Rummy

1 Game Overview

Rummy is a group of classic matching-card games played with standard decks. The core goal: form your hand into valid combinations (melds) of matched suits or sequences, then go out by playing all your cards.

This guide covers Basic Rummy (also called Sai Rummy or Traditional Rummy) - the foundation for Gin Rummy, Rummy 500, and many other variants.

2 What You Need

• 1 standard deck of 52 cards (use 2 decks for 5+ players)
• Paper and pencil for scoring

3 Setup

1. Choose a dealer. Deal cards: 7 each for 2 players; 6 each for 3-4 players; 5 each for 5+ players.
2. Place remaining cards face-down as the Draw Pile. Flip the top card face-up next to it as the Discard Pile.
3. Player left of dealer goes first.

4 How to Play

1. On your turn, draw the top card from either the Draw Pile or the Discard Pile.
2. Optionally, meld any valid combinations face-up on the table:

• Set (Group): 3 or 4 cards of the same rank (e.g., three 7s)
• Run (Sequence): 3+ cards of the same suit in consecutive order (e.g., 4-5-6 of hearts)

3. Optionally, lay off cards onto existing melds already on the table (yours or other players').
4. Discard one card face-up to the Discard Pile to end your turn.

Aces can be high (above King) or low (below 2) but not both (no wrap-around runs).

5 Winning

When a player goes out, other players score penalty points for cards remaining in their hands: face cards = 10 points, Aces = 1 point, number cards = face value. The player who went out scores 0. Play multiple rounds; first to reach 100 points loses (or the player with the lowest score after a set number of rounds wins, depending on your rules).

6 Tips

• Draw from the discard pile strategically. It tells your opponent exactly what you're building. Only do it when it completes a meld.
• Discard high cards early. Face cards score big penalty points if you're caught holding them when someone goes out.
• Watch the discard pile. What cards are your opponents picking up? It tells you what melds they're building - don't discard cards that help them.
• Go for runs over sets. Runs can be extended more easily and use more cards.