Rentz: Romania’s Epic 7-Round Compendium Card Game

Introduction

Rentz is Romania’s most popular long-form card game — a compendium of 7 different sub-games played in sequence, each with its own unique objective. One round punishes you for taking tricks, another for capturing Hearts, and the terrifying final round combines all penalties at once. The result is a marathon of shifting strategies that rewards adaptability, memory, and cunning over brute luck.

The game goes by several names in Romania, including Rentz, Renț, and sometimes Rent. It belongs to the compendium card game family — a category that includes the French game Barbu and the Hungarian game Lórum. What sets Rentz apart is its elegant adaptation for the 32-card deck, the devastating “Totul” round, and its deep roots in Romanian social life. University dormitories, military barracks, summer camps, and family gatherings across Romania have all been shaped by long nights of Rentz.

Unlike single-objective card games where you either win tricks or avoid them, Rentz forces you to excel at both. The Whist round rewards winning as many tricks as possible, while five other rounds penalise you for various things you might capture. The dealer gets to choose which round to play — making hand evaluation and round selection a critical strategic layer that elevates Rentz far above simpler trick-taking games.

The Deck

The number of cards you need depends on how many people are playing. The core principle is simple: every card must be dealt out evenly, with no remainder.

• 4 players (standard): Use a 32-card deck — remove all 2s through 6s from a standard 52-card deck, leaving 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace in each of the four suits. Each player receives 8 cards.
• 3 players: Use a 24-card deck — remove all 2s through 8s, leaving 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace in each suit. Each player receives 8 cards.
• 5 players: Use a 40-card deck — remove all 2s through 4s, leaving 5 through Ace. Each player receives 8 cards.
• 6 players: Use a 48-card deck — remove all 2s, leaving 3 through Ace. Each player receives 8 cards.

The standard French-suited deck (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades) is used throughout Romania for Rentz. The suits rank equally — there is no trump suit. Within each suit, cards rank from high to low: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 (in the 32-card version).

Object of the Game

The object of Rentz is to accumulate the highest total score across all rounds played by every dealer. Since five of the seven rounds award negative points and only one awards positive points, most players will finish with a negative total. The winner is the player whose score is the least negative (or, in rare cases, positive).

A complete game with 4 players consists of 28 rounds in total: each of the 4 players deals 7 rounds, one for each sub-game. The game tests your ability to minimise damage in the penalty rounds while maximising your haul in the Whist round — and to survive the catastrophic Totul round with as few penalty points as possible.

Setup & Deal

1. Choose a first dealer. Select one player by any agreed method — drawing the highest card, youngest player, or simply volunteering. The dealer role passes clockwise after each round.
2. Shuffle and deal all cards. The dealer shuffles the deck thoroughly and deals all cards face down, one at a time, clockwise. Every player must receive the same number of cards. With 4 players and a 32-card deck, that means 8 cards each.
3. Prepare the score sheet. Create a grid with player names across the top and rows for each round. You will need 7 rows per dealer, so a 4-player game requires 28 rows. Keeping an accurate running total is essential.

The 7 Rounds

The heart of Rentz lies in its seven distinct rounds. Each round has a different objective and scoring system. The dealer examines their hand and then announces which of the remaining rounds they wish to play. Once a dealer has chosen a particular round, they cannot choose it again in a future deal — each dealer must play all 7 rounds exactly once over the course of the game.

Round 1: Rentz (No Tricks)

The round that gives the game its name. In Rentz, the goal is simple: avoid winning tricks. Every single card you capture costs you points.

Play proceeds normally — the player to the dealer’s left leads, players must follow suit, and the highest card of the led suit takes the trick. At the end of the round, each player counts the total number of cards in the tricks they have won. Each card taken is worth −2 points.

With 8 tricks available in a 4-player game (32 cards, 4 cards per trick), the total penalty pool is −64 points (32 cards × −2). A player who takes no tricks at all scores zero — a perfect result. A player who takes all 8 tricks suffers the maximum penalty of −64 points.

The key to surviving the Rentz round is to shed your high cards early when you are not leading, and to avoid being forced to win tricks late in the round when you have no low cards left to duck with.

