Rentz (card game)

Rentz is an American version of the Romanian card game . Rentz is a compendium game mainly comprising trick-taking deals or 'mini-games'. The object of each deal is to either avoid taking "tricks" or score points. The game can be played by four players, each of which is dealt 13 cards from a standard playing card deck at the start of each hand.
Rules
*4 players
*A dealer is picked at random to start the game.
*The dealer deals 13 cards to each of the 4 players then picks the mini-game. Note: A mini-game can only be chosen once per dealer.
*The mini game is played until all cards are played or the mini-game is otherwise ended.
*"Trick-taking" mini-games are played when the dealer plays a card. The other players then play cards of the same suit in a counter-clockwise fashion. When each player has played a card, the player who played the highest card of the initial suit takes the "trick". Note: if a player does not have a card of the initial suit, he must lay a card of any suit.
*The "Rentz" mini-game is played differently and is described below.
*The dealer then shuffles, re-deals 13 cards to each of the 4 players and picks a different mini-game until all mini-games have been played, at which time the dealer is changed.
*After all four players have dealt all mini-games, scores are compared. The player with the most points wins.
Mini-games
*Acool: -10 points per trick taken.
*Diamonds: -15 points per Diamond taken.
*King of Hearts: -75 points if the King of Hearts is played. The mini-game is ended once the King of Hearts is taken in a trick.
*Queens: -25 points per Queen taken.
*Rentz: Rentz is a game of the domino type, not a trick-taking deal, and is the only game where a player can gain points. Cards are played in suit and sequence to the table to form four rows each of one suit in order of rank. Each suit is started by a Jack, and a player can play a card above or below the Jack. If the player cannot play a card, the player must "pass". This game is played until all 2's and Aces have been played. The first player to get rid of all of his or her cards gets 200 points. Second place receives 150, third receives 100, and fourth receives only 50 points.
Strategies
*Acool: Avoid taking tricks.
*Diamonds: Avoid taking diamonds.
*King of Hearts: Avoid taking the king of hearts.
*Queens: Avoid taking queens.
*Rentz: Try to get rid of all your cards.
Score verification
To verify that the scorekeeper has recorded the players' scores accurately, sum the players' scores for each mini-game as follows:
*Acool: The sum of all the scores should be -130.
*Diamonds: The sum of all the scores should be -195.
*King of Hearts: The sum of all the scores should be -75.
*Queens: The sum of all the scores should be -100.
*Rentz: The sum of all the scores should be +500.
At the end of all five mini-games, sum each player's scores to determine the winner of that round. The sum of all the summed scores should be zero.

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See Also

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