Gin Rummy

About Gin Rummy Game

The object of gin rummy is simply to score more points than your partner. Player and opponent are dealt 10 cards each with the 21^st card turned face up. After each deal, players must form groups of sequential numbered cards of the same suit (for example, 4, 5, and 6 of hearts), or groups of the same number (for example, three kings). These groups are called melds. Play proceeds in turn with players taking cards off the deck, improving their hands into melds, while discarding or eliminating single cards, normally called deadwood. Aces are always low, and face cards count as 10 points.

Game play proceeds as follows:

• Draw the top card from the discard pile, or one card from the deck
• Discard one card from your hand onto the discard pile
• "Knock" ending the round

Knocking involves a player laying all of his melds down on the table and discarding his final card. Once a player has knocked, his opponent's card points are added and then count against him.

Gin variants

A number of versions of the traditional gin game exist. Two of the most popular are the standard and Oklahoma versions of the game. In the standard game, players must cut their deadwood cards down to less than ten points before they knock. In the Oklahoma version knocking can only occur when players have deadwood cards less than the value of the first card shown after the deal.