How to Play Gin Rummy

Objective

Arrange your hand into melds: sets of three or four cards of the same rank, and runs of three or more cards of the same suit in order. Cards that are not part of a meld are deadwood. You want to lower your deadwood count until you can knock, ideally before your opponent does, and best of all with no deadwood at all, which is called going gin.

Unlike regular Rummy, nothing is laid on the table during play. Your melds stay in your hand until someone ends the hand.

Setup

Cut for the first deal. After that, agree whether the deal simply alternates or goes to the winner of the last hand; both are common. The dealer gives ten cards to each player, one at a time. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile, and the rest of the deck goes face down beside it as the stock.

On the very first turn, the non-dealer may take the face-up card. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws the top card of the stock and play carries on normally.

How to play

On your turn, draw one card: either the top card of the discard pile or the top card of the stock. Then discard one card face up. You may not discard the card you just picked up from the discard pile in the same turn.

You may knock at the end of any turn when your deadwood totals 10 or less. Draw, discard face down, then lay your hand out in melds with the deadwood to one side. Your opponent then lays out their own melds and may lay off any of their deadwood onto your melds, adding a fourth card to your set or extending your run. If you went gin, your opponent cannot lay off.

If the stock gets down to its last two cards and nobody has knocked, the hand is a draw. Nobody scores, and the same dealer deals again.

1. 1Draw from the stock or take the top discard
2. 2Discard one card face up
3. 3Knock when your deadwood is 10 or less
4. 4Lay out your melds; your opponent lays off onto them

Scoring

After a knock, both players count their deadwood. If the knocker has less, the knocker scores the difference. If the opponent’s deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker’s, that is an undercut: the opponent scores the difference plus a bonus.

When one player reaches 100, the game ends. The winner adds the game bonus and a line bonus for every hand each player won, then the loser’s total is subtracted from the winner’s to give the margin. If the loser did not win a single hand, the winner’s score is doubled.

Variations

Oklahoma Gin: the first face-up card sets the knocking limit for the hand. Turn up a seven and you need 7 or less to knock; turn up an ace and you can only go out with gin. Many groups also double the hand’s score if that first card is a spade.

Hollywood Gin: score three games at once. Your first winning hand counts in game one, your second in games one and two, and your third and later wins in all three.

Big Gin: if you can make gin using all eleven cards after drawing, without discarding, you score a bigger bonus than ordinary gin, often 31.

Bonus amounts vary. Some tables score gin and undercuts at 20, or undercuts at 10. Write your numbers on the score sheet before you start.

Tips from the table

Knock early. A low knock in the first few turns wins more points over time than waiting for gin. Hold out for gin when your opponent is clearly still building and you are close.

Watch every discard and every card your opponent picks up. If they take a seven of clubs from the pile, stop throwing sevens and middle clubs.

Get rid of high deadwood first. Kings and queens that do not fit anywhere cost 10 points each if your opponent knocks, so let them go before low cards.

Frequently asked