How to play Gin Rummy
Gin Rummy is the rummy for two. One pack, ten cards each, and the cards you cannot fit into a run or a set count against you. Once yours come to ten or less you may knock and lay your hand down. Your opponent then fits what they can onto your groups, and whoever is left with less scores the difference. The first to 100 wins the match.
- Players
- 2
- What you need
- One pack of 52 cards, no jokers
- How long
- A match to 100, about ten minutes
What the game is
Gin Rummy is a melding game for two players. Your ten cards are worth something only in groups: a run of three or more in one suit, or a set of three or four of one rank. Every card left out of a group is deadwood, and deadwood is counted against you.
You never have to get every card into a group. A hand may end the moment its deadwood comes to ten or less, which is called knocking. That is the decision the whole game turns on: knock now with a little deadwood, or hold on a few more turns for a hand with none at all, which is gin.
It is not the thirteen-card Rummy most tables in Nepal play. There are no jokers here and nothing is wild, there is one pack instead of two, and a hand can end with cards still loose.
The deal
- The dealer gives ten cards each, one at a time, starting with the other player.
- The next card is turned face up to start the pile. This is the upcard.
- The player who did not deal may take the upcard. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the player who did not deal draws from the deck instead.
- The deal goes to the other player after every hand somebody won.
The upcard is worth thinking about. Taking it tells the other player what you are collecting, and turning it down hands the dealer the same choice.
Runs and sets
A run is three or more cards of one suit in order. It can be as long as the hand allows, and a card in it counts nothing.
The ace is low only. It sits below the two and never above the king, so a queen, king and ace of one suit are three loose cards.
A set is three or four cards of one rank. A card can be in only one group at a time, so a seven that would finish both a run of sevens of hearts and a set of sevens has to be one or the other. The table works out the arrangement that leaves least deadwood for you, and Group lays the hand out in it.
What the cards count
Deadwood is counted at face value. An ace is one, the two to the ten are their own numbers, and the jack, queen and king are ten each.
So a loose king costs ten times what a loose ace does, and the quickest way to bring your count down is to throw the court cards that are not going anywhere.
A turn
- Take one card: the top of the pile, or the top of the deck.
- Throw one card face up onto the pile.
- Or, if what is left is ten or less, knock instead of throwing.
A card you took off the pile may not go straight back onto it on the same turn.
Everything the other player takes off the pile is in front of you, so watch it. A player who takes your seven of clubs is collecting sevens or clubs near it, and is unlikely to throw you one.
Knocking
When the cards you would keep after throwing come to ten or less, you may knock. You throw your last card and lay the other ten face up, sorted into groups and deadwood.
The Knock button only appears when your hand can knock, and it says what you would be left with. If more than one throw would knock, it throws the one that leaves least, unless you have marked another card first.
Knocking is optional. You may carry on drawing and throwing as long as you like, which is how gin is made, at the risk that the other player knocks first.
Laying off
After a knock the other player lays their hand down too, and before their deadwood is counted they may lay off: add their own loose cards to the knocker's groups.
A run can be lengthened at either end, one card after another, so a six and a seven can both go onto three, four and five. A set of three takes the fourth card of its rank.
Cards that are laid off count nothing. That is why a knock with seven can still lose: the hand that looked like twenty may lay off half of it.
Gin
Knocking with no deadwood at all is gin. Nothing can be laid off against gin, so the other player counts every loose card they hold, and you score all of it plus a bonus of 25.
When a throw would leave nothing, the Knock button reads Gin.
The undercut
Once the other player has laid off, the two counts are compared. If the knocker has less, the knocker scores the difference.
If the other player has the same or less, the knock is undercut. They score the difference and a bonus of 25 on top, and the knocker scores nothing.
Gin cannot be undercut. A hand with nothing left over has nothing to be equalled.
When the deck runs down
If the deck is down to its last two cards and the player who drew last throws without knocking, the hand is dead. Nobody scores, the cards are thrown in unseen, and the same player deals again.
A hand can therefore end three ways: a knock, gin, or a dead deck.
Scoring
Only the player who wins a hand scores. A knock that holds scores the difference between the two counts. Gin scores the other player's whole deadwood and 25. An undercut scores the difference and 25.
Scores add up from hand to hand, and the first player to reach 100 wins the match. The sheet after each hand prints both counts, the cards that were laid off and what the hand scored.
Many tables add a bonus at the end for the winner and for every hand won. This one does not, so the score you see during the match is the score that decides it.
Playing it well
- Knock early. In the first few turns the other hand has had no time to come together, and a knock with eight wins most of the time.
- Knock later with less. As the deck runs down the other player's count falls too, and a knock with nine late in the hand is the knock that gets undercut.
- Throw high cards that do nothing. A loose king costs ten, and every turn you hold it you are paying for it if the other player knocks.
- Keep pairs whose third card is still out there. Two kings are worth holding while the other two kings are unseen, and worth nothing once both have gone to the pile.
- Read the pile. A card the other player took off it says what they are collecting, and a card they threw says what they are not. Throw next to what they threw.
- Before you knock, look at what could be laid off against you. A run the other player can lengthen at both ends can turn a safe knock into an undercut.
The settings
Three house rules, and two of them change how early a hand ends.
| Setting | Standard | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Match to | 100 | How many points win the match. At 50 a match is a few hands, and one gin can decide it. |
| Knocking | At ten or less | Oklahoma lets the first upcard set the limit for the hand, its own value with the court at ten and an ace meaning gin only. Gin only means nobody knocks, which makes every hand long and every gin worth chasing. |
| Undercut bonus | 25 | What the undercut pays on top of the difference. Lower it and knocking early gets safer. |
| Difficulty | Medium | How well the bot reads the pile, how carefully it throws, and above all when it knocks. An easy bot holds out for gin and gets caught with its cards still up. |
The words
- Run
- Three or more cards of one suit in order. The ace is low only.
- Set
- Three or four cards of one rank.
- Deadwood
- Cards in no group, counted at face value with the court at ten.
- Knock
- Ending the hand by laying it down with deadwood of ten or less.
- Gin
- A knock with no deadwood at all. It cannot be laid off against or undercut, and pays 25.
- Lay off
- Adding your loose cards to the knocker's groups after a knock, so they count nothing.
- Undercut
- Answering a knock with the same count or less, which scores the difference and 25.
- Upcard
- The card turned up after the deal to start the pile, offered to both players before anybody draws.
- Dead hand
- A hand that ran down to the last two cards of the deck without a knock. Nobody scores.
Every rule on this page is the one the app plays by. Change any of them on the game's own page before you start.