Frequently Asked Questions 

    Questions from people new to bidding games 

    Questions from people familiar with bidding games 

    Strategy Questions 
 

Questions from people new to bidding games 
 

      What is Roolz? 

            Roolz is the ultimate bidding game.  It is the only game to use six suits, two trumps, and a 
            100-card deck. 

      How do I win? 

            By scoring points and being the first to reach an agreed upon point total. 

      How do I score points? 

            By playing the most powerful card in a trick which contains point cards. 
 
      Do I win points for each trick I take? 

            No. Points are awarded solely on the value of the point cards you win. Each 15 is worth 15 
            points; 14s and 10s are worth ten points each; 5s are worth five points;  each Rooler is worth 
            30 points.Three hundred points are possible in each round of Roolz. 

      What’s a suit? 
 
             Roolz suits are all colors, blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, and green.  All the cards of each 
             color comprise the suit. 

     What is a trick? 
 
              A unit of play in which each player plays one card. 

      Who decides which card wins the trick? 

             The winning card is either the highest-numbered card in the lead suit (if no trump cards are 
             played) or the highest trump card. 

      What does ‘lead suit’ mean? 
 
             Lead suit is the color of the first card played each trick.  All players must play in suit if they 
             have any cards in that suit. 

      What does ‘trump’ mean? 

             A trump is a suit that beats other suits.  Normally, higher cards are more powerful than lower 
            cards (the blue 15 beats the blue 14 and so on).  However, a trump card beats a non-trump 
            card regardless of denomination. 

      When can I play trump? 

              When you are out of the lead suit and wish to do so. 

      Do I have to play trump if I am out of lead suit? 

             No.  Unlike many bidding games, it is not required to play trump when you are out of lead 
             suit. You may play whatever card you wish. To play a non-trump card in such a situation is 
             to "slough." 

      Who decides which suits are trump? 

              The high bidder has the privilege of choosing and announcing trumps. 

      What’s the purpose of bidding? 
 
             Bidding is a way to determine who gets the cards in the widow (the four—or, sometimes, 
            five—cards placed face-down on the table during the deal that belong initially to no one) and 
            who gets to name trumps. 

      How is the bidding done? 
 
            The minimum accepted bid is 170 (or 120 in the five- or six-player game).  It increases in 
            increments of five points.  Players may increase the bid or pass, but once they pass they may 
            not reenter bidding for that round. 

      Why doesn’t everybody just bid 300? 
 
              By bidding, you are saying that you (and your partner) will win at least that many points. 
              Should you fail to do so, you get that many points deducted from your score.  (That is 
              called  being ‘set.’) 
 
      What should I bid? 

             As many points as you feel confident you can win.  The best advice we can give is that you 
             quickly get a feel for what is a reasonable bid.  Roolz does not penalize players for scoring 
             more points than they bid. 

      What is a good hand? 

            Mostly, a good bidding hand is strong in at least two suits.  Also, be aware of what suits you 
            might be able to rid  yourself of should you win the widow.  Remember, you may not throw 
            away point-value cards, so lone 5s, 10s, and 14s should be listed on the balance sheet as 
            liabilities. 

      What’s a balance sheet? 
 
              See Infrequently Asked Questions

      Are all these words defined anywhere? 

             Yes.  Every deck of Roolz comes with a complete list of definitions.  They’re also included 
             under The Complete Rules of Roolz

     This sounds like a pretty good game for teaching strategy and logic.  Is it? 

              Yes, it is.  That’s very perceptive of you.  We believe you’ll make a good Roolz player. 

     Why are you giving away Roolz for Windows 95 for Free?  

              We're giving it away as a promotion.  We realize that it's quite ambitious of us to claim that  
              Roolz is the Ultimate Bidding Game.  Bridge, Spades, Hearts...they were all good games.  
              But now there's something better.  Don't take our word for it. Download the game and see  
              for yourself.  And when you find yourself addicted to the added excitement of six suits and  
              two trumps, we're confident you'll want a 100-card deck so you can play all the 2-6 player 
              versions with your friends. 

 Questions from people familiar with bidding/trump games 

      What makes Roolz different than bridge (or spades or Rook)? 