Round 2: No Hearts

In this round, the penalty falls exclusively on Heart cards. You may win as many tricks as you like — as long as those tricks do not contain Hearts.

Each Heart card captured is worth −2 points. In a 32-card deck there are 8 Hearts (7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A of Hearts), so the total penalty pool is −16 points. With a 24-card deck (3 players), there are 6 Hearts for a pool of −12.

Hearts cannot be led until a Heart has been “broken” — that is, until someone has discarded a Heart on a trick led by another suit (because they had no cards of the led suit). Once Hearts are broken, they may be led freely.

Strategy revolves around voiding yourself in a side suit so you can discard your high Hearts onto other players’ tricks, while also avoiding winning tricks that contain Hearts played by opponents doing the same thing.

Round 3: No Queens

This round targets the four Queens specifically. Win any trick you like — but do not capture a Queen.

Each Queen taken is worth −6 points. With 4 Queens in the deck, the total penalty pool is −24 points. Capturing even a single Queen is a significant blow to your score.

Players holding Queens will try to dump them onto opponents’ tricks. Players without Queens must be careful not to win tricks where a Queen has been sloughed. The Queen of Spades — often the most dangerous card in the deck — becomes particularly feared because it is the highest-ranking Queen and difficult to dodge when Spades are led.

Round 4: No King of Hearts

The most focused of the penalty rounds. A single card — the King of Hearts — carries the entire penalty. Capturing it costs the unlucky player −16 points. Everyone else scores zero.

This round creates intense psychological tension. The player holding the King of Hearts wants to pass it off to someone else by playing it on another player’s trick. Meanwhile, every other player is trying to avoid winning any trick where the King of Hearts might appear. If Hearts are led, the player with the King of Hearts must play it when their turn comes (must-follow-suit), but they will try to ensure someone else wins that trick.

A common tactic is to lead low Hearts, forcing the King of Hearts holder to either play it (if they have no lower Heart to duck with) or to hold onto it until late in the round when escape becomes harder. Counting Hearts is crucial.

Round 5: No Last Two Tricks

In this round, only the final two tricks of the round carry penalties. All earlier tricks are free — you can win as many as you want with no consequence. But winning the second-to-last trick costs −8 points, and winning the last trick costs −10 points.

The total penalty pool is −18 points. While this seems modest compared to other rounds, the endgame tension is extraordinary. As the round nears its conclusion, players begin desperately trying to lose the lead. The player stuck with high cards in the last two tricks is doomed.

Because early tricks are free, aggressive players may deliberately win them to strip opponents of their low cards. A player who has been forced to play all their 7s and 8s early has no escape cards for the endgame. This makes the No Last Two round one of the most strategically complex, despite its simple scoring.

Round 6: Whist

Whist is the one positive round in Rentz. Here, the objective is reversed: win as many tricks as possible. Each card captured is worth +2 points.

With 32 cards in the deck, the total reward pool is +64 points. A player who wins all 8 tricks earns +64 points — a massive swing that can transform their overall standing. A player who wins no tricks earns nothing.

Whist plays like a standard trick-taking game with no trump. Lead high, drive out opponents’ winners, and establish long suits. The player with the strongest hand will want to deal this round when they have a fistful of Aces and Kings. Because Whist is the only way to earn positive points, timing this round correctly is one of the most important strategic decisions in the entire game.

Round 7: Totul (Everything)

Totul is the ultimate challenge — all five penalty conditions from rounds 1 through 5 are active simultaneously. In a single round, you face penalties for:

• Every card taken (−2 per card, as in No Tricks)
• Every Heart captured (−2 per Heart, as in No Hearts)
• Every Queen captured (−6 per Queen, as in No Queens)
• The King of Hearts (−16 points, as in No King of Hearts)
• The last two tricks (−8 for second-to-last, −10 for last)

The penalties stack. For example, if you win the last trick and it contains the Queen of Hearts, you lose: −8 for the 4 cards in that trick (−2 each), −2 for the Queen of Hearts (a Heart), −6 for capturing a Queen, and −10 for winning the last trick — a total of −26 points from a single trick. If that trick also contained the King of Hearts, add another −16 and −2 for a further −18, bringing the damage to −44 from one trick.

