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HOW TO PLAY THE BASIC RUMMY CARD GAME

BASIC RUMMY

Number of Players: 2 to 6. The Deal : 10 cards each, when only 2 play; 7 cards each, when 3 or 4 play; 6 cards each, when 5 or 6 play. 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 in the middle of the table, thus starting the discard pile. In a 2-handed game, the winner of each hand deals the next hand. When more than 2 play, the turn to deal passes to the left exactly as the cards are dealt out. Object: To win points from your opponents. You usually keep track of these points with a pencil and paper score. In order to win points, you must match up your cards. One' way to match your cards is to get 3 or 4 of a kind, For example, you might have 3 Kings, or 4 10's, and so on. A second way to match your cards is to get sequences—cards that are next to each other in rank and are in the same suit. The rank of the cards in Rummy is:

(Highest) King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5,4, 3, 2, Ace (Lowest)

A typical sequence is A Jack-10-9. Another typical sequence is * 4-3-2-Ace. You need at least 3 cards for a sequence. The Play: Each person at the table plays in turn, beginning with the player at the dealer's left. During your turn to play, you do three things: you draw, you meld (if you wish to do so), and you discard. As you draw, you may pick up the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. You add this card to your hand. You meld by putting down on the table a group of matched cards. For example, you might put down 3 of a kind, or 4 of a kind, or a sequence. You might even put down two groups of matched cards if you are lucky enough to have them in your hand. You are not required to meld if you don't wish to do so. After some other player has melded, you may add to his meld at your proper turn. For example, if some player has put down 3 Kings, you may add the 4th King at your turn to play,. If some player has put down Diamond 8-7-6, you may add Diamond 10-9, or Diamond 9, or Diamond 5, or Diamond 5-4, or any such card or groups of cards. You may add to a meld that has been put down previously by any player at the table (including yourself). After you have drawn and melded (or after you have declined to meld), it is your turn to discard. You take any card from your hand and put it on top of the discard pile in the middle of the table. This act, called discarding, completes your play. When a player, at his proper turn to play, manages to meld all of his cards, he wins the game. He must begin his play with a draw, thus adding one card to his hand, and then he must meld either all of the cards in his hand or all but one. If he melds all but one card, that last card is his discard. If no player has melded all of his cards (called going out) by the time the stock is used up, the next player may take either the top card of the discard pile or the top card of the new stock that has been formed by turning the discard pile over. In either case, play proceeds as before until somebody does go out. Scoring: The winner of a hand scores points by counting up the hand of each of the other players in the game. Each loser counts his cards according to the following scale:

Picture cards ___ 10 points each

Aces ____________ 1 point each

Other cards ________ pip value

A loser does not count cards that he has previously melded on the table but he does count any cards that remain in his hand, whether or not these cards match. A player goes "Rummy" when he melds all of his cards in one turn, without previously melding or adding to anybody else's meld. A player may go "Rummy" by melding all of his cards after the draw, or he may meld all but one and then discard that last card. Whenever a player goes "Rummy," he wins double the normal amount from each of the other players. A pencil and paper score is kept, with a column for each player in the game. Whenever a player wins a hand, the amounts that he wins from the other players are put into his winning column. Some players agree on a stopping time when they play Rummy. The winner of a game is the player who has the highest score when the agreed time comes. Other players end a game when any player reaches a certain high total score, such as 500 points. The score for each player is added up at the end of each hand.

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