The smudge in setback

What is a smudge in setback?

A smudge is a bid to win every point in the hand: High, Low, Jack and Game. In pitch it is usually called shooting the moon. It is the highest bid there is, so once someone smudges, nobody can outbid them.

The reward depends on the table. Under the classic setback rule, a player who makes a smudge wins the game on the spot, unless they were in the hole, below zero, in which case they simply score the points. Other tables treat it as a bid worth a fixed amount, often 5 in a four-point game, and some also require the bidder to take every trick.

Missing a smudge is expensive: the bidder is set back by its value, just like any other bid that fails.

In Score All the moon is a setting: not played, wins the game, or worth a set number of points, with switches for needing every trick and for the in-the-hole exception. On the score sheet you pick Moon as the bid and tap who took each point, and the app decides whether it was made.

Where it applies

Related: Pitch scoring · Shooting the moon in hearts

This rule is a switch when you set up a game, so the scoreboard applies it for you. All scoring rules →