             Roolz is different because it has six suits instead of four and makes use of two trumps instead 
            of one.  With sixteen cards per suit and four additional special cards, the 100-card deck is 
            also larger than decks for less-developed bidding games.  Perhaps most importantly, Roolz 
            can be played by groups of two, three, four, five, or six people. 

      Are Rooler cards just like Rook cards in Rook? 

             No.  In most versions of Rook, the Rook card is both the most valuable and the most 
             powerful card in the deck.  Little skill is required to win Rook card because it always wins. 
             In Roolz, however, the Rooler cards are the most valuable, yet least powerful of the trumps. 
             It takes careful strategizing to win the Rooler cards and earn their 30 points. 
 
      I’ve heard that I can play Roolz with any deck.  Is that true? 

             No.  The truth is that you can play any game with a Roolz deck.  But only a Roolz deck has 
             the six suits and 100 cards necessary for a game of Roolz.  True, you can take out two of 
             the suits and play a pedestrian bidding game if you want to, but we have yet to meet the 
             person  who knows the excitement of a six-suited bidding game and opts to go back to four 
             suits.  It’s kind of like going back to training wheels, if you catch our drift. 

      I really like the concept of a blank card.  Why hasn’t anybody else thought of it? 

              Good question. 

      If your free computer game is so good, why should I bother buying the card game? 

             The computer game only simulates the four-player game and can only be played by one 
             person at a time.  If you want to enjoy the thrills of two-, three-, four-, five-, and six-player 
             competition, you have no choice but to get yourself a deck of Roolz cards.  Also, without 
             registering, you can only play the game 'legally' for 15 days. 

       Is it safe to say that since Roolz has twice as many trumps as other games, Roolz is twice as exciting? 

             Actually, trumps tend to be measured on a logarithmic scale (just like the Richter scale, for 
             instance), so a game with two trumps promises roughly ten times the excitement of a game 
             using only one trump. 

      What’s a logarithm? 

              See Infrequently Asked Questions

 Strategy Questions 

      When should I play the blank card? 

            You can play the blank card absolutely whenever you want.  It is a good idea to play it when 
            otherwise you would have to play a card that you don’t want to (i.e., a point card, a trump 
            card).  Use the blank card to "stretch" your trump or hold onto a valuable card one more 
            round. 

      Supposing I win the bid, what cards should I get rid of? 

            It is usually advisable to rid yourself of as many suits as possible.  By doing so, you will be 
            able to trump whenever those suits are led.  However, since you aren’t allowed to throw 
            away point-value cards (15s, 14s, 10s, 5s, Roolerz), this is not always possible.  In such a 
            case, get  rid of low denominations. 
 
      Which suits should I call trump? 

            Your strongest suit (the one of  which you have the most cards and the highest cards) should 
            be high trump and your second strongest suit should be low trump.  There’s  no clear strategy 
            for deciding between a greater number of low cards and fewer high cards, though most 
            players usually opt for the higher cards. 

      When should I slough? 
 
            It is advisable to slough when you are sure your partner will win.  By ridding yourself of a less 
            powerful card (especially a point card you may have otherwise lost) and holding on to an 
            extra trump, you have strengthened your hand considerably. Also, if you play last and no 
            points are in the trick, you may choose to slough a low card rather than waste a valuable 
            one. 
 
      Which is more valuable, the High Rooler or the Low Rooler? 

            They have the same value, but not the same power.  Both are worth 30 points.  But since 
            the High Rooler is the lowest high trump card and the Low Rooler is the lowest low trump 
            card, the High Rooler will defeat the Low Rooler. 

      Are there any tricks to remembering what suits are trump? 

            As a matter of fact, yes.  In the two-, three-, and four-player versions we use the cards 
            we’ve taken out of the deck (0s, 1s, 2s) to mark trump.  We place the 2 of the high trump 
            suit face-up on the table next to the 0 of the low trump suit.  Also, after each trump has been 
            "broken,"  we rotate that card so that we know it is legal to lead that particular trump. 
            Also, it helps to rearrange your hand consistently once trumps are announced (for example, 
            all high trump cards to the very  left and all low trump cards to the very right).  Should you 
            want to  intimidate your opponents, move an exaggerated number of cards to the far left. 

       Do you have a question not addressed here?  E-mail it to comments@roolz.com. 
 

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