The deal and a turn
A standard 52-card deck is used. With two players each gets ten cards; with three or four, seven each. The rest of the deck is the stock, and its top card is turned face up to start the discard pile.
On your turn you draw one card, either the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile. You may then lay down melds and lay off cards, and you finish by discarding one card face up.
Melds: sets and runs
A set is three or four cards of the same rank, such as three sevens. A run is three or more cards in sequence in one suit, such as the four, five and six of hearts. In our game aces are low, so ace-two-three is a run but queen-king-ace is not; some house rules allow the ace at either end, so agree on that before playing with friends.
Laying off and going out
Once melds are on the table, anyone can lay off matching cards onto them on their turn, for example adding the fourth seven to a set of three or extending a run at either end. You go out when you get rid of your last card, either by melding it or by discarding it. If the stock runs out first, the discard pile is shuffled to form a new stock.
Scoring a hand
When someone goes out, every other player counts the cards still in their hand: face cards are worth ten, aces one and number cards their face value. The player who went out scores those points, and hands continue until someone reaches 100. Many tables also double the score when a player goes out in one turn without having laid down anything earlier, called going rummy, and our game uses that rule. Holding high cards is risky, because they cost the most if an opponent goes out.
Rummy or gin rummy?
Gin rummy is a two-player variant where melds stay in your hand instead of going on the table. You end a hand by knocking when your unmatched cards total ten or less, or by going gin with none, and the defender can then lay off onto your melds. If the defender ends with as little deadwood as you, that is an undercut and they score the bonus instead.
Questions about how to play rummy
Is the ace high or low in rummy?
In basic rummy, including our version, the ace is low: it can start a run but cannot follow a king. Some households play it high or both ways, so agree before you start.
How many cards do you deal in rummy?
Ten each with two players and seven each with three or four players, which is the common rule and the one our game uses.
What is the difference between rummy and gin rummy?
In rummy you put melds on the table and anyone can lay off onto them. In gin rummy only two play, melds stay in hand, and a hand ends with a knock or with gin.
Further reading
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