Vintage rook card game

The eerie black bird can make all the difference. Parker Brothers created Rook in the early s and released the game in The Rook deck consists of 57 cards: a blue Rook Bird card, similar to a joker , and 56 cards divided into four suits , or colors. Each suit—black, red, yellow, and green—is made up of cards numbered 1 through This card, 4-suit system is derived from the French tarot deck; removing the 21 atouts , or trumps, from that deck while keeping the Fool card yields the card French-suited deck that was re-faced to create the Rook deck.

Though the culture-neutral deck was developed for the game Rook, many other games have evolved or existed previously that use the card deck with or without the Rook, or — by removing the 14s and the Rook — one can use the deck like a deck of standard playing cards.

Kentucky Discard is the version of Rook played at most Rook tournaments and clubs, and is a partnership game for four players. The players are organized into two teams of two players each, sitting opposite each other. Players must keep their hands secret from all other players, including their teammate. The object of the game is to be the first team to reach points by capturing tricks that contain cards with point values.

If both teams have over points at the end of a round, the team with the higher point total wins. Only certain cards, known as counters , have point value. Each 5 is worth 5 points, each 10 and 14 is worth 10 points, and the Rook Bird card is worth 20 points. The Rook Bird card is included, while the 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s are removed from the deck, for a total of 41 cards [1]. The dealer shuffles and cuts the deck, then deals all of the cards, one at a time.

After every player has received his or her first card, the dealer places one card in the center of the table. This is repeated until there are five cards—the nest of rook —in the middle of the table. The remaining cards are dealt normally to the four players, giving each a hand of 9 cards. After the deal, players bid in increments of 5 points for the privilege of using the cards in the nest and naming the trump suit.

Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer and passes clockwise. The minimum bid is 70 points, and the maximum is points the sum of the point values of all of the counters. If a player chooses not to increase the bid, he or she may pass to the next player. A player that has passed may not bid for the remainder of the round. Once all players but one have passed, the high bidder adds the five cards in the nest to his or her hand, and then puts any five cards back into the nest.

He or she then names the trump suit. If you have more than 4 people, make teams of more than 2 and rotate which players sit out each round. If you have less than 4 people, play a different card game like Pig or Blackjack. How to play rook? By Hook or by Rook. Partners should sit across from each other. Cut to see who deals first. The dealer shuffles and then Let's Rook. Play starts with the dealer or the person to the dealer's left it's the dealer's choice. The goal is to A rare bonus: If a team takes all the tricks, they get a point bonus.

This is a very rare How to Play Rook - FamilyEducation www. End Date: December 17, Jul 31, View all. Ad related to: rook card game free. After every player has received his or her first card, the dealer places one card in the center of the table.

This is repeated until there are five cards—the nest of rook —in the middle of the table. The remaining cards are dealt normally to the four players, giving each a hand of 10 cards.

After the deal, players bid in increments of 5 points for the privilege of using the cards in the nest and naming the trump suit.

Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer and passes clockwise. The minimum bid is 70 points, and the maximum is points the sum of the point values of all of the counters.

If a player chooses not to increase the bid, he or she may pass to the next player. A player that has passed may not bid for the remainder of the round. If no player has opened the bidding yet, a player may "check", reserving the right to bid on a later turn while not opening the bidding this turn. If all players check on the first round, or if one player has checked to their partner and the opposing partners have both passed, checking is no longer an option; each player remaining must bid or pass.

Once all players but one have passed, the high bidder adds the five cards in the nest to his or her hand, and then puts any five cards back into the nest. He or she then names the trump suit. After the trump suit has been named, the player to the left of the dealer leads with any card, placing it face-up on the center of the table.

Play proceeds clockwise, with each player playing one card face-up in turn. A player must either follow suit play a card of the same suit as the card that was led or play the Rook Bird card. If a player has no cards of the leading suit, he or she may play any other card, including the Rook Bird card or a card of the trump suit. After each player has played, the player who played the highest trump card, or, if no trump card was played, the highest card of the leading suit takes all four cards, or takes the trick , and places it face-down in front of him or her.

Tricks taken may not be reviewed by any player until the end of the round. The person who takes the trick leads in the next trick. If a player reneges , or fails to follow suit when he or she could have, the error may be corrected before the next trick is taken. If it is not discovered until later, the round ends, and the team that made the error loses a number of points equal to the bid, regardless of which team made the bid. The opposing team scores all the counters they captured before the error was discovered.

The Rook Bird card is the highest trump card in the game. As such, it takes any trick in which it is played. It counts as being in the trump suit when it is led to a trick, and a player who has the Rook but no other trump must play it to a trick in which the trump suit is led; however, the Rook Bird card may also be played at any time, even if the player can follow suit with a different card.

It is the only card that may be played this way. As the Rook is worth 20 points and will take any trick in which it is played, the player who is dealt the Rook can very often make the winning bid.

It is possible, though more difficult, to win a lower bid without it, but a player with the Rook and a few high cards including the 14 of a suit they can call as trump has a very strong hand that is difficult to beat. To reduce the power of the Rook and increase strategic play, the Rook Bird card can be made the lowest trump card in the game.

As such it beats all non-trump cards, but is taken by any "numbered" trump, similar to the Petit 1 of trumps in many Tarot variants. This adds a different strategy to play, with the bid winner actively seeking out the Rook, and its holder trying to save it for a trick in which other players cannot or have not played trump, so that it can be played "safely" and end up in its owner's scoring pile. A third method known as "Rook ten-and-a-half" places the Rook card's rank between the 10 and 11 of trump.

In this version the player holding the Rook must follow suit if possible. The Rook retains its 20 point value when the game is scored. When all possible tricks have been taken, each team adds the values of the counters it captured. If the bidding team failed to make the number of points bid, that team loses a number of points equal to the amount of the bid, and does not make any points for counters captured in the round.