How To Play Gin Rummy and
Gin Rummy Rules
Gin Rummy was created with the
intention of being faster than basic Rummy. The rules are very easy to learn,
without the complications attached to displaying melds and laying off cards
between turns. Both of these things are done at the end of a hand and Gin Rummy
is often played without any kind of laying off making for a "quick fire"
game.
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Gin Rummy is a very popular
card game owing to the high skill component of the game when compared to
other card games such as Poker or Blackjack. You play Gin Rummy with ten
cards which are to be formed into melds (runs and/or sets) as shown in
the three example gin hands on the left. |
Players & Deck
Gin Rummy is usually played
by two players though in other variations in the rules of this card game, up to four
players can play. A deck of 52 cards is
used, there are no wild cards and each player takes turns dealing the cards.
The Deal
Whoever is dealing the cards
deals each player 10 cards. The next
card from the deck is turned face up which indicates that it is the start of
the discard pile. The rest of the deck is positioned face down and will be
called the stock.
|
Number of players |
Number of cards dealt |
|
2 Players |
10 cards each |
|
3+
Players |
10 cards each |
Object of The Game
The purpose of the game is
to complete a hand consisting of most or all of the cards formed into sets
and/or runs. A run (sequence) is comprised of three or more cards bearing the same suit
and in consecutive order
such as for example:
|
Example of
a Valid Run |
Example of
an Invalid Run |
3 4
5 |
3 4
5 |
4
5 6
7 8 |
4
5 6
7 8 |
A set, on the other hand, is
a group of three or four cards that are identical rank and of
different suits, such as for example:
|
Example of
a Valid Set |
Example of
an Invalid Set |
3
3 3 |
A A
2 |
9 9
9 9 |
K K Q |
A card can be
used only once – either in a set or in a run. You cannot use the same card for
both a run and a set.
How Gin Rummy is Played
It is important to note how
to play Gin Rummy by the turn of a player. The two main elements observed
during a single turn are the draw and the discard:
Drawing (Compulsory)
- The first player must take just
one card either from the discard pile or the stock and
add this card to the 10 cards that comprise his hand. The discard pile is face up
so the other player will know what card he took. If that player chooses to
take from the stock, his opponent will not see the
card (since cards on the stock pile are face down).
After you take one card, you
must now study your cards and decide which one is the card you need least – a
card that’s probably not in sequence with the rest or is the only one of its
kind making it nearly impossible to form either a set or run. The next step
is:
Discarding (Compulsory) - You then take this card out
of your collection and put it on the discard pile, face up. You have to throw out a card to the discard pile that is different
from the card you drew earlier from the discard pile. In other words,
according to some house rules, you
cannot draw and discard the same card.
Note that according to
official Gin Rummy rules the
players draw in a special way during the first round. The person who did not deal out the cards has
the first choice. He can take the face up card from the discard pile if he
wants to. If not, the other player can take it and if the other player does
not want it either, the person who did not deal gets the first chance to draw
the top card from the stock pile.
How and When To Knock
The Gin Rummy game ends as soon as
someone has formed their cards into sets or runs and lays them all down on the
table for his opponent to see. According to the official Gin Rummy rules a
player may only Knock if they have 10 points or less of deadwood (ie unmatched
or unmelded cards). For,
example he can knock if his deadwood is A
3
4
as the total value of those cards is 8 points (ie less than 10).
When the player goes out in
this manner, it is called Knocking - a traditional symbolic gesture to
announce victory to an opponent. Today, it is customary to throw the final card
face down (instead of face up) to signal victory. The other player must now
expose his cards, arranging them into melds (ie runs and sets).
He is also allowed to take
any of his deadwood (unmelded cards) to add to the sets or runs laid down by
the knocker. For example, he might add a fourth card of the same rank to a
group of three or more consecutive cards of the same suit to either end of a
sequence. This is known as "laying off" - see next paragraph.
How
Does Laying Off Come Into Play
Unlike many other Rummy card
games, where cards can be laid off during a players' turn to extend melds
which are placed on the table by yourself or other players, in Gin Rummy the
players only reveal their hand at the end of the game. Therefore, it is only
at the end of a game that a player can lay off cards by extending the sets or
runs of the knocker and thereby reducing the deadwood count of cards left in
the hand. Also note that the knocker himself is never allowed to lay off cards
this way.
How and When To Go "Gin"
Knocking is not compulsory.
Therefore, if the player manages to meld all his cards and has a zero deadwood
count (no unmelded cards), then instead of Knocking he declares Gin (known as
“Going Gin”) and earns a 25 point bonus in addition to the deadwood count of
his opponent.
In this situation because
the winner went "Gin", there is no laying off so the other player cannot
attempt to further reduce his deadwood count. This is an added incentive to hold out and try to meld everything.
What Happens When The
Stock Pile Finishes?
