Comparison

Rook vs ScumGame

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

ScumGame

Features
Read full description

Scum — also known as President — is the classic climbing card game, now on your iPhone and iPad. Be the first to empty your hand. Win the round and you're President next round; finish last and you're Scum. Play singles, pairs, triples, or quads — beat the pile or pass, and watch four-of-a-kind clear it. • Play solo against AI opponents, or online with 2–16 friends and family over Game Center • Optional house rules: Taxes (card swaps between President and Scum), Wild Card Jokers • Live scoreboard, play log, and round-by-round role rankings • Clean, readable design — relaxing to play, easy to learn, hard to put down Gather the table. Climb from Scum to President.

Screenshots

Rook4 screens
ScumGame4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is ads: ScumGame at none against Rook's shown. ScumGame also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 2 months). On price, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement 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. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Rook ships an update every 2 months, ScumGame weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 6, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 8 level
Rook versus ScumGame: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterRookScumGame
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (7K ratings) — better—
Positive reviews62.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings7K — better—
Update frequencyEvery 2 monthsWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationAd-supported—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad
Requires iOS17.017.0
Further details — not scored
Size33 MB15 MB
Age rating4+4+
Developerfishdog.netMichael Salmon

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'

ScumGame

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Rook

No in-app purchases

None

ScumGame

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Rook free?
Rook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is ScumGame free?
ScumGame is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Do Rook or ScumGame have ads?
Rook shows ads; ScumGame does not.
Which is updated more often, Rook or ScumGame?
Rook ships an update every 2 months, and ScumGame weekly. Most recently, Rook was updated on October 24, 2026 and ScumGame on October 6, 2026.

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