Rummy

Players and equipment

Two to six players and a standard 52-card deck; two decks shuffled together for five or six. Aces are low and count 1, court cards count 10, everything else counts its face value. Nothing is wild in the basic game.

The deal

Ten cards each for two players, seven for three or four, six for five or six, dealt one at a time starting on the dealer's left. The rest goes face down as the stock, and the top card is turned face up beside it to start the discard pile. The deal passes to the left after every hand.

Play

The player to the dealer's left goes first. On your turn, draw one card — the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile — then lay down any melds you want to and lay off any cards you can, and finish by discarding one card face up on the pile. At most tables you may not discard the card you have just taken from the pile in the same turn.

Melds are sets of three or four cards of the same rank and runs of three or more cards in sequence in one suit, such as 5♥ 6♥ 7♥. The ace is low, so A 2 3 is a run and Q K A is not. Unlike Gin Rummy, melds are laid face up on the table as you make them, and you may lay cards off onto any meld already down — a fourth card of a rank, or the card at either end of a run. A meld on the table belongs to nobody, so your own and your opponents' are equally fair game. Melding is optional, and it happens after the draw and before the discard.

Going out means having melded everything, with a final discard if you have a card left. The moment somebody goes out the hand ends and the cards still in the other hands are counted. Going out in a single turn, having melded the whole hand at once without having previously laid anything down, is called going rummy and commonly doubles the count for that deal.

If the stock runs out before anyone goes out, the discard pile is turned face down without shuffling to make a new stock, and its top card is turned to start a new pile. Some tables shuffle it first; agree which before the first deal.

Scoring

When somebody goes out, the others count the cards still in their hands:

Court cards

10 each

Jack, queen, king

Aces

1

Low in this game

Everything else

Face value

Two through ten

Cards already melded on the table count nothing either way: laying a meld down is how you take its cards out of the count against you. The player who goes out scores the total of everybody else's leftovers, and everybody else scores nothing for that deal. That is the standard scheme and the one this scoreboard keeps: highest total wins.

There is a second scheme in circulation, in which each player carries their own leftovers as a penalty and the lowest total wins. It runs in the opposite direction, so a table that wants it should agree before the first deal and read the board upside down.

A worked deal

Three players, seven cards each. Two turns ago Ben laid down three tens. Now he draws the 8♣ from the stock, adds it to the 6♣ 7♣ in his hand, lays the run down and discards his last card. He has gone out, and the other two count what they hold.

Alice

10 + 9 + 4 = 23

Left holding K♠, 9♦ and 4♣

Cara

1 + 10 + 5 + 2 = 18

Left holding A♥, J♥, 5♠ and 2♦

Ben

23 + 18 = 41

Went out, so he takes the others' leftovers

Ben writes 41 on the board; Alice and Cara write nothing. The three nines Cara laid down earlier count nothing against her, which is why she laid them down the moment she had them. Had Ben held back his tens and put the whole hand down in this one turn, he would have gone rummy and scored 82 — but two rounds holding seven unmelded cards is a lot to be caught with if somebody else goes out first.

Ending

Play to an agreed total — 100 is a short game and 500 a long one — or for a fixed number of deals. On SquareScores the board opens at 100, the host can move the line, and the app closes the match when somebody crosses it; if two players cross on the same deal, the higher total wins.

What to keep

Every card in your hand is part of a meld, on its way to one, or a liability. Keep pairs and cards that sit next to each other in the same suit, because each can become a meld with one draw. Throw away the lone high card first: a single king is ten points against you, and only another king can save it.

The pile tells a story

Watch what your opponents take from the discard pile and what they throw away. A player who picks up a jack wants jacks or the cards round it, so do not feed them another. A player who discards a 6♠ is unlikely to be holding the 5♠ or 7♠, so those are safer for you to throw. Your discard is the one free card a turn your opponents are offered, and giving nothing away is half the game.

When to lay melds down

A meld on the table cannot be counted against you, and anybody can build on it. Laying down early protects you if somebody goes out suddenly, and lets you lay off single cards later instead of holding them. Holding a completed meld back keeps the chance of going rummy for double, but leaves every card in your hand at risk. Lay down early unless you are sure you can finish the hand yourself.

Counting what is out

There are four of each rank. Once three sevens have been melded, a pair of sevens in your hand is dead, and once the 9♣ and 10♣ are on the table in a run the 8♣ has one home. Keep a rough count of what has been played and drop the cards that cannot be completed, however well they look together.

The endgame

When a player is down to two or three cards, the hand is about to end. Stop waiting for the perfect draw: lay down whatever you can, lay off single cards onto any meld that will take them, and throw the highest card you cannot use. Losing a hand by 8 rather than 38 is the difference over a long game.

Gin Rummy

Two players, ten cards each, and nothing is laid on the table until one player knocks with ten or fewer points of unmatched cards, at which point both hands are shown and the difference is scored. Faster and more tactical than the basic game, and SquareScores scores it on its own board.

Rummy 500

Cards laid down score for the player who laid them at the values above, and the leftovers count against you, so the deal is scored for everybody and not just the winner. You may take any card from the discard pile, provided you take every card above it as well and meld the card you reached for at once. First to 500 wins.

Knock Rummy

Nothing is laid down during play. After drawing, any player may knock and show their whole hand; everybody else shows theirs, and the player with the lowest count of unmatched cards wins the difference from each of the others. A knocker who is beaten by another hand pays a penalty as well as the difference.

Block Rummy

The same game, but when the stock runs out the discard pile is not turned to make a new one. The hand ends there, everybody counts what they hold, and the lowest count wins the difference from each of the others.

Contract Rummy

Seven deals, each with a contract your first meld has to satisfy — two sets, then a set and a run, and so on, growing harder — played with two decks and jokers, ten cards each in the early deals and twelve in the later. Leftovers count against you, and the lowest total after seven deals wins.

Round the corner

Aces may be high or low, so Q K A and A 2 3 are both runs, and a run may pass through the ace: K A 2 is legal. An ace usually counts 11 or 15 under this rule rather than 1.

Can you pick up the whole discard pile in Rummy?

Not in basic Rummy: you draw one card, the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile. Taking a card deeper in the pile, and everything above it, is a rule of Rummy 500 and some other variants.

Are aces high or low in Rummy?

Low, in the basic game. An ace counts one point and makes a run with the two and three, not with the queen and king. Tables playing round the corner allow either, and usually count the ace higher to match.

What happens when the stock runs out?

The discard pile is turned face down to become a new stock and play continues. Most tables turn it over as it is; some shuffle it first. In Block Rummy the hand simply ends and everybody counts what they hold.

Can you lay off on another player's meld?

Yes. Once a meld is on the table it belongs to nobody, and any player may add a fourth card to a set or extend a run at either end on their own turn.

What does going rummy mean?

Melding your entire hand in one turn, having laid nothing down earlier in the hand. Most tables double the score for that deal; the risk is that somebody goes out first while you are holding everything back.

How many cards do you deal in Rummy?

Ten each for two players, seven for three or four, and six for five or six. With five or six players shuffle two decks together so the stock lasts.

Do you have to discard to go out?

If you have a card left after melding, yes: the final discard is part of going out. If your last cards all fit into melds, most tables let you go out without one. Agree it before the first deal.

Is Rummy the same as Gin Rummy?

No. Gin Rummy is a two-player game in which melds stay in your hand until somebody knocks, and the scoring is the difference between the two hands. In Rummy melds are laid on the table as you make them, any number can play, and the winner of the deal scores everybody's leftovers.