Hey folks! Only 3 days until the Rook Tournament! ♠️
I know Rook can be played a hundred different ways, so I realize the rules I’ve chosen might not make everyone happy — and I’m sorry about that. After talking with several folks who play regularly, this seems to be the most common way people around here play, so that’s what we’re going with.
Sign-ups will begin at 6:30 PM.
If you show up before then, that’s perfectly fine!
But if you arrive after 7:00 PM, you will not be able to sign up.
Now I do understand that sometimes life happens, so if you’re running a little late just give me a call and let me know.
During the tournament, the only food items available will be:
• Fries
• Onion Rings
• Tater Tots
• Loaded Tater Tots
• Loaded Fries
• Mozzarella Sticks
• Popcorn
Don’t forget to bring your $10 per team entry fee and your best trash talk 😂
Let’s have some fun and see who walks away with the bragging rights!
Here’s a clean set of “Kentucky West-ish Rook Rules” based on what you described — no 2’s, 3’s, or 4’s, keep all the 1’s, keep the Bird, and 5 cards in the kitty. This is pretty close to how a lot of folks around central Kentucky play.
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Kentucky West-ish Rook Rules
Deck Setup
Start with a standard Rook deck.
Remove:
• All 2’s
• All 3’s
• All 4’s
Keep:
• All 1’s
• 5–14
• The Rook (Bird)
This leaves 45 cards total.
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Players
• 4 players
• 2 teams of 2
• Partners sit across from each other.
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Dealing
1. Deal 10 cards to each player.
2. Place 5 cards face down in the middle (the kitty).
3. Dealer rotates each round.
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Bidding
• Bidding starts left of the dealer.
• Minimum bid is 70.
• Players bid in increments (70, 75, 80, etc.).
• Highest bidder wins the bid.
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The Kitty
The winning bidder:
1. Picks up the 5 cards from the kitty.
2. Discards 5 cards face down to form the new kitty.
Those discarded cards count toward that team’s points.
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Calling Trump
After picking up the kitty, the bidder calls trump.
Trump can be:
• Red
• Yellow
• Green
• Black
The Rook (Bird) is always the highest trump card.
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Card Ranking
Within trump suit:
Bird (Rook) – highest
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
1 – lowest
Other suits follow the same order without the Bird.
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Scoring Cards
Only certain cards count for points.
Card Points
1 15
14 10
10 10
5 5
Bird 20
Total points per round = 180 points.
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Gameplay
• Player left of dealer leads first.
• Players must follow suit if possible.
• If you cannot follow suit, you may:
• Play trump
• Or throw off.
Highest card of the suit led wins unless trump is played.
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Last Trick
The team that wins the last trick gets 20 points.
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Scoring the Round
• Add up all point cards won in tricks plus the kitty.
• If the bidding team makes their bid, they score the points they earned.
• If they fail to make the bid, they are set back the bid amount.
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Winning the Game
Play until a team reaches 300 points (or whatever score your table agrees on)
Also check out other Sports events in Lancaster.
