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As card games go, Rook is about as entertaining as any. It uses a bright easy to read deck of 57 cards. Central to the game is the "Rook" card. It is the only card in the deck with a picture on it. Because it has a black bird looking rather sinister, many people just call it "the bird." In most regions, the game is played pretty much the same way. However, from region to region, the rules have several common variations from the printed rules furnished with the game.

In its simplest form, each player is dealt 10 cards to be used for bidding and play. With 4 players, it is normal for the 2, 3, and 4 cards to be excluded from play. Since there are 4 suits, that leaves 45 cards remaining.

The extra 5 cards are dealt to a nest or kitty in the center of the table. These cards become the prize to the highest bidder and may be discarded or substituted for weaker cards in the bidder's hand. After the bidder selects the 10 cards he/she will play for the round, the extra 5 are discarded.

Most variations of the game require that all cards with point value must be kept. However, in some areas, it is common to allow them to be discarded, but they have to be disclosed before play, and the points go to the opposing team.

Once the bidder's cards are set, the bidder starts play by declaring one of the four suits to be trump and selecting one card from his/her hand and placing it face up in the center of the table. In their turns, going clockwise about the table each player adds a card to the stack. It is required that they follow the leading suit of red, green, yellow, or black. If they do not have the color, they can play any color of choice including trumps.

The high suit card or trump takes the trick. Point totals depend on the variation being played. The usual scoring is that 1's are 15 points and are the highest card in a suit. Next, 14's and 10's are 10 points each. The lowest scoring cards are 5's at 5 points.

The Rook card is wild and becomes a floating trump card. Some variations play the Rook as the lowest trump while others swing the other direction and play it as the highest trump. Nearly all forms of the game score the Rook as 20 points. This makes it the prized catch of the round. These are the only cards that have point value. Their total is 180 points.

In some areas, each trick caught is worth 2 points. With 10 tricks to be up for grabs, that makes 20 more points or a total of 200 per round. Most regions play a game to 500 points. Because of the various combinations of possible rules, make sure to agree with the people that you play the game with about which rules are applicable before beginning a round.

The bidding is done by the player to the left of the dealer making the opening bid or passing. If a player passes, he/she cannot re-enter the bidding in that round. Bids are based on the number of points that a player feels can reasonably be caught during the round given the cards in their hand and what might be available in the nest. Bidding continues with each player in turn until only one bidder remains.

Only the top card of the nest is exposed as a teaser. In a 180 point game with the Rook as low trump. a 115 to 135 point winning bid is normal. If the winning bidder fails to secure the bid during the round, the number of points bid is subtracted from that team's score and none of the points taken by that team count. If the bid is made, then the total points caught are recorded. The team that lost the bid always gets the points caught by their team.

Normally, it takes 1 to 10 rounds for new players to gain a measure of comfort with the game. This is especially true of bidding. Having played other bidding card games will shorten the learning curve.

Learn more about this author, Allen Teal.
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