ROOK FOR THREE

Hey there! Ever heard of Rook for Three? It’s a really cool card game that’s been around since 1914. It was created by George S. Parker of the Parker Brothers, and it’s super fun to play with your friends or family. Let me tell you all about it!

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

Rook for Three is played with a special deck of cards called the Rook deck. This deck is a little different from a regular deck of cards. You take out all the 1’s, 2’s, 3’s, and the Rook card, so you’re left with a deck of 44 cards.

At the beginning of the game, each player is dealt 13 cards. The rest of the cards (5 of them) are placed face down, and this is called the “nest”.

Oh, and don’t forget! The dealing of the cards goes from left to right, so it changes each round.

THE PLAY

BIDDING

Hey there! Let me break down how the game works. It’s a bidding game where players try to guess how many points they can win. Each round has a maximum of 126 points up for grabs, but usually, bids don’t go above 80 points. So, you’ve gotta make your bid wisely!

Alright, here’s the deal. The dealer starts off the bidding with an automatic bid of 50 points. Then, it’s time for the other players to bid. The bids have to increase in increments of 5 points. If you don’t wanna raise the bid, just pass. The bidding goes around the table until two players pass. Whoever has the highest bid after that wins!

The person who wins the bid gets to choose the trump color for the whole round. Once they’ve made their choice, they can also pick up to five cards from the nest and replace them with their own. But wait, there’s a catch! You can’t put any count cards in the nest, nor can you leave any there. After everyone has made their changes, the nest is taken out of the game and placed face down.

Now, let’s talk about leading the first trick. The player who won the bid gets to go first. They choose a card from their hand and play it. After that, the other players have to follow suit, which means they have to play a card of the same color if they have one. If they don’t, they can play any card they want. The person who plays the highest card of the requested color wins the trick. And that’s how the game goes!

When we play this game, I start the first trick because I’m sitting to the left of the person who bid the highest. I can play any card I want. The others have to match the color of my card if they can. But if they don’t have a card of that color, they can play any card they like. The trick is won by the person who plays the highest card of the same color as mine, or the highest trump card. That person then leads the next trick. We keep playing like this until all the tricks are captured.

How do we know who wins? Well, we keep playing rounds until one player wins. Each player earns 2 points for every trick they capture. But that’s not all. We also earn points for capturing special cards. If we catch a 14 or a 10, we get 10 points for each card. And if we catch a 5, we earn 5 points for each one.

There’s one more rule to remember. If the person who made the highest bid doesn’t capture as many tricks as they said they would, we take away points from their score. The game keeps going until someone manages to earn 200 points. And that player is the winner.