishing

Out of the Box Publishing is a Wisconsin based Publishing Company specializing in family, card and party games. As of December 2008, they have published over 45 titles....

). Versions of the game have been marketed under the names Billionaire, Business, Cambio, Deluxe Pit, Quick 7, and Zaster.

Contents

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

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

, Corn

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

, Coffee

Coffee

Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...

, Oranges

Orange (fruit)

An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....

, Oats

OATS

OATS - Open Source Assistive Technology Software - is a source code repository or "forge" for assistive technology software. It was launched in 2006 with the goal to provide a one-stop “shop” for end users, clinicians and open-source developers to promote and develop open source assistive...

, Soybeans, Sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

 and Wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

. The classic version has flax, hay, oats, rye, corn, barley, and wheat. Two special cards are also included, the Bull and the Bear.

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.

The Bull and the Bear

The Bull card is considered wild and can be used to complete any set. If the player has the full nine cards as well as the Bull, the player earns double the score for that round. A player cannot win if they hold the Bear, and at the end of each round, the player holding the Bear and any losing player holding the Bull each lose 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

The original edition contained only seven commodities.

Commodity	Value
Wheat	100
Barley	85
Corn	75
Rye	70
Oats	60
Hay	50
Flax	40

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

Commodity	Value
Wheat	100
Barley	85
Coffee	80
Corn	75
Sugar	65
Oats	60
Soybeans	55
Oranges	50

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.

Commodity	Value
Cocoa	100
Platinum	85
Gold	80
Cattle	75
Oil	65
Rice	60
Silver	55
Gas	50

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.
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 him/her the bull/bear : When one trades away the bull/bear, usually just before the game ends.
The granary : A player's hand.
Getting flaxed : Inadvertently acquiring an abundance of flax, the commodity with the lowest value.
Flaxing out : Cornering the market

Cornering the market

In finance, to corner the market is to get sufficient control of a particular stock, commodity, or other asset to allow the price to be manipulated. Another definition: "To have the greatest market share in a particular industry without having a monopoly...

on 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.