Rook is one of our favorite games!  It lasts the perfect amount of time. We can have our friends over and have dinner and then play for about one hour, and then we’re done.  But the one drawback we’ve always run into has been getting the exact number of people to come and play.

For example, the other night we were trying to get a game of rock going (my wife and I) and we couldn’t find two other people to play with. With people with busy schedules, it’s hard to find a consistent group that can play with each other.

So playing rook three handed is something that we certainly have wanted to incorporate. There are often times where we were able to get 3 people together, or have 3 people for most of the time before the 4th was to arrive.

It wasn’t until recently that we were introduced to a new way to play rock three handed that we have really enjoyed.

This is how it has been described.

It flows much like the game of bridge. Each player bids for the amount of tricks they are going to take.  So rather than points, the player is bidding on the amount of tricks they will take. There are are a total of 20 tricks available.

The game is also played with two Rook cards rather than one. The rook is played as the lowest trump.

Every player bids on how many tricks they think they’re going to take, and then the winner is given a Kitty of four cards.

The rounds are then played where players follow suit just like the regular rook, and trumps can be played just like the regular rook. The only difference is that players are not trying to collect points, but rather they are trying to simply win tricks.

The end of the game the players total their tricks, and if the bidder makes their bid, they are awarded their points. However, if the two defending the bid stop the bidder from getting their bid, then they are awarded the total amount of tricks that they took individually.

A player wins the game when they have amassed a total of 50 points.

The last thing to note is that the Rook cards are worth one trick each. This is what makes a total of 20 tricks possible each round.

Have you ever played 3-handed rook like this?  Do you have another way of playing rook 3-handed?  Please let the community know.  I’d love to get the best version of 3-handed rook listed.

In Southern California, we are lucky enough to get a decent amount of beach days a year.  A full day at the beach may mean an hour driving to the beach in the morning and an hour driving home at night, mixed with a full day of activities in between.  Along with some fun beach activity including beach volleyball, surfing, frizbee, football, soccer, and the like.  We love to end the afternoon with some breezy rook playing.

Surprisingly, playing rook at the beach (while a bit sandy and windy) can be extremely fun.  If you are using the regular plastic coated rook cards, you may find the cards don’t last as well near the water, but some nice fully plastic cards will take care of that.

Keeping score can also be a bit difficult as papers may be flying all across the beach if you aren’t careful.  There are some simple phone apps out there that can keep score just fine though.

There are two things I never seem to get enough of, that is a day in the sun at the beach, or days where we get to play rook.  Mixing the two…priceless.

My family was a little bit of a card family.  I grew up playing cards (bridge, sevens, hearts, spades) with my family about once a week.  It was sort of our traditional Friday evening activity.  While rook wasn’t introduced to my family until later in life, I certainly learned the basics of card playing while very young.

It is amazing how quickly kids can learn and grasp the strategic concepts of rook and board games or cards in general.  I recently was playing with my 10 yr old nephew chess.  We had only taught him the game a few weeks ago, and already I was having to pause throughout the game to really think about the best strategic moves to win the game.  He had learned the game well enough that already was thinking on a high level strategically.

I am reminded of when I was younger how much I loved to compete in cards.   I was a competitive kid as it was, and to have an outlet for my competitive side in something non-violent was great (not that I was trying to be violent, but just keeping myself out of trouble).

Now, years later as a parent myself, I am reminded of how important it is to teach and play cards with your kids early and often.  It is such a fun activity and if you are looking for ways to add more bonding time with your children, it is a perfect activity to incorporate weekly.

Rook makes for a great game to teach your kids early.  It is fun yet challenging for kids and they can grasp the concepts very early in life.

Please teach your kids so we can keep adding to our number of rook players.

Kentucky appears to be the first state that has shown some growing support for rook tournaments.  Looks like they housed their first rook tournament in January this year.  Hope Kentucky is not the only place that sees the playing of rook continue to grow so strong!

The Holiday season has always been a great time to get together with family for fun and fellowship. With our family, we have always enjoyed playing boardgames or card games together.  We are competitive, but the holidays seems to mellow the competitive spirit out for everyone.  For some family members, we haven’t seen them in many months so it is just good to enjoy their company, even if we are sitting around the game table.

This year we spent some time with our favorite board game settlers of catan as well as playing some nice rook.  We started out with a plane ride from one side of the U.S. to the other, and played some 2 handed rook on the way.  2 handed rook become very common for a while, but we have played it much less over the past few months.   It was nice to get reminded of how fun rook can be even with 2 players.

Then, upon arriving to visit the rest of the family, we were treated with some new decks of plastic rook cards from 57 cards that inspired us to play some long hours of rook.  We even tried a game they recommend for groups of 5 or more called 8 up.  It has similarities to rook but also has a phase 10 feeling to it.  They came out with an updated deck recently and it is actually a pretty smooth rook like deck.

Half of the time, we ended up playing without even keeping score.  It was just fun to be with the family.  Our family used to play many hours of games together each week.  The holidays seem to be a perfect reminder of how much fun family game nights are.

If you don’t have a family game night in your family, maybe you are missing out on a time to be lightly competitive yet bond in team unity.  Rook is a great game for a family of four with mom and pop playing with their 2 kids 10 years or older.  Get your family learning games early.  They will likely remember the memories fondly and can keep the activity going for many years into the future.