How to play Rook

Learn the rules to the card game Rook quickly and concisely - This video has no distractions, just the rules.

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RULES:
The object of the game is to be the first team to reach 300 or more points or to have the most points after a predetermined number of hands. Decide beforehand which way you will play. Divide into teams of 2. Remove the 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s, and add the rook card. Pick the first dealer who shuffles and deals 5 cards to each player and 5 cards face down in the center of the table, this is called the nest. Players look at their own cards but keep them hidden from all other players.

Some cards are worth points: 5s are worth 5 points each, 10 and 14 are worth 10, and the rook bird is worth 20. These cards are called counters. The player to the left of the dealer goes first, then play continues clockwise. At the start of a new hand, you must bid the number of points from counters you will think you will take. The bid must be divisible by 5 and the maximum number of points possible is 120. Bidding continues around table until no one is willing to bid higher. You must always bid at least 5 points higher than the highest bid. A player can pass in bidding at any point, if they do they may not bid again until the next hand.

The player who bid the highest number takes the nest and adds it to their hand, then they take any 5 cards from their hand and put them in a face down pile to the side as a new nest. No player may look at these cards. The player who takes the very last trick of the hand will collect these cards and add any counters in it to their score. Finally, the highest bidder announces the trump color. It can be any color of their choice.

The player to the left of the dealer plays first, the player leads any card they want, face up, to the center of the table, then play proceeds clockwise. On your turn to play, you must play 1 card of the same color as the led card. If you do not have a card of the same color then you may play any card. After each player has played 1 card, the highest card of the color led wins the trick, unless there is a trump, then the highest trump card wins. The winner of the trick, collects the cards to a face down pile next to them. Only the most recent trick taken may be looked at, you may not look at any other taken tricks. The player who took the trick leads the next.

The rook bird card is always the highest trump card no matter what color is picked. The Rook Bird may be played regardless of the led color and what other colors are in your hand. If the rook bird is led, then all players must play trump if they have one. If the trump color is led and you have no other trump cards beside the rook bird, then you must play the rook bird.

When all the cards in the hand have been played, the player to take the last trick collect the nest. Then each player scores points for their counters towards their team’s score. If the bidding team failed to score counters equal to or higher than their bid, then their bid amount is subtracted from their total score and they receive no points for the counters they collected.

A 40-point penalty is subtracted from the team that makes any of the following illegal plays: The bidder discards an incorrect number of cards to the nest. You “table talk” and say something that tells or suggests how your teammate should make a play, other than to clarify a rule.

When you play an incorrect color when you could have followed suit and you don’t correct the error before the next trick is taken. Once the error is discovered, the hand ends immediately and the team that made the error subtracts the bid for that hand from their score. Your opponents also score every counter in all their tricks from before the error was discovered.

The first team to reach 300 or more points, wins. If both teams exceed 300 points at the same time, then the team with the most points wins. Still a tie? Play another hand to determine the winner.