Rook card tournament to benefit Friends of the Library April 28
The Meadowbrook Center in Shawsville will host a Rook tournament and lunch on Saturday, April 28, as a fundraiser for Friends of the Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library.
The tournament, with tables for as many as 12 teams of two players each, will begin at 11 a.m. in the Carilion Community Room. Registration fee will be $20 per player. The winning team will claim a $100 cash prize, with $50 going to the runners-up.
Lunch items for sale will include hot dogs with chili and coleslaw, pinto beans and cornbread, nachos with cheese, homemade desserts, chips and drinks. Food and drinks are being donated by the Meadowbrook Library staff and volunteers.
Rook is a four-suit card game, like Bridge or Hearts, but played with a special deck. It was introduced in the early 1900′s as an alternative to poker and other card games associated with gambling and tarot reading. It is sometimes called Christian Poker or Missionary Poker. Rook playing cards were introduced for sale by Parker Brothers in 1906.
The Rook deck consists of 57 cards, including a Rook card with the image of a blackbird, and four suits or colors: black, red, yellow and green. Each suit is made up of cards numbered 1 through 14. In tournament play, the 2′s, 3′s and 4′s are removed from the deck, leaving a total of 45 cards.
Players are organized into two teams of two players each. Players bid for the opportunity to name the trump or “super” suit. The object of the game is to be the first team to reach 500 points by capturing tricks that contain cards with point values.
Rook’s popularity has grown in recent years. An online game is available on Facebook, “how-to” videos are posted on YouTube, and virtual competitions have sprung up on numerous other websites. Vintage Rook decks from the 1950′s and 1960′s, prized by collectors, appear regularly for auction on eBay.
For more information about the tournament and to register, call (540) 357-0794. Players also may register at the Meadowbrook Library.
– Submitted by Deanne Estrada
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
