The deck consists of 37 cards, with one card being set aside as "lost" each hand. Whoever is dealt the One Ring becomes Frodo, then other players choose from the available characters based on their hand. The One Ring is the game's only trump card, but initially rings can't be led until someone plays one off-suit.

In the two-player game, one hand of cards is dealt to a dummy player, with some cards being face up and others face down. This dummy is assigned a character, and one of the human players will play cards for it based on which cards are free to be played.

In the solitaire game, one player plays four hands of face-up cards, with each hand being assigned a character and only a few cards being available at a time. After you play a trick, deal each hand a new card.