Gin rummy rules

How to play gin rummy for two, from the deal to the final box count.

The goal

Gin Rummy is a two-player game with one 52-card pack. You build sets and runs in your hand, in secret, and end the hand by knocking once the cards you can't use add up to 10 or less. Points go to whoever has the lower count, and the first to 100 wins the game.

The deal and the first turn

1. Cut for the deal; the lower card deals. After that, the winner of each hand usually deals the next.
2. Deal ten cards each, one at a time. Turn the next card face up to start the discard pile (the up-card); the rest is the stock.
3. The non-dealer may take the up-card or pass. If they pass, the dealer may take it or pass. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock. Play alternates from there.

A turn

Draw one card, from the stock or the top of the discard pile, then discard one card face up. If you took the discard you must throw a different card. Nothing is put on the table during play: your melds stay in your hand.

If only two cards are left in the stock and nobody has knocked, the hand is a draw: no score, and the same dealer deals again.

Melds and deadwood

• A set is three or four cards of the same rank.
• A run is three or more cards in sequence in one suit. Aces are low only: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not.
• Each card can be in only one meld.

Every card not in a meld is deadwood. Count it ace 1, two to ten face value, jack, queen and king 10. When a card could go in a set or a run, try both and keep whichever leaves the lower count; the gin rummy calculator does this for any hand.

Knocking and going gin

1. After drawing, if your deadwood (after your discard) would be 10 or less, you may knock: put your discard face down and lay out your hand, melds grouped and deadwood to one side.
2. Knocking is optional. You can play on for a lower count or for gin.
3. Knocking with no deadwood at all is gin: it earns a bonus, the opponent can't lay off, and gin can't be undercut.

Lay-offs

After a knock (never after gin), the other player lays out their own melds, then may add unmatched cards to the knocker's melds: the fourth card of a set, or cards at either end of a run, one after another. Nothing can be laid off on the knocker's deadwood, and the knocker never lays off.

Scoring a hand

1. If the knocker went gin: 20 + the opponent's whole deadwood.
2. Otherwise, after lay-offs, if the knocker's count is lower, the knocker scores the difference.
3. If the opponent's count is equal or lower, that's an undercut: the opponent scores the difference + 10. A tie is an undercut.

The game: boxes and bonuses

Keep a running total for each player; the winner of each hand also gets a box (a tick on the sheet). The first to reach 100 wins the game. Then add:

• Game bonus: 100 to the winner, or 200 if the loser didn't score at all (a shutout).
• Box bonus: 20 to each player for every hand they won. Boxes don't count towards reaching 100.

The difference between the two final totals is the margin of victory. The scorekeeper adds all of this up, and the printable gin score sheet has a box for it.

Variations and house rules

• 25-point bonuses: gin 25, undercut 25 and 25 per box. Very common; agree it before you start.
• No undercut on a tie: some older rules give the hand to nobody when the counts are equal.
• Oklahoma Gin: the first up-card sets the knock limit (its value, pictures 10); a spade up-card doubles that hand's score. Usually played to 150.
• Straight gin: no knocking; play on until someone goes gin.
• Big gin: all eleven cards meld after your draw: lay them down without discarding for 31 plus the opponent's count (some tables use 50).
• Hollywood scoring: three games at once. Your first win goes in game 1, your second in games 1 and 2, later wins in all three.
• Shutout: some tables double the winner's whole score instead of paying a 200 game bonus.

Rummy tools