Totul is where games are won and lost. The total penalty pool in Totul with a 32-card deck is −122 points (combining all penalties). Skilled players save Totul for hands where they hold mostly low cards and have good chances of ducking all dangers. Choosing to play Totul with a strong hand full of Aces and Kings is a recipe for disaster.

Round Selection

One of the defining features of Rentz is that the dealer chooses the round after looking at their cards. This creates a critical strategic layer that rewards hand evaluation and long-term planning.

After the cards are dealt, the dealer examines their hand and announces which round will be played. The chosen round must be one that the dealer has not already selected in a previous deal. Each dealer plays all 7 rounds exactly once, so by the final deal, the dealer has no choice — they must play whichever round remains.

The implications are significant. Early in the game, when the dealer has many options, they can carefully match their hand to the ideal round. A hand full of low cards and few Hearts is perfect for No Hearts or No Tricks. A hand bristling with Aces and Kings calls for Whist. As the game progresses and options narrow, dealers are increasingly forced to play rounds that do not suit their hand — which is where damage control becomes essential.

Must-Follow-Suit Rule

Rentz uses the standard must-follow-suit rule that governs most European trick-taking games. The rule works as follows:

1. The trick leader plays any card from their hand. The suit of this card becomes the led suit.
2. Each subsequent player must play a card of the led suit if they have one. If a player holds multiple cards of the led suit, they may choose which one to play.
3. If a player has no cards of the led suit, they may play any card from their hand. This is called a discard (or “slough”). Discarded cards cannot win the trick, regardless of their rank.
4. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick. Cards of other suits have no power, no matter how high they rank.

There is no trump suit in Rentz. The led suit always determines the winner. This makes voiding yourself in a suit — by playing all your cards of that suit early — a powerful tactic in the penalty rounds, because it allows you to discard dangerous cards (Queens, Hearts, high cards) onto tricks led in other suits.

Scoring System

The following table summarises the points awarded (or deducted) in each round. All scoring is per player, per round.

Totul breakdown: The −122 maximum comprises −64 (all cards) + −16 (all Hearts) + −24 (all Queens) + −16 (King of Hearts) + −18 (last two tricks) = −138. However, since one player cannot win all tricks and simultaneously be the one catching the last two, the theoretical maximum penalty for a single player will vary slightly. In practice, a player who takes every trick in Totul would score −122 (the −16 for the King of Hearts being a Heart is already counted in both the No Hearts and No King of Hearts penalties, but the card itself only appears once).

Strategy Tips

Comparison to Barbu and Lórum

Rentz belongs to a family of compendium card games that spans Central and Western Europe. Understanding the family helps appreciate what makes each version distinctive.

Barbu (France)

Barbu (also called Le Barbu or Tafferan) is the French original from which Rentz descends. Barbu is typically played with a full 52-card deck among 4 players, giving each player 13 cards. The French version features a slightly different set of rounds and point values, and some versions include a “Domino” round (a shedding game) that does not appear in Rentz. Barbu also commonly uses a doubling mechanism where non-dealing players can double their stakes against the dealer, adding a gambling dimension. Rentz strips away these extras in favour of a more streamlined, purely skill-based experience.

Lórum (Hungary)

Lórum is the Hungarian cousin of Rentz, played with the same 32-card deck and a nearly identical structure of penalty and reward rounds. The Hungarian version has been documented since the 19th century and shares enough DNA with Rentz that a player of one game can sit down at the other with minimal adjustment. Key differences tend to be in the specific point values, the number of rounds (some Lórum variants have 8 or 9 rounds), and regional house rules. Both Rentz and Lórum likely evolved independently from Barbu, adapted to the 32-card German/Hungarian/Romanian deck that is standard in Central Europe.

All three games share the same fundamental appeal: the thrill of switching objectives round after round, the strategic depth of round selection, and the way a single catastrophic trick can reshape the entire game.

Frequently Asked Questions