Card Game : How to play Rummy Basic
How to play the basic version of the card game Rummy. The winner is the first player who manages to lay down all their cards in valid sets and runs.
Table of contents
Types of Rummy
Rummy games first appeared in the early twentieth century, and are probably derived from the Mexican game Conquian. This page describes basic rummy, also known in the card game literature as Straight Rummy. For other types of rummy, and related games, see the rummy index page. Note that many people use the name Rummy to refer to the game called 500 Rummy on this site, in which more than one card can be taken from the discard pile, and points are scored for cards melded.
Basic Rummy
The game is best played with two to four players, but up to six can take part. Either a fixed number of deals are played, or the game is played to a target score. The number of deals or the target score needs to be agreed before beginning to play.
The Deck
One standard deck of 52 cards is used. Cards in each suit rank, from low to high:
Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Queen King
The Deal
The first dealer is chosen randomly, and the turn to deal alternates if there are two players, and rotates clockwise if there are more than two. In a two player game, each player is dealt a hand of ten cards. Seven cards each are dealt if there are three or four players, and when five or six play each player gets six cards. The cards are dealt one at a time, and after the deal, the next card is placed face up on the table to start the discard pile, and the remainder of the deck is placed face down beside it to form the stock. The players look at and sort their cards.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to dispose of all the cards in your hand. There are three ways to get rid of cards: melding, laying off, and discarding.
- Melding is taking a combination of cards from your hand, and placing it face up in front of you on the table, where it stays. There are two kinds of combination which can be melded: sequences (also known as runs) and groups (also known as sets or books).
- a sequence or run consists of three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order, such as club4, club5, club6 or heart8, heart9, heart10, heartJ.
- a group, set or book is three or four cards of the same rank, such as diamond7, heart7, spade7.
- Laying off is adding a card or cards from your hand to a meld already on the table. The cards added to a meld must make another valid meld. For example to the club4, club5, club6 you could add the club3 or the club7. You are not permitted to rearrange the melds in the process. For example, club2, heart2, diamond2, spade2 and spade3, spade4, spade5 have been melded, you are not permitted to move the spade2 from the group to the sequence, so as to lay off the spadeA.
- Discarding is playing a card from your hand on top of the discard pile. You get rid of one card this way at the end of each turn.
Play
If there are two players, they take alternate turns starting with the non dealer. If there are more than two players, they take turns in clockwise rotation, beginning with the player to dealer’s left.
Each turn consists of the following parts:
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The Draw. You must begin by taking one card from either the top of the Stock pile or the top card on the discard pile, and adding it to your hand. The discard pile is face up, so you can see in advance what you are getting. The stock is face down, so if you choose to draw from the stock you do not see the card until after you have committed yourself to take it. If you draw from the stock, you add the card to your hand without showing it to the other players.
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Melding. If you have a valid group or sequence in your hand, you may lay one such combination face up on the table in front of you. You cannot meld more than one combination in a turn (but see House Rules). Melding is optional; you are not obliged to meld just because you can.
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Laying off. This is also optional. If you wish, you may add cards to groups or sequences previously melded by yourself or others. There is no limit to the number of cards a player may lay off in one turn.
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The Discard At the end of your turn, one card must be discarded from your hand and placed on top of the discard pile face up. If you began your turn by picking up the top card of the discard pile you are not allowed to end that turn by discarding the same card, leaving the pile unchanged - you must discard a different card. You may however pick up the discard on one turn and discard that same card at a later turn. If you draw a card from the stock, it can be discarded on the same turn if you wish.
If the stock pile has run out and the next player does not want to take the discard, the discard pile is turned over, without shuffling, to form a new stock, and play continues - but see the variations section for a discussion of alternatives and problems that can arise.
A player wins an individual hand by either melding, laying off, or discarding all of his or her cards. Getting rid of your last card in one of these ways is called going out. As soon as someone goes out, play ceases. There can be no further melding or laying off, even if the other players have valid combinations in their hands.
Scoring
When a player goes out, the other players add up the value of all the cards still remaining in their hands, as follows:
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Face cards (K,Q,J) are worth 10 points each
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Aces are worth 1 point each
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Number Cards are worth their face value - for example a six is worth 6 points, a four is 4 points, and so on.
The total value of all the cards in the hands of the other players is added to the winner’s cumulative score.
The game continues with further deals until a player reaches the points target that was decided before the game began, or until the agreed number of deals has been played.
Optional House Rules.
These optional rules should be discussed and decided by the players before the beginning of the first deal.
Multiple Melds
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Some people play that you can lay down as many melds as you desire in each turn.
