Contract rummy rules

Seven rounds, seven contracts, and the lowest score wins.

The goal

Contract rummy is played over seven rounds. Each round has a contract, a set combination of sets and runs you must lay down before you can meld anything else. When someone goes out, everyone else scores the cards left in their hand as penalty points, and the lowest total after round 7 wins. These rules follow the common Contract Rummy version; other versions are compared at the end.

Players and cards

Three to five players is typical. Shuffle two packs together with jokers, usually one fewer joker than there are players (three players, two jokers). The deal rotates clockwise each round, and the player to the dealer's left starts.

The seven contracts

The contract rummy scorekeeper shows the contract and deal for each round.

Melds

• A set is three or more of one rank. Suits may repeat (it's two packs).
• A run is four or more in sequence in one suit. The ace may be high or low but a run never turns the corner (Q-K-A-2 is not a run).
• A joker can stand for any card in either kind of meld.
• When a contract has two or three runs, two of your runs in the same suit may not join end to end (4-5-6-7 and 8-9-10-J of clubs is really one long run). They must leave a gap or overlap.

Laying down your contract

1. After drawing, you may lay down the contract: exactly the sets and runs it asks for, all at once. You may wait if you prefer.
2. Lay down only the minimum: sets of three and runs of four, even if you hold more. Round 7 is the exception, because you lay down every card.
3. You lay down once per round. From your next turn you may lay off on any melds on the table, as many cards as you like.
4. Every turn ends with a discard, except in round 7, where you go out by laying down every card at once.

Buying a discard out of turn

1. At the start of your turn you may take the top discard free, as your draw.
2. If you don't want it, any other player may ask for it (players traditionally call "May I?"). The taker also takes the top card of the stock as a penalty card.
3. If several players ask, the one who would play soonest gets it. Then you draw from the stock and carry on; the turn doesn't move.

Jokers

A joker in a run can be taken by a player who holds the card it stands for and has already laid down: put the real card in its place and play the joker in the same turn. A joker in a set stays put.

Going out and penalties

You go out by getting rid of your last card. Play stops at once, and every other player adds up the cards they still hold:

If the stock runs out, shuffle the discards (except the top card) into a new stock. If both run out, the round ends and everyone scores what they hold. After round 7 the lowest total wins.

Other versions and house rules

Contract rummy is a family of games played under several regional names, including Liverpool, Shanghai and May I?. No version is "official". The common differences:

• Cards dealt: 10 in the early rounds and 12 later, or 11 every round.
• Round 7: three runs with no discard, three runs with a normal discard, or one run of seven.
• Aces: high or low, or high only.
• Touching runs allowed or not; two sets of the same rank allowed or not.
• Jokers: no limit, one per meld, or a minimum number of natural cards per meld.
• Extra cards allowed when laying down, and laying off on the same turn.
• Buying: unlimited, or limited per round, with one or two penalty cards.
• Penalty values: some versions count low cards 5 each, aces 20 and jokers 25 or 50.

Rummy tools