Rook: The Best Card Game You're Not Playing By jayhawk88 in Columns Tue May 21, 2002 at 10:33:22 PM EST Tags: etc (all tags)
	It's Wednesday night, and you and three friends are bored. The club scene is old, and who wants to go sit in that smoke-filled sports bar all night? You've seen all the decent movies, and television is out of the question. How about a game of cards? Of course! But what game should you play? Pitch is too fast paced, Spades too predictable. Hearts is too nasty, and nobody really knows how to play Bridge or Pinochle. What you need is a card game that is easy to learn yet difficult to master, which offers challenging gameplay that still allows for casual conversation. What you're looking for is Rook.

Personal History with Rook I should start off by giving a bit of my own personal history with the game of Rook. As long as I can remember, my family has played Rook at almost any kind of family gathering, and has been doing so for the better part of 40 years. My parents, grandparents, and nearly all my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my fathers side play Rook regularly. Playing Rook is more than just a pastime, it has evolved into an excuse to get the family together. Rook is played at holidays and events like Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas; yet it is also played on Thurdsay evenings in March, or Sunday afternoons in December, for no other reason than to play and to be with family and friends. In short, Rook has been a catalyst in my family for spending time together more often and getting to know each other better. I have spent time over Rook games with aunts and uncles I otherwise might have rarely spoken to. Some of the fondest memories of my late grandfather are watching him grumble and complain about his lack of luck during Rook games. Rook is a game that both the young and old can enjoy together, which in this day and age is a rare commodity indeed. The Basics Rook is a card game originally created in 1906 by Parker Brothers. A deck of Rook cards consists of four colors (black, red, yellow, and green) each numbered 1-14, with a special "Rook card", which is basically a picture of the Rook bird. Though rules can vary greatly (more on this later), typically Rook is played as a partner bidding game. In this respect it is similar to Pitch, Spades or Pinochle, where players bid based on how many points they feel they and their partner can take through the course of a hand. Each round every player plays a card, and in general the high card wins the "trick". When all cards have been played, a team totals up the cards that count as points to determine if they win the hand. Unlike Spades, however, the winning bidder also wins the right to name whatever color he wants "trump". The trump color is then regarded as the superior color throughout that hand, meaning that it will take tricks of other colors, regardless of value. Veterans of Pinochle and Bridge will be familiar with the importance of naming a good trump based on the cards in your hand, and the tactics involved in striking a balance between your trump and the amount you bid. While it is a simple concept, to successfully bid and win in any bidding card game takes skill, strategy, and more than a little bit of luck in most cases. Rules of Play There is no one set of rules for playing Rook. The official instructions themselves included in Rook decks list 5-6 different playing methods, and many more variations exist. I myself have never seen the rules for the Rook I grew up playing listed in any source, official or otherwise. The rules my family plays with seem to be mostly an amalgamation of rules from existing games, with personal changes and additions thrown in as the family saw fit. What follows is a basic outline of the rules of Rook as it is played within my own family. These rules can be used to play with either 4 or 6 players. Obviously I believe this is the best way to play Rook, but of course your mileage may vary, and I invite you to experiment as you see fit. What You Need/Setup To start, you will need two standard decks of Rook cards, which can be purchased here among other places. Rook decks can also be purchased through most Wal-Marts, Targets, or other department and toy stores. The Deluxe Rook set is merely a higher quality of cards than the standard Rook set, along with a score sheet. Regular Rook decks can be purchased for about $6 at Wal-Mart in my area (Kansas); I would suggest going this route first if possible before deciding to spring for the deluxe version. The Rook rules I will be describing will be based on a double-deck, but it is possible to play single-deck Rook as well with minimal adjustments. Open up both decks of Rook cards, and remove all numbered cards (as well as advertisement cards) below a 5, save for two 4's of different colors. The two 4's will only be used if you are playing 6-handed Rook (they are necessary to ensure an even card count for each player), otherwise they are not used in 4-handed Rook. Mix the cards together in a sigle deck and shuffle. You should end up with a deck of 82 cards (two of each number 14-5 in every color, plus two Rook cards), 84 if you are playing 6-handed (the two 4's). Aside from a pen and paper to keep score and a medium sized table for play, all you need now is 3 or 5 friends and your beverages and refreshments of choice. In 4-handed Rook, typically the players sitting opposite from each other at the table are considered partners, while in 6-handed there are two teams of three people, the teams comprised of every other person around the table. As mentioned, with two decks there are two of each card 14-5 of black, yellow, red and green in the deck, plus two Rook cards. 14 is considered the highest card, 5 the lowest (or 4 in 6-handed). There are 3 point cards within the numerical cards: 14, 10, and 5. 14's are worth 10 points, 10's are worth 10 points, and 5's are worth 5 points. The two Rook cards, which are considered lowest possible trump no matter what color is named trump, are worth 25 points each. This makes for a total of 250 points in each hand of Rook. The deal proceeds much like it does in most card games, both the deal itself and next dealer responsibility rotate in a clockwise fashion around the table. In 4-handed, each player will receive 19 cards, with 6 cards left over in the middle, or "widow". In 6-handed Rook, each player receives 13 cards, with a 6 card widow. This widow is won by whoever wins the bid, who then has the option of using any of the cards in the widow for his hand, and is allowed to discard 6 other cards from his hand he may not want (though he may not discard trump). Bidding Bidding starts off at 150 points, and increases in minimum increments of 5 points from there, though players can increase the bid in larger increments if they wish. By bidding 150 (as an example), you are saying that you and your partner will take 150 points during play of the hand, which is also known as "making the bid". If you and your partner succeed in making the bid, you score 150 points, plus however many points above your bid you manage to take. If you fail to make the bid, you lose the amount of your bid, in this case 150 points. There are no "sandbags" in Rook (penalties for