Project 2020: Rook - As played with the classic Adventist rules

Your challenge is to program the multiplayer game called rook

Game Explained

The stages of the game are as follows.

Deal a Hand

1. The deck is consists of 4 suits (Black, Green, Red and Yellow) and one Rook Bird card. Each suit has numbers 1-14. For 3-6 players remove the 2s, 3 and 4s from the deck.
2. A dealer is chosen. Anyone can be the first dealer. Each successive hand will be dealt by the person to the left of the previous dealer.
3. Each player receives and equal number of cards and, a pile in the middle called the kitty receives a number of cards based on the number of players. Cards are distributed one at a time to each pile.
   1. 3 players: Kitty = 6
   2. 4 Players: Kitty = 5
   3. 6 Players: Kitty = 3

Bidding a hand

Each hand contains 200 points distributed as follows:

1. 5s are worth 5 points
2. 10s are worth 10 points
3. 14s are worth 10 points
4. 1s are worth 15 points
5. Rook Bird is worth 20 points
6. Last trick is worth 20 points

Although only the 5s, 10s, 14s, 1s and the Rook Bird are worth points, cards take other cards based on numerical value in the following order: 1, 14, 13, ..., 6, 5. Hence we treat the 1 as an ace. A person is bidding on how many points they can take in one hand.

• Bidding starts with the person left of the dealer.
• A minimum bid is 80 points
• Bidding goes clockwise around the table
• A person must bid at least 5 above the previous bid or pass.
• Bidding must be in increments of 5.
• If someone bids 200, they have reached the maximum bid for regular game play. However, if you believe that you can take every trick, you can bid "Shoot the moon" which will earn you double your points if you take every trick or cost you 400 points if you don't. In addition, you are not allowed a partner if you bid "Shoot the moon."
• The last person to bid receives the kitty

Game Setup

This stage is controlled completely by the bid winner.

1. The kitty is added to the bid winners hand.
2. The bid winner chooses cards to discard (equal to the number of cards in the kitty)
3. The bid winner advises the rest of the players if they discarded point cards in the kitty. This is important as the person who gets the last trick will also get the discarded kitty points if there are any in the discard kitty.
4. The bid winner announces the suit that will be trump in this hand. The trump color will then take any other color if played in the same trick. The Rook Bird is considered the lowest member of the trump color. E.g. if Trump is red, the Rook Bird would be lower than a Red 5, but would take any other color no matter what the denomination.

5. Depending on the number of players the bid winner may also call partner(s). In calling a partner, the bid winner identifies a specific card, the partner is not revealed until the card is played. The number of partners the bidwinner may call is:
   
   $$\lfloor\frac{players}{2}\rfloor - 1$$

Game Play

The game is played in a series of "tricks." A trick is started when the winner of the last trick plays a card or the bid winner for the first trick of a hand. Play than continues clockwise until everyone has played a card.

• The lead card determines the suit of the trick.

• Every player must follow suit if at all possible, that is, play the same suit as that lead. If a player does not have the suit lead, they may play any other card in their hand. The Rook Bird is considered the trump color and must follow suit like any other card. If a player does not have the suit lead (and the lead suit is not trump) they may "trump in" to steal the trick.

• The player with the highest card in a trick of the lead suit, or trump if a player trumps in, wins the trick and collects the cards.
• Cards are visible to all players until the next trick is started at which point NO ONE CAN SEE THE PREVIOUS TRICKS TAKEN.

At the end of the hand points are added up. The winner of the last trick gets 20 points and the points in the discarded kitty.

• If the bid winner and the called partners points add up to the bid or more, they receive then number of points won.
• If the bid winner and the called partners points do not add up to the bid, each of them has the bid amount deducted from their score. E.g. If the Bid = 165 and the partners only win 155, each partner and the bidder has 165 points subtracted from their current score. It is possible to have a negative score.
• The non-partners (the opposition) also add all their points together and each of them receives the total as their score for the hand.

The game ends with the winner being the individual with the highest score over 500. If no one has 500 or more, deal another hand.

Questions

• What happens if a single person holds multiple cards called as partner? That is just unlucky for the bid winner, and (s)he ends up with 1 less partner. Which may mean they have no partner (in the case of 4 or 5 players)
• What does it mean if a person calls a card from the discarded kitty their partner? Technically they own the kitty even if they loose the points. Consequently, they have just called themselves partner.

Strategies

1. As the bid winner, you should try to run everyone else out of trump. This way no one else can trump in and steal other tricks but you.
2. Counting cards is essential to knowing when others are out of a color such as trump. Some people also try to keep track of the outstanding high card in each suit of interest. Adapt your strategy according to your ability or better yet, learn to memorize better.
3. As the bid winner, watch for your partner to reveal themselves by playing points on tricks that they would not need to. After all it is in their best interest to ensure that you get lots of points (it will be their points too eventually).
4. Never play a point card yourself if you (or your team) are at risk of loosing the trick. It is a cardinal sin to play a 14 when the 1 has not been played (and you don't have the 1).
5. Play points on tricks you believe your group will win (partners or their opposition).
6. Never bid on a hand where you won't hold enough trump to run everyone else out (known as bleeding trump).
7. As the bid winner, try to eliminate suits from your hand. Having a one suit hand is extremely rare (bid high), having been dealt a two suit hand is also rare, but great! Getting to a two suit hand after collecting the kitty should be possible.
8. If you can take all the points you need without help consider calling yourself your own partner. If you don't even if you win, you could take someone else up too, and if they started with more points than you, they could end up winning the game on your hand.