Gin Rummy – every adult should know how to play this classic card game
GIN Rummy, a twist on the classic card game Rummy. Do you know how to play?
All you need is a standard deck of cards and an opponent, as this is traditionally a two-player game.
Sun Vegas have put together an ultimate guide on how to play Gin Rummy.
This is step-by-step instructions for the rules of Gin Rummy.
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It has some different rules and features than Rummy, but they make the game more fun to play!
All card games have some variation. However, these rules are for the most commonly played version of Gin Rummy.
Get ready to shuffle your suits and deal the deck.
How to play Gin Rummy
Set up
The dealer removes the jokers, shuffles the cards and deals 10 cards to themselves and their opponent.
The rest of the cards are placed in the centre, face down, to form a draw pile.
The top card of the draw pile is turned over and used to form a discard pile, next to the draw pile.
The non-dealer player is given the chance to take up this card from the discard pile.
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If they decline, this offer is then given to the dealer.
If both decline, a new card from the draw pile is revealed by the non-dealer and they must choose whether to keep the card or discard it.
Whoever picked up the first card from the discard pile takes the first turn.
If neither player picked up the card, the non-dealer takes the first turn.
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If one of the players did pick up the card, they will also need to discard a card, so that they still have only 10 cards in their hand.
With each turn, the player drawing a new card will have to decide whether they want to keep it in their hand.
If they do, they must discard a different card, to maintain the 10 card limit.
They can choose to instantly discard a newly drawn card.
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Rather than take a card from the draw pile, a player can choose to instead take up the top card from the discard pile.
Objective
The aim of the game is to create runs and sets among the 10 cards in your hand.
A run is three or more consecutive cards from the same suit (e.g. two, three and four of hearts).
A set is three or four cards that are the same rank (e.g. three or four kings).
So, with each turn, a player must decide if the top card on the discard pile will help them achieve a set or run.
If not, they should try drawing a new card. If that card will also not help, they should instantly discard it.
One card cannot form part of more than one combination.
For instance, if you have a seven of diamonds, this cannot be used to form part of a set of sevens AND a run of diamonds.
Ace is low in Gin Rummy.
End of the round
There are two ways to end a round: a knock or going gin.
- Knock
A knock can occur when the cards in your hand that don’t fit into a set or run have a collective value of under ten.
For instance, if you have two sets (e.g. all of the fours and all of the jacks), that’s eight cards that fit into sets.
That means you have two cards left over. If they have number values that add up to less than ten (e.g. they are a three and a six), you can knock!
The cards that don’t fit are called “deadwood”.
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To knock, place your latest discard card face down on the discard pile and physically knock on the table.
At this point, the player who knocked reveals their cards.
The other player is allowed to put their deadwood into their opponent’s sets or runs, provided that the cards can be added to already-formed sets or runs (a deadwood card cannot be added to other deadwood cards).
This is called the “lay off”. The player who knocked does not get to lay off.
A knock is a way to end the game before your opponent can call gin.
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However, you don’t have to knock. You can keep playing through until a player can go gin.
- Knock scoring
Ace is worth one point, the number cards are worth their face value (e.g. an eight is worth eight points) and the face cards (i.e. jack, queen and king) are worth 10 points.
Both players work out the overall value of their deadwood.
For the player who knocked, this should be under 10 points.
The player who knocked receives a score that is equal to:
Their opponent’s deadwood value – their own deadwood value.
If a player knocks but their opponent has deadwood that has the same score or less (after the lay off), an undercut has occurred.
When this happens, the opponent receives a 10 point bonus and an overall score that is equal to:
The difference in deadwood values + 10
- Gin
When a player has no deadwood in their hands (i.e. all ten cards have been sorted into a set or run), they can go gin!
To call gin, the player must place their last discarded card face down on the discard pile and say “gin”, “I have gin” or “go gin!”.
Unlike with a knock, no lay off happens after a player calls gin.
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- Gin scoring
The player who goes gin receives a 25 point bonus. Their overall score is equal to:
Their opponent’s deadwood value + 25
Winning
If the draw deck gets to two cards or less without a knock or going gin, the round is void and should be played again.
The first player to reach 100 points wins the game!
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