underbidding your hand), nor is there any opportunity to "shoot the moon" (making a certain number of points by taking all the points in a hand) or "going nil" (making a certain number of points by not taking any points at all). Once the bid has been placed (remember to write it down!), the bidder picks up the widow. It's usually customary to show everyone what was included in the widow before putting the cards in your hand, but not required. The bidder then discards six cards from his hand he doesn't want, which are not shown to everyone else. The idea is to discard low cards, point cards (as the person who takes last trick gets the discard), or attempt to get rid of an entire color in your hand, so you can trump in that color right away. The bidder may not discard what he intends to make trump unless he has no other option, i.e. he has more than 19 trump in his hand, which obviously would be a very rare occurance. If the bidder is caught discarding trump, or discards too few or too many cards, it is an automatic set. Hand Play Play begins with the bidder, who leads whatever card he wishes and names his trump suit. He can lead any card he chooses, including trump; trump does not have to be "broken" in Rook before it can be lead. Indeed, most players make it a point to lead their highest trump right away, attempting to secure the 25 point Rook cards from their partner. Play continues clockwise around the table from whomever lead the trick. Each player must play a card on each trick, and whomever wins the trick must then lead off the next trick. Players must follow the color suit lead whenever possible, unless they have no more of the color, at which point they are free to play any card they choose, or they may "trump in". If trump is played on any trick, high trump wins the trick, regardless of the numerical values of the non-trump cards. The Rook is considered trump in each hand, so if a player has no more trump color to play on trump-lead trick, the Rook must be played to follow suit. Each trick is taken in by the team who wins the trick, until all tricks have been played. The team that takes the last trick wins the bidders discard as well. Points are then tallied by each team to determine if the bidder made his bid or went set. The non-bidding team gains the amount of points they take regardless. The bidding team either makes the points they took if that total is over their bid, or loses their bid in points. The bidding team can never lose more points than they bid in one hand, regardless of how badly they went set. Winning the Game Play continues for as many hands as are necessary for one team to reach 600 points, which is considered game point. Depending on who makes bids or goes set, and by how many points, a game can be over in as little as 3 hands, or continue indefinitely. Should both teams eclipse 600 points on the same hand, the bidding team is considered the winner, regardless of actual point totals. This is known as "bidder goes", and basically rewards the bidding team, rather than allowing a team very close to 600 points to "coast" out. Strategy Although the rules and concepts are relatively simple, Rook, like most other partner bidding card games, requires a lot of practice, skill, and intuition by a player to become really good. To me, Rook offers a variety of subtle differences from other card games that really allow for deeper strategic thinking and exciting play. Unlike Spades, success is not dependent on receiving good cards in one suit. Unlike Pitch, Rook has enough depth of cards that it will not be immediately obvious after two tricks who has what cards, and making bids requires skillful card play as well as skillful bidding. Also, the outcome of hands are not pre-determined, like they sometimes are by melds in Pinochle. Below are a few general observations and strategies I have picked up over my years of playing. These strategies are by no means complete or fool-proof, but rather general truisms I generally fall back on when in doubt. Really, the best way to get a feel for the game is to simply play. You may take some lumps early on, but as they say, experience is the best teacher. - Don't overbid your hand. This probably seems obvious, but with 19 (13 in 6-handed) cards in your hand, sheer numbers can fool an inexperienced player into thinking they have a better hand than they actually do. In general, you're going to want at least 6-8 cards in your trump, the more the better obviously. It's usually preferable to have a 14 in your trump, so you can have at least one guarenteed trick to hopefully take a Rook with. Also, unless your trump is very strong, don't rely solely on it. A lot of points can be taken in the off-suits, so make sure you have some other decent cards. - Always lead trump. If you are the bidder, ideally you will have more trump than anyone else on the table (you hope). Thus, if you can run everyone else out of trump early, you will be in a much better situation later in the hand. Leading trump early and often not only allows you to more easily dictate the game to your will, it can help ensure you will take the last trick, which means you can hide count in the discard safely. Also, the Rook cards, at 25 points apiece, are so important that it is usually worth using high trump early on to secure them, or burning trump to get a Rook that may be hidden deep in another players hand. Even if you have to sacrifice a 10 of trump, you'll still be up 15 points if it allows you to take a Rook. - Don't bid on the widow. Although a good widow can greatly increase the quality of your hand, you shouldn't come to depend on it. For every widow filled with 14's and 13's, there will be one filled with 6's and 8's. Also, just because a widow might have high cards or a lot of cards in one color doesn't necessarily mean it will help your hand. Five red in the middle don't help much if you only have one in your hand to begin with. - Count cards, especially in trump. Smart players will mentally keep track of what 14's and 13's have been played in each suit, so that they can take advantage of it late in the hand with 12's and 11's. In trump this is especially important; a good player will keep track of all trump played down to an 11 or even 10. - Minimize one or two off-colors whenever possible. If you can get rid of one or two non-trump colors in your hand, you are in much better position to trump in, and take points the other team would have ordinarily gained. If you bid and can discard an entire color, it is usually adviseable to do so. Likewise, if you have the opportunity to burn a card during play, always look to burn cards from your weakest suit. Have Fun If my description has intrigued you, I invite you to make a point to pick up a couple decks of Rook, and break them out the next time you have a gathering of family or friends. Even if some or all have never played, the rules of Rook can be taught in a few minutes, and in my experience most people find it interesting and enjoyable straight off. Card games have traditionally been a great way to socialize, and Rooks unique variety of simple rules and complex strategies will appeal to a wide variety of people.

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Rook variations here Also by jayhawk88