Rummy

Overview

Draw, meld and discard until your hand is arranged into sets and runs. The foundation of an enormous family of games, including Gin Rummy and Canasta.

No governing body publishes rules for this game. This page describes the most common form. House rules vary, so agree them before you start.

1. Setup

Two to six players. Use one standard deck; two decks plus jokers for five or more.

Players	Cards each
2	10
3–4	7
5–6	6

Place the rest face down as the stock, and turn one card face up to start the discard pile.

2. Melds

Two kinds:

• Set — three or four cards of the same rank, different suits
• Run — three or more consecutive cards in the same suit

Aces are normally low — A-2-3 is valid, Q-K-A is not — though many tables allow both. Agree first.

3. A turn

1. Draw one card, from the stock or the top of the discard pile.
2. Meld — optionally lay down sets or runs face up.
3. Lay off — optionally add cards to melds already on the table, including opponents'.
4. Discard one card, face up.

You must always end your turn by discarding.

4. Going out

A player goes out when they have melded all their cards. Some rules require a final discard; others allow going out without one.

Going rummy — melding your entire hand in one turn, having laid nothing down previously — doubles the score in most variants.

5. Scoring

The player who goes out scores the value of cards left in the other hands:

Card	Points
Ace	1 (or 15 if high)
2–10	Face value
Face cards	10
Joker	15

Play to an agreed total, commonly 100 or 500.

6. Variants

Variant	Distinguishing feature
Gin Rummy	Two players, knocking, no laying off until the end
Canasta	Two decks, wild cards, melds of seven
Indian Rummy	13 cards, jokers, compulsory pure sequence
Contract Rummy	A different required combination each deal
500 Rum	Score for melds as you lay them

Commonly argued

• A run must be the same suit; a set must be different suits.
• Aces are low by default. High-and-low and round-the-corner are house rules.
• You may lay off on opponents' melds in standard rummy, which is how hands get short quickly.
• You must discard to end your turn, even when going out in most variants.