Gin Rummy Rules - How to Play, Rules & Gin Scoring Info

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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
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

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.

(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: