Monthly Archives: January 2012

Review of 57 Cards: Deck of Plastic Rook “like” Cards

Over the years, we have played many, many hours of rook.  So many hours that we have seen our fair share of rook decks come and go.  In early years, the rook decks were fairly sturdy and would last for many months of playing.  In more recent years, the rook decks found themselves to be less sturdy, and simply would not last very long before become a burden to play with. In came 57 Cards, the plastic deck of cards that are perfect for the card game rook.

57 Cards makes a deck of cards that are exactly like rook cards, but do not have the name brand rook written on them.  They are still composed of the same 1 through 14 and four colors of black, red, yellow and green.  The difference is their rook card looks like a tree (not sure why they chose a tree).

The Pros

The quality of these rook like cards are amazing.  Being fully plastic, they do not lose their smooth and sleek feeling when played with over time.

The cards last a long time!  We have rarely had a time when we found a 57 card deck cause us issues.  We house many tournaments and now exclusively use 57 cards to play our tournaments.

Even after many months of playing, they still feel like the first time we played with them.

The Cons

They simply are not rook cards.  We are so used to using the term “bird” or the “rook” and it is a little different when there is a picture of the 57 cards logo – the tree – on there.

There is also only one colored deck.  We would love to be able to have two different colored decks so that while one deck is being played with, the other deck can be shuffled.  With the same backs, there is always the possibility that the decks will get mixed together.

The 57 Card decks are also more pricey than a regular rook deck.  It is almost double the price to get a 57 card deck than a regular rook deck.  If you are an occasional player of rook, it may not be worth it to buy the long lasting plastic deck that 57 cards offer.

Final Thoughts

We really like playing with 57 cards now.   As we have stated, we are exclusively using 57 cards in all of our rook tournaments now.

Playing rook during the Holidays: Reminder of family game nights

The Holiday season has always been a great time to get together with family for fun and fellowship. With our family, we have always enjoyed playing boardgames or card games together.  We are competitive, but the holidays seems to mellow the competitive spirit out for everyone.  For some family members, we haven’t seen them in many months so it is just good to enjoy their company, even if we are sitting around the game table.

This year we spent some time with our favorite board game settlers of catan as well as playing some nice rook.  We started out with a plane ride from one side of the U.S. to the other, and played some 2 handed rook on the way.  2 handed rook become very common for a while, but we have played it much less over the past few months.   It was nice to get reminded of how fun rook can be even with 2 players.

Then, upon arriving to visit the rest of the family, we were treated with some new decks of plastic rook cards from 57 cards that inspired us to play some long hours of rook.  We even tried a game they recommend for groups of 5 or more called 8 up.  It has similarities to rook but also has a phase 10 feeling to it.  They came out with an updated deck recently and it is actually a pretty smooth rook like deck.

Half of the time, we ended up playing without even keeping score.  It was just fun to be with the family.  Our family used to play many hours of games together each week.  The holidays seem to be a perfect reminder of how much fun family game nights are.

If you don’t have a family game night in your family, maybe you are missing out on a time to be lightly competitive yet bond in team unity.  Rook is a great game for a family of four with mom and pop playing with their 2 kids 10 years or older.  Get your family learning games early.  They will likely remember the memories fondly and can keep the activity going for many years into the future.