Rook vs Mex Train
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
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.
- Trick-taking gameplay
- Unique card deck (5-14)
- Bidding for trump suit
- Color-blind friendly cards
- Customizable rules
- AI opponents
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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.
Mex Train
A digital adaptation of the popular family domino game. Compete against three AI opponents, strategically arranging your dominoes to build the best train. Utilize hints to guide your moves and optimize your gameplay.
- Play against three computer opponents
- Drag and arrange dominoes
- Flip dominoes before play
- Build your perfect train
- Get play hints
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Favorite family domino game. Play against three computer opponents. Drag ten dominoes to your home area to start each round. Before play, you can double-tap a domino to flip it around, and arrange your perfect train. Tap the question mark for a play hint (doesn't show, if no play available).
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Rook at 4.8 against Mex Train's 3.5. Rook also leads on update cadence (every 2 months vs every 16 months) and ratings volume (7K vs 26). Mex Train's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and monetization model (free vs ad-supported). On price, review sentiment, in-app purchases and device support 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
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Rook holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Rook has 7K ratings behind it against 26, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 62% of Rook's written reviews are positive against 56% of Mex Train's.
Rook ships an update every 2 months, Mex Train every 16 months. The most recent releases landed on November 1, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Rook | Mex Train |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (7K ratings) — better | 3.5 (26 ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 62.3% of reviews — better | 56.3% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 7K — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months — better | Every 16 months |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 17.0 | 12.4 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 33 MB | 6 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | fishdog.net | Phil Stern |
Customer experience
Rook
Mex Train
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'
Mex Train
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Rook
No in-app purchases
Mex Train
No in-app purchases