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Most people allow a player who has not previously melded or laid off any cards to earn a special bonus if they can go out in a single turn by melding or laying off their entire hand. This is called going rummy, and the score for the hand is doubled, or in some versions the winner gets a bonus of 10 points.
Laying off
Some play that you may not lay off any cards on other players’ melds until you have laid down at least one meld of your own.
Ace High or Low
In the standard game, aces are low. A-2-3 is a valid run but Q-K-A is not. However, some play that aces can be counted as high or low, so that Q-K-A is also a valid run. When playing with this rule, aces are given the higher value of 15 points instead of 1 point, reflecting their greater usefulness.
A few players go further and allow “round the corner” runs with an ace in the middle (K-A-2), but this is unusual.
Last discard
Some people play that in order to go out, you must end your turn by discarding your last card. You are not allowed to meld all your cards, leaving nothing to discard.
End of the Stock
Some play that when the stock has run out and the next player does not want the discard, the discard pile is shuffled before reusing it as a stock. This is the version now given in most books. If there is no shuffle, players who can memorise the order of cards in the discard pile will clearly have an advantage.
It is just about possible, though very unlikely, that a repetitive situation could occur where each player is holding on to cards wanted by the others. Each player draws from the stock and discards the card they just drew. In this case, recycling the discard pile as a new stock, whether shuffled or not, will not help. If the players are stubborn, the game could be endless. To avoid this, it may be a good idea to limit the number of times that the discard pile can be reused as a new stock. I suggest that after the stock becomes exhausted for the third time, the play should end if the next player does not want to take the discard. Alternatively, you could agree that the discard pile gets reused only once and the play ends when the stock is used up for the second time.
In the version known as Block Rummy, the discard pile is not reused at all. If the stock has run out and the next player does not want to take the discard, the game ends at that point. Everyone scores the value of the cards remaining in their hands.
If the game ends without anyone going out, all players count the value of the cards remaining in their hands. The winner is the player with least points, and scores the sum of the differences between this and the points in each other player’s hand. Example: A has 6; B has 15; C has 7; D has 21. A is the winner and scores 25 = (9 + 1 + 15). If two or more players tie for lowest, they share the winnings equally.
Players are allowed, at their turn, to count the number of cards remaining in the face down stock if they wish. As a courtesy (to save others having to count as well), a player who counts the stock should correctly announce to the other players how many stock cards remain.
Scoring
Some play that instead of the winner scoring points, each of the losers score penalty points according to the cards left in their hand. If the game ends without a winner then everyone scores their cards as penalty points. When someone reaches 100 or more, the player with the lowest score wins.
Some play that each loser pays the winner according to the number of points in their hand (or the difference between their score and the winner’s score if no one went out). This method is appropriate when playing for money. The session would last for a set number of hands rather than be played to a target score.
Wrotham Rummy
Daryl Brown describes the following variant payed in Wrotham, Kent, UK. A 55-card pack is used, including three jokers which are used as wild cards. A joker can be used as a substitute for any card needed to melded a set or run. A player who holds the card that a melded joker represents can, during her turn, exchange the real card for the joker.
Six deals are played. Eight cards are dealt to the starting player and seven to each other player. On the first turn the starting player does not draw, but just discards a card (or melds and discards). In the first three rounds players meld and lay off as usual, but in the last three rounds, players may not meld any cards until they are able to lay down all seven at once.
Other Rummy online game
wpt global has rules for various rummy games, as well as reviews of many rummy software packages and on-line servers.
In several card game books the British author George Hervey published rules for basic Rummy and a variant that amounts to Knock Rummy under the name Colonel. You can read the rules of Colonel on Howard Fosdick’s page (archive copy).
In the early 2000’s the Deutsche Skatverband organised Rommé events and championships and published Rommé tournament rules.
There are rules in French on Jean-François Bustarret’s Rami page.
For other types of rummy see the Rummy Games index page.
Rummy software and on line games
German Rommé, with two decks, 6 jokers and a minimum of 40 points for the initial meld, can also be played at online sunnygames.de.
The Rummy program from Special K Software supports ten Rummy variants, which you can play against computer opponents.
You can play Rummy online against the computer or against live opponents at VIP Games.
Windows software for Italian Rummy (Ramino) is available from Alberosa.
Antonio Ferraioli has written a Rummy (Ramino) app for iPhone or iPad.
A version of Basic Rummy can be played online at CardzMania.
Rummy can be played online at Tabletopia.
Rummy can be played online at TrapApps.
At Len Palmeri’s CaardCluub you can play Straight Rummy online against human opponents.
Gameslush.com offers an online Rummy game against live opponents or computer players.
Sylvain Labbe’s Free Card Games includes Net.Rummy, an online Rummy program with customisable rules for play against live opponents. It can be used both on desktop computers and on mobile devices of several types.
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