The game ends if there
are only two cards left on the stock pile and the player who took the third to
the last card on the pile discards a card without knocking. In this situation,
there is no winner and another round can begin.
Important Notes On Scoring
The Game
Face cards (Jack, Queen,
King) score 10 points. Aces score 1 point. All the rest of the deck score the
rank as the value (ie the pip value). For example, a 6
would be worth six points, a 7
is worth 7 points, etc.
|
Cards |
Value |
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
|
Aces |
1 point |
A
is worth 1 point |
A
is worth 1 point |
|
Faces |
10 points |
Q
is worth 10 points |
K
is worth 10 points |
|
Others |
Pip value |
5
is worth 5 points |
7
is worth 7 points |
Aces are low and the cards
rank in this order: Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Queen King. Note that
because the ace is always low in Gin Rummy, A
2
3
is a valid sequence but Q
K
A
is not and nor is K
A
2
.
Knock Scoring - Each player will have to
tally up the value of their unmatched or deadwood cards. If the knocker has a
lower count, he scores the difference between the two counts (each of their
deadwood counts).
Undercut Scoring - If
the knocker does not go Gin, and his deadwood tally is equal
to or higher than his opponent, this means the knocker has been "undercut”.
His opponent scores the difference between the two
counts and receives a bonus of 25 points.
Gin Scoring - A player who goes Gin scores
a bonus 25 points, plus the opponent's deadwood count, if any. A player who
goes Gin can never be undercut. Even if the other player has no deadwood, the
knocker gets the bonus and the other player gets nothing.
Line Bonus - In addition, each player
earns a 25 point bonus for every hand won. This is known as the line bonus or
a box bonus. These are not counted towards the 100 points required to win a
game of Gin Rummy.
Game Bonus - Players keep dealing
the cards for subsequent hands until one reaches a score of 100 or other designated (pre agreed)
target score. The first one to reach a score of 100 points receives a "game
bonus" of 100 points.
How To Use a Score Sheet
You
can see from the example score sheet (below, left) that the points from each
hand are added to the previous score so that a cumulative total is always shown. We
have included a "Score Sheet Guide"
(below, right) to help you understand how scores and bonuses are applied
and how scoring is recorded hand by hand.
|
Score
Sheet |
|
Player A |
Player
B |
|
15 |
12 |
|
27 |
61 |
|
31 |
68 |
|
58 |
0 |
|
88 |
0 |
|
115 |
0 |
|
75 |
0 |
|
100 |
0 |
|
290
- 68 |
|
|
222 |
0 |
|
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Score Sheet Guide |
|
Hand |
Hand
Activity |
Scoring |
|
Hand 1 |
A
knocks with 6 |
A
scores 15 |
|
B has
21 deadwood |
|
Hand 2 |
A
knocks with 2 |
A
scores 12 and now has 27 |
|
B has
14 deadwood |
|
Hand 3 |
B
knocks with 5 |
B
scores 12 |
|
A has
17 deadwood |
|
Hand 4 |
B goes
gin |
B
scores 24 plus 25 (gin) and now has 61 |
|
A has
24 deadwood |
|
Hand 5 |
A
knocks with 3 |
A
scores 4 and now has 31 |
|
B has 7
deadwood |
|
Hand 6 |
B
knocks with 6 |
A
scores 2, plus 25 (undercut), now has 58 |
|
A has 4
deadwood |
|
Hand 7 |
A goes
gin |
A
scores 5 plus 25 (gin), now has 88 |
|
B has 5
deadwood |
|
Hand 8 |
B
knocks with 1 |
B
scores 10 and now has 68 |
|
A has
11 deadwood |
|
Hand 9 |
B
knocks with 5 |
A
scores 2, plus 25 for undercut, now has 115* |
|
A has 3
deadwood |
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*This
brings A's score over 100 and the game ends. A now scores 3 line
bonuses of 25 points each (75 pts) and the game bonus (100
pts) to total 290. B's score (68 pts) is deducted
from this leaving A with a final winning score of 222
points.
Jin
Rummy Score Sheet |
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Other House Rules:
Variations to the standard
Gin Rummy rules are mostly related to scoring although it is important to note
that a large number of people play a version of Gin Rummy which uses rule (1)
below.
(1) Some play this game
without any kind of laying off permitted.
(2) Some provide
that the undercut bonus and the gin bonus are 20 points each. Other house
rules provide that the undercut is 10 points and the gin is 20 points.
(3) Some play that if the
loser of the game has won no hands at all, the result is termed a "blitz" or a
"schneider" and the winner's score, including the game bonus but not the line
bonuses, is doubled.
We are conscious about the
variations in Rummy card games and our features are therefore
constantly subject to review. If you have some feedback on the rules of
Gin Rummy or
can suggest some corrections, we would appreciate you letting us know so that
we can make corrections. Please contact us via email at the address below:
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