Play Gin Rummy

You're hanging out with a friend but it's a rainy day and you're stuck inside. Don't just sit around waiting for the sun to come out- find a pack of cards and learn how to play Gin Rummy, one of the most popular card games in the world.

Steps

Setting Up Gin Rummy

  1. Know the object of the game. The goal of the game is to collect a hand that is made up entirely of sets and runs. Sets are 3 or 4 cards of the same number (ie. 7 of hearts, 7 of diamonds, 7 of clubs, and 7 of spades). Runs are 3 or more cards in consecutive order and with the same suit (ie. 3 of spades, 4 of spades, 5 of spades).[1]
  2. Know how many points each card is worth. Face cards (Jacks, Queens, and Kings) are worth 10 points, Aces are worth 1, and normal number cards are worth the number they represent (ie. a card with a 6 on it is worth 6 points).[1]
    • Note that aces are always low in Gin Rummy. A-2-3 is a valid run but A-King-Queen is not.
  3. Gather your supplies. You will need a standard 52-card deck of playing cards, a pad of paper to keep score on, a pen or pencil, and a friend to play with. Gin Rummy is played between 2 people.
    • Playing with 3 people: The deal deals to the other two players but does not deal to his/herself. The dealer sits out while the other two players play. The loser of each hand becomes the dealer. The winner and the previous dealer play the next hand.
    • Playing with 4 people: Pair up into teams of 2. Each player in a team plays a separate game with one of the opposing team members. At the end of the hand, if both players on the same team won, that team scores the total of their points. If one player from each team won, the team with the higher total score scores the difference between the two teams scores. (Playing and Scoring are described in detail below).
  4. Pick a dealer. The dealer will deal 10 cards to each player, alternating between players for each card. The players may look at and sort their cards. Set the rest of the cards in a tidy stack in between the two players.
  5. Turn over the top card on the deck. Place the card face up next to the deck. This card forms the discard pile. The remainder of the deck remains face down on the table to form the stock.

Playing Gin Rummy

  1. Begin by having the player who did not deal go first. Begin play by drawing a card either from the top of the deck or from the discard pile and adding it to your hand. This is called The Draw. When you draw from the deck, do not show your opponent your card.[1]
  2. Discard one card from your hand. This is called the Discard. You may not throw away a card that you just drew from the discard pile during the first part of this turn; however, you may throw away a card just drawn from the deck during this turn.[1]
  3. End the hand by ‘Knocking’. To knock, throw a card face down on the discard pile and show your remaining cards. You must be able to match almost all of your remaining cards into sets and runs. Any cards you cannot match are called ‘deadwood’. The total score of your deadwood cards must be 10 points or less. A player can knock on any of his/her turns, including the first turn.[1]
    • Example of a valid Knock hand: 1 card to discard face down, a set of three 7’s, a run of 3-4-5 in spades, and a 2, a 7, and an ace. In this case, you can lay down your set and run, and your deadwood, when added up, equals 10.
  4. Call “Going Gin” when you are able to Knock but you do not have any deadwood in your hand. Players who “go gin” get a special bonus when scoring their points.[1]
    • An acceptable “going gin” hand would be: 1 card to discard face down, a set of 7’s, a run of 3-4-5 in spades, and a set of 10’s.
  5. Allow the person who did not knock or go gin to play his/her cards. The non-knocker must spread his/her cards face up and create any runs or sets if he/she has the ability to do so.
  6. Lay off any unmatched cards. If the knocker did not go gin, the non-knocker is allowed to ‘lay off cards’. If the knocker ‘went gin’, the non-knocker cannot lay off cards. After creating any possible runs or sets (refer to the previous step) the non-knocker can lay off his/her unmatched cards (deadwood) by using them to extend any of the knocker’s runs or sets.[1]
    • Example:If the knocker put down a set of 7’s and a run of 3-4-5 in spades, the non-knocker could ‘lay off’ cards by adding a 7 to the set or a 2 or 6 of spades to the run. The non-knocker can extend a run by as many cards as possible (ie. he/she could add a 2, 6, 7 etc. of spades to the run if possible, so long as the numbers in the run remain consecutive).
  7. End the hand if there are only 2 cards remaining in the stockpile and the player who took the third to last card from the stock discards a card without knocking. If this happens, no score is counted and the same dealer deals the cards again.

Scoring and Winning Gin Rummy

  1. Count each player’s score of deadwood. If the knocker goes gin, the knocker scores the non-knocker’s number of deadwood points, plus a 25 point bonus. If the knocker’s score is lower than the non-knocker’s score, the knocker scores the difference between the two totals of deadwood. If the knocker’s score is tied with the non-knocker’s score, or is higher than the non-knocker’s score, the non-knocker scores the difference and gets a bonus of 25 points.[2]
    • Example of a knocker who went gin: The non-knocker had a total of 21 points of deadwood so the knocker gets 21 points plus the 25 point bonus for a total of 46 points.
    • Example of a knocker with a lower score: If the knocker had a total of 3 deadwood, and the non-knocker had a total of 12 deadwood, the knocker scores 9.
    • Example of a knocker and non-knocker with a tied score: If the knocker has a total of 10 deadwood and the non-knocker has 10 deadwood, the non-knocker scores 0 but gets a 25 point bonus.
    • Example of a knocker with a higher score: If the knocker has 10 deadwood and the non-knocker has 6 deadwood, the non-knocker scores 4 points, plus a 25 point bonus.
  2. Note that some people play with different scoring systems. Another common scoring system is: “going gin” earns 20 points, and a non-knocker with a lower deadwood score scores the difference between the two scores and a 10 point bonus.[1]
  3. Play until one player reaches 100 points. The winner gains a 100-point bonus for winning, unless the loser did not score at all, in which case the bonus is 200 points. Both players gain 20 points for each winning hand, totaled at the end of the game, not at the end of each hand. If you are playing for money or tokens, the loser pays the winner the difference between the scores.[1]



Tips

  • Always try to get the lowest possible number of deadwood cards before knocking.
  • Try to get deadwood cards that have the lowest possible numbers if you can't match them. Ideal deadwood cards are aces, 2's and 3's.

Things You'll Need

  • Standard 52-card deck
  • Piece of paper
  • Pen or pencil

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 http://www.pagat.com/rummy/ginrummy.html
  2. ↑ http://rummy.com/ginrummy.html
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