Rules of the gin rummy card game

How to play the card game gin rummy

Known familiarly as gin, this classic two-player card game provides an exciting mixture of luck and strategy.

To start, deal 10 cards to the other player as well as yourself. Place remaining cards in a pile in between the two players.

Organize your hand into partial or complete ‘melds’. A meld is a set of three to four cards of the same value, i.e. four Aces, three Kings and so on, or three or more sequential cards of the same suit, i.e. five, six, seven of clubs.

Take turns with the opposite player, taking either the top card from the deck or the top card from the discard pile. When you add a card, you must also discard one, preferably one that you don’t need. Draw a card from either the deck or the discard pile. If you're making the first draw of the game, you may only take from the deck. Try to integrate your drawn card into one of the melds you're building, if you can’t discard it.

Discard cards of high value to decrease your "deadwood." Deadwood is the total value of all your cards that aren't part of melds. Face cards are each worth 10 points, aces are each worth 1 point and the other cards have point values equal to their numerical values.

Award points at the end of the round when a player knocks or calls “Gin”. The game ends when one player reaches 100 points. At this point, the player with 100 points gets a 100-point bonus for winning, and each player receives 25 points for each hand he or she won. Tally the points to declare the winner.

Knocking- knock when you have fewer than ten points in deadwood. Knock on the table and lay your hand down face up Add all your deadwood, and have your opponent place down his hand. Separate your opponent’s deadwood from his complete melds, add up your opponent's total remaining deadwood. Subtract your deadwood from your opponent's deadwood; record this difference as your score for this hand. Gather the cards, shuffle them and deal a new hand.

However, if you have 0 points of deadwood, you may call "Gin" and lay your hand down. You score a 25-point bonus in addition to the points you would normally receive for your opponent's deadwood.

If you knock and your opponent has less deadwood than you, you score no points. Instead, your opponent scores a number of points equal to the difference between his deadwood and yours, as well as a 25-point bonus. This is called "undercutting."

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