Comparison

Rook vs Nertz JD

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Rook

Experience a strategic trick-taking card game with a unique deck and bidding system. Play with friends or AI, aiming to reach a target score by winning tricks and naming trump suits. Features color-blind friendly cards and customizable rules.

Highlights
  • Trick-taking gameplay
  • Unique card deck (5-14)
  • Bidding for trump suit
  • Color-blind friendly cards
  • Customizable rules
  • AI opponents
Features
Read full description

Play the classic Rook trick-taking card game on your iPhone or iPad. You play South, partnered with North, against the West/East team. Rook uses a special deck with four colored suits numbered 5 through 14, plus the powerful Rook card. In this app, the Rook is represented by a castle chess piece, and the cards are designed to be color-blind friendly. Customize the game to match the Rook rules you know. Change the wallpaper, add optional 1 cards ranked above the 14s, choose whether players must play trump when unable to follow suit, award a bonus for winning every trick, adjust the winning score, and more. HOW TO PLAY Dealing: The deal rotates to the left each hand. Each player receives 9 cards, with 5 additional cards dealt to the widow in the center of the table. Bidding: Players bid for the right to choose the trump suit. The player to the dealer’s left opens the bidding at 70 or passes. Bidding continues to the left, usually in 5-point increments. Once a player passes, that player is out of the bidding for the hand. The Widow and Trump: The high bidder takes the 5 widow cards, which are revealed to all players, chooses the trump suit, and then discards 5 cards. The discarded cards remain hidden from the other players. Depending on your settings, point cards in the discard go either to the bidding team or to the winner of the last trick. Playing Tricks: The dealer—or optionally the high bidder—leads the first trick. Play continues to the left, with each player playing one card. Players must follow the suit that was led when possible. If unable to follow suit, a player may play any card—or, with the appropriate option enabled, must play trump when possible. The highest card of the suit led wins unless a trump card is played, in which case the highest trump wins. The Rook is the highest trump card and can be played strategically to capture a valuable trick. Standard card ranking from highest to lowest is: Rook – 14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 With the optional 1 cards enabled: Rook – 1 – 14 – 13 – 12 – 11 – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 The winner of each trick collects the four cards and leads the next trick. Scoring: At the end of the hand, each team counts the point cards it captured: • Rook: 20 points • 14: 10 points • 10: 10 points • 5: 5 points Other cards have no point value. If the bidding team fails to score enough points to make its bid, the bid amount is deducted from its score. An optional bonus can also be awarded for winning every trick. Winning: The first team to reach the selected winning score wins the game. You can adjust the target score in the game settings. Rook is free to play and supported by advertising. Prefer to play without ads? Rook+, the paid ad-free version, is also available on the App Store.

About

Nertz JD

Experience a fast-paced, real-time multiplayer card game that combines elements of Speed and Solitaire. Compete against others to be the first to play all your cards and call out "Nertz". It's a thrilling competition of speed and skill.

Highlights
  • Real-time multiplayer
  • 4 player competition
  • Combines Speed and Solitaire
  • Fast-paced gameplay
  • Call out "Nertz" to win
  • Play to 100 points
Features
Read full description

4 Player Solitaire! Nertz is a crazy ninja fast, real-time, multiplayer card game like Solitaire. Nertz (Pounce) is a combination of the card games Speed and Solitaire. The goal of the game is to play all of your Nerts cards before the other player do. Game play is similar to Solitaire but all players share their Foundation piles and need to play ninja fast to win.   Overview Nertz can be played with any amount of people; this version plays with 4 players. Each player uses their own deck of cards in a solitaire–style competition that requires speed and skill. The object of each hand is to try to be the first player to call out “Nertz” by getting rid of their thirteen-card Nertz pile. A game of Nertz is played to a score of 100. After you play Nertz, multiplayer card games like blackjack, solitaire, or poker will feel slow. Nertz is known by a number of different names: Hell, Nerts, Pounce, Canfield, Peanuts, Blitz, Ligretto, and Racing Demon

Screenshots

Rook4 screens
Nertz JD4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Rook at none against Nertz JD's 1. Rook also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months). Nertz JD's advantage is review sentiment (74% vs 62%) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 17.0). On price, rating, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Nertz JD sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. Rook asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

On the App Store both sit at effectively the same score — 4.8 for Rook against 4.7 for Nertz JD. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 7K and 3K respectively. Written reviews are what separate them: 62% of Rook's written reviews are positive against 74% of Nertz JD's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rook ships an update every 2 months, Nertz JD every 7 months. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Rook versus Nertz JD: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRookNertz JD
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (7K ratings) — better4.7 (3K ratings)
Positive reviews62.3% of reviews73.6% of reviews — better
Number of ratings7K — better3K
Update frequencyEvery 2 months — betterEvery 7 months
AdsYesYes
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationAd-supported — betterFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS17.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB83 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerfishdog.netJD SOFTWARE LLC

Customer experience

Rook

All ratings6,955 ratings
Positive95.8%
Neutral2.5%
Negative1.7%
Written reviews114 reviews
Positive62.3%
Neutral13.2%
Negative24.6%

Nertz JD

All ratings3,029 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.9%
Negative1.8%
Written reviews125 reviews
Positive73.6%
Neutral13.6%
Negative12.8%

User reviews

Rook

From 7K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Fun and enjoyable game
  • 👍 Challenging and makes the mind work
  • 👍 Brings back childhood memories
  • 👍 Great implementation of Rook game

Room to improve

  • 🐛 AI partner makes poor decisions and gets team set
  • 🐛 Unfair distribution of cards favoring the opponent team
  • 🐛 Opponents can renege and play off-suit trumps
  • 🐛 Frustrating bidding by AI partner

Nertz JD

From 3K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast gameplay
  • 👍 Simple and fun
  • 🕹️ Addictive and engaging
  • 💯 Great way to practice the game
  • 🕰️ Good for passing time

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Touch sensitivity issues
  • 🤖 Unfair AI behavior
  • 🔇 Lack of sound effects
  • 🚫 Inability to play with friends
  • 📢 Annoying ads

Bugs and requests

Rook

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • AI partner plays trumps incorrectly
  • Scoring calculator issues and negative scores
  • Inability to skip the rest of the hand after outcome is decided
  • Irritating background music that cannot be turned off

Requested features

5 requests
  • Online multiplayer mode to play with friends
  • More customization options for game rules
  • Ability to play with full deck (2-14) and 4-card kitty
  • Option to start bidding lower
  • Ability to 'shoot the moon'

Nertz JD

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Game getting stuck in endless loop
  • Cards not moving or getting stuck
  • Frequent crashes or app not loading
  • Issues with latest iOS update

Requested features

5 requests
  • Multiplayer mode to play with friends
  • Option to shuffle deck when needed
  • Customizable settings (e.g., number of players)
  • Pause/resume functionality
  • Detailed statistics and leaderboards

In-app purchases

None

Rook

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Nertz JD

One-time1
  • Remove Ads$9.99

Questions

Is Rook free?
Rook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Nertz JD free?
Nertz JD is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Rook or Nertz JD?
Rook is rated higher. Rook averages 4.8 out of 5 from 7K ratings, while Nertz JD averages 4.7 from 3K ratings.
Do Rook or Nertz JD have ads?
Both Rook and Nertz JD show ads.
Which is updated more often, Rook or Nertz JD?
Rook ships an update every 2 months, and Nertz JD every 7 months. Most recently, Rook was updated on October 24, 2026 and Nertz JD on October 24, 2026.

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