Rook - The Old Genteel Pastime for Nice People
In some especially straight-laced subcultures playing cards with a normal deck of 52 including Jacks, Queens, Kings and Jokers is looked upon askance.
In this situation ROOK is a delightful substitute.
It is an old game passed on from generation to generation, simple and easy to learn but filled with nuance and plenty of fine points of skill and experience to be cultivated.
I'm sure the great majority of readers of this article find it hard to believe but I attended an undergraduate college where students had to pledge before coming there that they would not dance, drink alcohol, use tobacco, go to movies, or play cards.
The injunction against card playing was of course related to the idea that regular cards are used in gambling quite often so it was actually the KIND of cards used more than just the act of playing a card game.
Somehow over the years it became recognized that ROOK cards are never used in gambling so playing the game of ROOK became an acceptable exception.
Actually it turns out that ROOK is a very well-known game.
It's not just for the very straight-laced.
It's played on Friday evenings around the country by friends of all ages and the evening becomes often pleasantly absorbed in serious long drawn out pondering about whether I should have bid that 80 or 85 and the breathing of a sigh of relief when one's partner comes up with just the right card to take the trick you were worrying about.
There are probably readers among you who never play ROOK and probably don't even know how to play.
But you can rest assured that you can learn very quickly and it promises a very enjoyable evening for you and some of those closest to you.
When I was young and my family would gather for Christmas vacation at my grandparents' house in Florida there would be ROOK tournaments that lasted whole days and maybe whole nights.
I'm not saying that there's no danger of some rough moments when someone gets upset about a mistake they think their partner made or some game where the cards just didn't go their way.
But all in all it's a great old tradition that is resilient and fun to pass down from generation to generation.
I've known many families that have held and loved this tradition.
In this situation ROOK is a delightful substitute.
It is an old game passed on from generation to generation, simple and easy to learn but filled with nuance and plenty of fine points of skill and experience to be cultivated.
I'm sure the great majority of readers of this article find it hard to believe but I attended an undergraduate college where students had to pledge before coming there that they would not dance, drink alcohol, use tobacco, go to movies, or play cards.
The injunction against card playing was of course related to the idea that regular cards are used in gambling quite often so it was actually the KIND of cards used more than just the act of playing a card game.
Somehow over the years it became recognized that ROOK cards are never used in gambling so playing the game of ROOK became an acceptable exception.
Actually it turns out that ROOK is a very well-known game.
It's not just for the very straight-laced.
It's played on Friday evenings around the country by friends of all ages and the evening becomes often pleasantly absorbed in serious long drawn out pondering about whether I should have bid that 80 or 85 and the breathing of a sigh of relief when one's partner comes up with just the right card to take the trick you were worrying about.
There are probably readers among you who never play ROOK and probably don't even know how to play.
But you can rest assured that you can learn very quickly and it promises a very enjoyable evening for you and some of those closest to you.
When I was young and my family would gather for Christmas vacation at my grandparents' house in Florida there would be ROOK tournaments that lasted whole days and maybe whole nights.
I'm not saying that there's no danger of some rough moments when someone gets upset about a mistake they think their partner made or some game where the cards just didn't go their way.
But all in all it's a great old tradition that is resilient and fun to pass down from generation to generation.
I've known many families that have held and loved this tradition.
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