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HOW TO PLAY CONTRACT RUMMY CARD GAME

Number of Players: 3 to 8. Cards: With 3 or 4 players, two decks of 52 plus one joker. With 5 or more players, three decks plus two jokers. The Deal: 10 cards to each, except in Deal 7, when each receives 12. The rest of the cards are put face down in the middle of the table, forming the stock. The top card of the stock is turned face up beside it, thus starting the discard pile. Object: To get rid of all the cards in your hand by melding them. Melds: The melds are as in Basic Rummy: groups of three or four cards of the same rank, such as Queens; sequences of three or more cards of the same suit, such as A-K-Q of diamonds. The Contract: A game consists of seven deals. In each deal, a player's first meld must be a combination of two or three sets according to this schedule:

Deal 1: two groups

Deal 2: one group and one sequence

Deal 3: two sequences

Deal 4: three groups

Deal 5: two groups and a sequence

Deal 6:  one group and two sequences

Deal 7: three sequences

In melding the contract, Deals 1 to 6 inclusive, you may put down only three cards per set. If you have additional

matching cards, you may put them down at any later turn. In Deal 7, however, you must meld all 12 cards at once, thus going out. The Play: As in Basic Rummy, a turn consists of a draw, melding (if you wish), and a discard. If you decide not to draw the top card of the discard pile, you must say so. Then any other player who wants it may take it. If two or more want it, the one nearest you in turn to the left is entitled to it. He has to pay for the privilege of taking the discard out of turn, by drawing the top card of the stock also. He must then wait his regular turn before melding or discarding. Then you resume your turn, drawing the top card of the stock. Your first meld of any kind must be the contract. After that, you are not allowed to meld any new sets, but you may add matching cards to any sets on the table—yours and the other players'. A peculiarity of the game is that a sequence may be built to the Ace both ways, making a set of 14 cards. (Of course, this rarely happens.) Wild Cards: The joker is wild. You may call it any card you please, to help you get rid of cards by melding. You must say exactly what card it represents. For example, if you put the joker down with the 7 of Spades and the 7 of Diamonds, you must say either "7 of Hearts" or "7 of Clubs." The reason why you must specify is shown by the next rule. A player who holds the named card may, in his turn, put it down in place of the joker, thus getting the joker for his own use. Many players like to have additional wild cards, to make it easier to form sets for the contract. Deuces are often used as wild, in which case 4-3-A is considered a low sequence. A deuce cannot be captured, as can the joker. However, if a deuce is melded in a sequence, any player may put the natural card in its place and move the deuce to cither end of the sequence.Ending Play: Play continues until somebody goes out. If the stock is exhausted, the discard pile is turned over without shuffling to form a new stock. Scoring: The player who goes out scores zero—which is good! Each other player scores the total of the cards left in his hand. Aces and wild cards count 15 each, face cards are 10, other cards count their pip value. The player with the lowest total score after Deal 7 wins the game.

Related terms include collectable card game and free spider card game.