Rummy - The Card Game

[The Mad Monk]

We have just started playing Rummy.

There seem to be various different versions of the rules.

Do you have to pick up and discard on your last go, when you go out?

Can your opponent discard any of their cards to make your meld better? If so, why would they do that? Or does it only apply when playing in, say, fours, with a partner?

Can anyone point me to a good set of rules?

Thanks.

[Robbo 27]

The rules we played as family were that you did not have to put down when you were out.

Another player could put a card on your (shown) cards as long as they had some cards down on the table of their own. It might not be an advantage to them to do so if it stopped them going out with three cards laid down, otherwise they would be waiting for other hands to be laid down by other players.

Some people play by not laying cards down at all, a higher risk strategy.

It was a good game, must admit that I miss playing cards as a family

Edited by Robbo 27 on Saturday 4th November 13:53

[48k]

The Mad Monk said:

Do you have to pick up and discard on your last go, when you go out?

I'm not sure what this means / that I understand the question. With the rules I used to play by, the aim of the game was to be the first player to get a set of 3 and a set of 4 in your hand of seven cards. Say I'm holding three aces, 5,6,7 of hearts and a ten, it's my go and there is a 2 face up on the discarded pile, I pick up the top face down card, it's the 4 of hearts so I've won. I put my ten on the discard pile and lay down my set of three aces and my sequence of 4 (4,5,6,7 of hearts), score zero points for winning and then everyone else has to lay down their cards and for any incomplete sets of 3 or 4 they have, they add up the face values of the cards (ace is 11 and court cards are 10) and that's their score. After an agreed set of hands / when people fall asleep / when the fights start, lowest score is the winner.

[Robbo 27]

48k said:

I'm not sure what this means / that I understand the question. With the rules I used to play by, say I'm holding three aces, 5,6,7 of hearts and a ten, it's my go and there is a 2 face up on the discarded pile, I pick up the top face down card, it's the 4 of hearts so I've won. I put my ten on the discard pile and lay down my set of three aces and my sequence of 4 (4,5,6,7 of hearts), score zero points for winning and then everyone else has to lay down their cards and for any incomplete sets of 3 or 4 they have, they add up the face values of the cards (ace is 11 and court cards are 10) and that's their score. After an agreed set of hands / when people fall asleep / when the fights start, lowest score is the winner.

I think what is meant that if you had already put the 10 on someoneelses hand could you still be out, in other words could you still be out without a discarded card, we used to play that you could.

[48k]

Robbo 27 said:

if you had already put the 10 on someoneelses hand

Putting cards in to someone else's hand? What sort of witchcraft is that?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Rummy is like Monopoly, every family has their own rules. Occasionally you'll read the Monopoly rules that come in the box, and think "that's rubbish, my way is better".

I d suggest you look up Kalooki (various spellings), which is rummy played with two packs of cards and each player has 13 cards. That has fixed unalterable rules, and it's great.

Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Saturday 4th November 15:07

[48k]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Occasionally you'll read the Monopoly rules that come in the box, and think "bloody hell, I never knew that was a rule"

FTFY

[Eyersey1234]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Rummy is like Monopoly, every family has their own rules. Occasionally you'll read the Monopoly rules that come in the box, and think "that's rubbish, my way is better".

Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Saturday 4th November 15:07

Scrabble can be a bit like that too, a house rule we had when I used to play as a child was that local dialect was allowed but you couldn't use a word if you didn't know what it meant

[Gingerbread Man]

There are many versions of rummy. Some played in the hand, others where cards are laid on the table. I think ones called Gin Rummy??

[parabolica]

The Mad Monk said:

We have just started playing Rummy.

There seem to be various different versions of the rules.

Do you have to pick up and discard on your last go, when you go out?

Can your opponent discard any of their cards to make your meld better? If so, why would they do that? Or does it only apply when playing in, say, fours, with a partner?

Can anyone point me to a good set of rules?

Thanks.

As it happens I downloaded a gin rummy app the other week and started playing again for the first time in ages!

Do you have to pick up and discard on your last go, when you go out?

No, assuming that the extra card helps to extend one of your runs - this would give you "big gin" which, if you are playing for points, is worth more than a standard Gin.

Can your opponent discard any of their cards to make your meld better? If so, why would they do that? Or does it only apply when playing in, say, fours, with a partner?

Opponents can discard whatever cards they want; whether they are of benefit to you is something they wouldn't really know unless they are card counting.

Can anyone point me to a good set of rules?

There are several variations - check google. For this app I've downloaded it seems to be:

1. Runs have to be at least 3 cards and can be either matching numbers/faces, or a straight run of cards in the same suit.
2. You score 25 points for a standard Gin hand, 35 for Big Gin as above.
3. First player to break 100 points wins.
4. Deadwood. If you are building a hand of 12, and your have 8 cards already in sets, the remaining 4 are known as deadwood. If the total value of the deadwood cards is 10 and under (Ace = 1, 2= 2, 10/J/Q/K = 10) you can "knock" and try to prematurely end the game. However it's a double edged sword.
5. Deadwood in your advantage: In addition to Gin points, you can earn points on your deadwood, as long as the face value of the deadwood is less than whatever deadwood your opponent(s) are holding at the time of knock. I.e. if your deadwood was a 2-of-spades and your opponent still had a 5, 7 and King, their deadwood is (5+7+10) = 22. You subtract your deadwood from theirs (so 22 - 2) meaning you would earn and extra 20 points on top of your gin hand.
6. Deadwood to your disadvantage: If you try the above but it turns out your opponents deadwood is equal to or less than what your deadwood is, you lose the hand, sacrificing all points and they get points for undercutting you (25 + whatever the difference in deadwood is). For example if they had an Ace and you had the 2, you would get zero and they would get 25 + 1 points.

I had no idea about the Deadwood rule before; it can be handy if you a really lucky with your dealt hand and you get down to <10 deadwood within the first few turns, as the chances are your opponent may still have a dozen or so mismatched cards, so you can score big.

[Benni]

I wonder if anyone still plays whist like in the Hornblower days.