How to Play Gin Rummy: Rules for Beginners

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck, jokers removed.
• Two players. Gin rummy is made for two. Three or four can play with a small change (see 3 and 4 players).
• Paper and a pencil to keep a running score.

The goal

In each hand, you try to put your ten cards into sets and runs faster than your opponent. Cards that don't fit anywhere count against you. The hand ends when someone knocks or goes gin, and points go to whoever has fewer leftover cards. Hands add up, and the first player to 100 points wins the game.

Card values

Points only matter for cards that are not in a set or run. So high cards are risky to keep: a stray king costs you 10.

The deal and the first upcard

Cut the deck or toss a coin to pick the first dealer. After that, the winner of each hand deals the next one.

1. The dealer deals ten cards each, one at a time, starting with the opponent.
2. The next card goes face up to start the discard pile. This first face-up card is the upcard. The rest of the deck sits face down: that is the stock.
3. The non-dealer may take the upcard (and then discard). If they don't want it, they pass, and the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws the top card of the stock, and play carries on as normal.

More on the deal, with the cards laid out: how many cards are dealt in gin rummy.

Your turn: draw, then discard

Every turn has two parts:

1. Draw one card: either the top card of the stock (you don't know what it is) or the top card of the discard pile (you can see it).
2. Discard one card face up on the discard pile.

So you always end your turn with ten cards. One rule to remember: you can't throw back the card you just took from the discard pile on the same turn. You may discard it on a later turn.

Tip: taking from the discard pile tells your opponent what you are collecting. Take it when it makes a set or run for you.

Melds: sets and runs

A group of cards that belong together is called a meld. There are two kinds:

• Set: three or four cards of the same rank, such as 8♠ 8♦ 8♣.
• Run: three or more cards in a row, all the same suit, such as 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ or 9♣ 10♣ J♣ Q♣.

Aces are low only. A♠ 2♠ 3♠ is a run. Q♠ K♠ A♠ is not, and neither is K♠ A♠ 2♠.

Each card can be in only one meld at a time. If a card could fit in a set or a run, you choose which; pick whichever leaves you the fewest points.

Deadwood

Cards that are not in any set or run are called deadwood. Add up their points: that total is your deadwood count. Lower is better. You want it down to 10 or less so you can knock.

In that hand, 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ is a run and the four 4s are a set. The ace, the 2 and the 3 are left over, but they are different suits, so they are not a run. Their points add up to 6, which is 10 or less, so you can knock.

Knocking

You may knock when, after drawing, you can discard a card and have 10 points of deadwood or less. You can knock on any turn, even your first.

1. Draw as usual.
2. Discard one card face down. That tells everyone you are knocking.
3. Lay your hand face up, arranged into sets, runs and deadwood.

You never have to knock. Sometimes it pays to keep playing and hope for gin. When to knock and when to wait: how to knock in gin rummy.

Going gin

If all ten cards fit into sets and runs, with zero deadwood, you go gin. It works like a knock, but it is worth more: you get a bonus, your opponent can't lay off any cards, and you can never be undercut.

Laying off

After a knock, the other player (the defender) lays out their own sets and runs. Then the defender may lay off: add their deadwood cards onto the knocker's sets and runs, to lower their own count.

• Only the defender lays off. The knocker never adds cards to the defender's melds.
• There is no laying off when the knocker goes gin.
• You can't lay off onto the knocker's deadwood, only onto their sets and runs.

Scoring a hand

Example: you knock with 6. Your opponent lays off and is left with 15. You score 15 − 6 = 9. If your opponent had been left with 6 or less, that would be an undercut: equal counts are an undercut too, so knocking with the same count as your opponent loses the hand.

Different books, different bonuses. Pagat's main rules and the Bicycle Cards rules use the older values: 20 for gin and 10 for an undercut. Many modern rule sets, including the ones listed on Wikipedia, use 25 for both. Our game uses 25. Agree on the numbers before you start.

Worked examples and the end-of-game bonuses are on how to score gin rummy.

When the stock runs out

The stock is never played to the last card. When only two cards are left in the stock and the player who just drew doesn't knock, the hand is over: it is a draw. Nobody scores, and the same dealer deals again.

Winning the game

Keep a running total. The first player to reach 100 points wins the game. Then add the bonuses:

• Game bonus: 100 points to the winner.
• Box (or line) bonus: 25 points to each player for every hand they won. Pagat's main text uses 20 per hand.
• Shutout: if the loser didn't score at all, the game bonus is doubled to 200. (Some players instead double all the winner's hand points.)

The box bonus doesn't count toward reaching 100; it is added only at the end.

The rules in our game: ten cards each, knock with 10 or less, aces low, gin bonus 25, undercut bonus 25, box bonus 25 per hand won, game bonus 100 (doubled for a shutout), play to 100, and the winner of a hand deals the next one. The computer counts every hand for you and explains each point.

Variations: Oklahoma gin and more

• Oklahoma gin: the first upcard sets the knock limit for that hand. A 7 means you need 7 or less to knock; a picture card means 10. If the upcard is an ace, you may only go gin. If it is a spade, the hand scores double. Games are often played to 150.
• Older bonuses: 20 for gin, 10 for an undercut and 20 per hand for the box, as in pagat's main rules and Bicycle Cards.
• Big gin (a house rule): if the card you draw lets all 11 of your cards fit into sets and runs, you go gin without discarding, for a bigger bonus, usually 31 points plus the opponent's deadwood.

Gin rummy for 3 and 4 players

• Three players: only two play each hand. The dealer sits out, the loser of a hand deals the next one, and the winner plays the player who sat out.
• Four players: two teams of two. Each player plays a separate two-handed game against an opponent from the other team. If both partners win, the team scores both results added together; if each team wins one game, the team with the larger result scores the difference. The first team to 125 wins.

Seating, dealing and a scored example: gin rummy for 3 or 4 players.