Ready to Play Tennessee for Two?

Tennessee for Two is an exciting game for two players that uses a special deck of cards called Rook. In this game, we’ll compete to see who can win the most tricks and earn the most points. Let’s take a closer look!

Getting Started with the Cards and Deal

To play Tennessee for Two, we’ll need a modified Rook deck. First, remove the 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s from the deck. We won’t be using them. The Rook card is always the highest trump card in the game.

Now, let’s shuffle the deck and deal eleven cards to each player. We’ll also create a “nest” by placing five cards face down. The rest of the cards will be our draw pile. Remember to flip one card from the draw pile so that it’s visible to both players.

Time to Play!

Bidding:

Let’s start by bidding to see who gets to choose the trump color for this round. Each player, starting with the non-dealer, will make a bid based on how many points they think they can capture if they get to choose the trump color. The maximum number of points available for each round is 160. The minimum bid has to be at least 60 points, and all bids have to be in multiples of 5. The next bid has to be higher than the previous bid, but a player can also choose to pass if they can’t make a higher bid. The player who makes the highest bid gets to determine the trump color for the round.

Now, let’s talk about the nest exchange.

The player who wins the bid is allowed to exchange up to five cards with the nest. However, count cards are not eligible for this exchange and must remain in the player’s hand. Once the player completes the exchange, the nest is taken out of the game.

Finally, let’s begin playing.

When playing the game, the person who didn’t win the bid gets to go first and lead the first trick. They can choose any card from their hand to play. The next player in line has to play a card of the same color if they have one. If they don’t, they can play any card they want. The trick is won by the highest card of the color that was led or the highest trump card.

HOW TO DRAW CARDS

The person who wins the trick gets the chance to draw first. They can either take a card from the top of the draw pile or choose the face-up card. The player who lost the trick gets the opposite card. After both players have drawn, the top card of the draw pile is turned over and placed beside it. This process continues until there are no cards left in the draw pile. At that point, both players finish the game with the eleven cards they have in their hand.

SCORING POINTS

The Rook card is really valuable, worth a whopping 20 points! When I capture a trick, I get 2 additional points for it. You know what’s cool? Those 14’s and 10’s are worth a solid ten points each. Oh, and the 5’s, they may not seem like much, but they’re secretly worth 5 points each!

Now, here’s the deal. If I’m the player who won the bid, I need to meet or exceed my bid to earn any points. But if I can’t make it happen, if I fall short, I earn zero points for the round. Yep, no points at all, no matter how amazing my cards are.

Now let’s talk about the player who didn’t win the bid. They can still rack up points! Whenever they capture a trick or even a count card, points start adding up for them. Pretty neat, huh?

Now, to the Winner!

Here’s the exciting part. The first player to accumulate a whopping 300 points or more wins the whole game. They take home the ultimate victory!

The first player to earn 300 points or more wins the game.