This glossary defines the Rook card game terms used across this site: from the nest and its regional names (the kitty, the widow, the Kat) to counters, reneging, going set, and shooting the moon. Every family seems to have its own word for the middle cards, and they’re all here. Every definition below comes from the official Rook rules and the documented variations; where a term belongs to a specific variant, that variant is named. Terms are listed alphabetically.
Rook terms A–Z
Bid
An offer of the number of points a player’s team will try to capture, made for the privilege of naming the trump suit. Bidding starts with the player to the left of the dealer and passes clockwise in increments of 5 points, from a minimum of 70 to a maximum of 120, the value of every counter in the game. The high bidder picks up the nest, lays five cards aside, and names trump.
Call Partner
A five-player variant played with a standard deck plus a joker as the Rook, scored individually rather than in teams. When the bid-winner puts down the modified nest, he also names any card not in his new hand: the player holding that card becomes the partner of the declarer, but may not reveal herself except by playing the named card. The bid-winner may call a card in the nest to forgo the right to a partner.
Counters
The cards that carry a point value. In the official deck each 5 is worth 5 points, each 10 and each 14 is worth 10 points, and the Rook Bird card is worth 20, for 120 points in all. Capturing counters in tricks is how teams score.
Follow suit
To play a card of the suit that was led. A player must either follow suit or play the Rook Bird card, the only card that may be played even when following suit is possible. A player with no cards of the leading suit may play any other card, including a trump card.
Kat
The Western New York Rook name for the nest, or kitty. In that variant the Kat holds five cards, all counters discarded into it must be placed face up, and whoever takes the last trick gets all of the counts in the Kat.
Kitty
Another name for the nest, used in the Kentucky West(ish) rules, where the five middle cards are dealt face down as a kitty. The winning bidder picks it up without showing it and discards five cards face down, and the winner of the last hand gets the points from the kitty.
Misdeal
A deal that is called off and redealt. In the Kentucky West(ish) rules, a player dealt a hand with no point cards may call a misdeal and have a new hand dealt; Western Kentucky Rook has the same rule for a hand with no counting cards.
Nest
The five cards dealt to the middle of the table, one at a time during the deal. The high bidder adds the nest to his or her hand and lays any five cards aside before naming trump, and the player who takes the last trick of the round captures the nest and scores any counters in it. Depending on the variant, the nest is also called the kitty, the widow, or the Kat.
Pass and pass in-favor
To pass is to decline to raise the bid; a player who has passed may not bid again that round. Western Kentucky Rook adds passing in-favor: bidding continues normally until it returns to the player who passed in-favor, who then places his bid. And only one player per team may pass in-favor.
Red 1 (Red One)
The single 1 kept in the deck in Western Kentucky Rook, where the other 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s are discarded. The Red 1 captures the Rook (making the Rook the second dominant card in the deck) and is worth 30 points.
Renege
To fail to follow suit when you could have. The error may be corrected before the next trick is taken; if it is not discovered until later, the round ends, the team that made the error loses a number of points equal to the bid, and the opponents score all the counters they captured before the error was discovered.
Rook Bird card
The special card added to the deck, worth 20 points, the most valuable single counter. Under the official rules it is the highest trump in the game, takes any trick in which it is played, and may be played at any time, even if you are able to follow suit. In the Kentucky West(ish) rules it is instead the lowest trump, ranking as a zero of whatever color is called.
Set
A bidding team is set when it fails to capture at least as many points as it bid: it loses a number of points equal to the amount of the bid and makes nothing for the counters it captured that round, while the opposing team receives points for any counters it captured. Western Kentucky players say the bidder “goes set” and the team is “set back” their bid. However you say it, getting set stings.
Shoot the moon
A maximum bid that wins the game outright if it is made. It’s the boldest call in Rook. In Woodson Patrick (Poker) Rook, shooting the moon is a bid of 120; in Western Kentucky Rook it is a bid of 150.
Trick
One card played face up by each player in turn, to the center of the table. The highest card of the leading suit takes the trick unless a trump card is played, in which case the highest trump wins; the player who takes the trick leads the next one, and tricks stay face down in front of their winner until the end of the round.
Trump
The suit named by the high bidder for the hand. Trump cards beat every card of the other suits: a trick is won by the highest card of the suit led unless a trump card is played, in which case the highest trump wins. Under the official rules the Rook Bird card is the highest trump in the game.
Turn it
In Woodson Patrick (Poker) Rook, the nest taker’s right to turn the top card of the deck and make trumps based on that color. This is usually called when a player’s colors are spread out, like 3-2-2.
Widow
Another name for the nest. In Woodson Patrick (Poker) Rook the widow is three cards; in Western Kentucky Rook it is six cards, and the widow winner leads out and calls trumps.
Keep reading
- Official Rook rules: every term above, in context
- Rook variations: the variants these regional terms come from
- Rook FAQ: quick answers to common rules questions
Know the language? Play Rook online.