Contract Rummy

Contract Rummy: Toonerville Rook

Toonerville Rook is a tweaked version of Contract Rummy played with several Rook decks.


The game’s objective is to obtain the lowest possible score by the end of the game. This can be completed by discarding your cards onto the playing field and as few points against you as possible.


Three to five players per table can be accommodated. You can play tournament style, which involves groups of three to five people. At the end of each round, players move to another sheet. Keeping a master score sheet to record everyone’s score is essential to keep track of leaders.


One deck of Rook cards per person at the table is necessary. All decks are shuffled together so if there are players sharing decks, it is useful to have different backs for easy division.

Runs – A run is composed of four or more cards of the same color in sequential order.

Sets – A set is made up of three or more cards of the same number.

Rook Card

The Rook card functions as a wild card. If the rook is in a run on the play field, a player, during his turn may replace the card that the Rook card represents, grabbing the Rook card and using it to play with his hand. On the other hand, whenever a Rook card is taken out of play, it must be played during the player’s turn. Only Rook cards that are in runs may be substituted, while Rook cards in sets are untouchable—it’s like grabbing all Royal Vegas Casino bonus offers all at once.

Player’s Turn

Players must draw one card at the beginning of his/her turn from the deck or the discard pile. At the end of a player’s turn, a player must discard one card onto the discard pile, except when finishing a round. A player may not take from the discard pile and discard that same card.

A the start of a player’s turn, if the player does not want the top card of the discard pile, other players have to option to purchase that card before the player takes a card from the deck.

Buying a Card

An opponent can purchase a card on top of the discard pile by saying ‘I’ll buy that’. If more than one opponent wants to purchase the card, the buyer nearest to the player’s left gets the advantage. The player buying the card takes an additional card from the deck. Then play resumes with the player whose turn it is drawing his card from the deck. After a card is purchased during a turn, the player whose turn it is will not be eligible to draw from the discard pile and must draw from the deck.

Playing a Round

A player should achieve the specified number of runs and sets for any given round and play them on the field.

A player may play cards on an opponent’s play field if the player has played on his own field with the necessary amount of runs and sets for that round and if the card player on an opponent’s play field follows the rules for runs and sets.

Once a player plays his last card on the field or discards the last card on the discard pile the round is ended. Cards left in opponents are tallied and recorded. The player who plays his last card receives zero points.

Furthermore, Round 11 is different from the other rounds as players must not discard at the end of the round. The card drawn at the beginning of a player’s turn must fit into the two runs and two sets so that players can lay their whole hand down at once.


  1. Two sets (deal 12 cards)
  2. One run and one set (deal 12 cards)
  3. Two runs (deal 12 cards)
  4. Three sets (deal 12 cards)
  5. One run and two sets (deal 12 cards)
  6. Two runs and one set (deal 12 cards)
  7. Four sets (deal 12 cards)
  8. Three runs (dea1 12 cards)
  9. Five sets (deal 15 cards)
  10. Four runs (deal 16 cards)
  11. Two runs and two sets (no discard at the end of the round) (deal 12 cards)


  • Cards 1 through 9 hold 5 points each
  • Cards 10 through 14 hold 10 points each
  • Rook cards hold 25 points each