Rummy

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(disambiguation).

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(February 2009)

Rummy is a group of card games notable for
gameplay based on the matching of similar playing
cards. David Parlett (The Penguin
Book of Card Games, 1978) describes the Mexican game of Conquian as being ancestral to
all rummy games, which itself is derived from a Chinese game called Khanhoo and, going
even further back, Mahjong.

A game of Rummy 500 in progress.

Contents

1 General features of
Rummy-style games

1.1 Books

1.2 Deal

1.3 The
Play

1.4 Scoring

2 Basic Rummy

2.1 The Shuffle and
Deal

2.2 Playing
Rummy

2.2.1 Melding

2.2.2 Laying
off

2.2.3 Discarding

2.2.4 The End of the
Stock

2.2.5 Going
Out

2.3 Declaring
Rummy

2.4 Scoring

2.5 Variations of basic
Rummy

3 Variants of
Rummy

3.1 Simple variations for
children

3.2 Related card
games

4 References

5 External
links

[edit]
General
features of Rummy-style games

[edit]
Books

A book consists of at least three cards of the same rank or consecutive cards
of the same suit. This is an almost universal pattern, although there exist
minor variations, such as allowing only melds of the first type or requiring in
melds of the second type that the cards are all of a different suit. In some
games it is required that the melds of the second type contain at least four
cards. Some games also feature wild cards, which can be used to represent any
card in a meld. The number of wild cards in a meld may be restricted.

[edit]
Deal

A fairly large number of cards is used. This varies from one standard deck
upwards. There are, for example, games that use five standard decks plus some
jokers shuffled together.

Each player is dealt a hand of cards; while the specific number is dictated
by the strain of rummy being played, the deck is never completely emptied. The
remains of the deck is placed face down to form the stock. There is also a
face-up pile called the discard pile, which may be initially empty, or it can
contain one card, which is turned from the stock. The winner is obliged to deal
when a new game commences.

[edit]
The Play

In the card game of Rummy, two people playing get ten cards each. When there
are more than two people, fewer cards are dealt to each player. The person left
of the dealer is the first person to play. The dealer switches from person to
person going to the left. The dealer flips one card to and places it next to the
pile to begin the game.

The first person to go takes a card from the deck or the card placed beside
it. When the player has done that, they may either put three cards of the same
number or a straight. After this is done, or if they do not make a play at all,
a card from their hand is discarded onto the pile beside the deck.

If another player has cards down, the others can play off of them.

[edit]
Scoring

When someone melds all his/her cards (except, possibly, for one, which is
thrown into the discard pile), the hand ends and the scores are calculated. In
some games everyone can make melds at this phase, and some games allow a player
to end a hand with a few unmatched cards in his/her hand.

You typically get positive points for your melds, and/or negative points for
non-melded cards in your hand. In some games large bonuses are given for
special, particularly difficult melds. Also being the person who melded all
his/her cards is usually awarded, depending on the game this award may be rather
small compared to other scoring, or it can be the deciding factor of the
game.

[edit]
Basic Rummy

There are many variations of the card game Rummy. Basic Rummy is also called
Sai Rummy. Second type Rummy is also called Sanka Rummy. They all
share a common set of features found in the basic game. A standard deck of 52
cards is used. The cards rank from 2 (low) to A (high). Rummy can be played to a
certain score, or to a fixed number of deals. In Rummy if both players go over
five hundred in the same round, the player who was leading before that round
win.

[edit]
The Shuffle and Deal

Each player draws a card. The player with the lowest card deals first. The
deal then proceeds clockwise. The player on the dealer's right cuts (this is
optional).

In two player rummy, each player gets ten cards. Starting with the player to
the dealer's left, cards are dealt clockwise, face down, one at a time. The
dealer then puts the rest of the deck, face down, between the players. This
forms the stock pile. A single card is then drawn and placed face up next to the
stack. This is called the discard pile.

In three or four player games, seven cards are dealt to each player. Five or
six players may also play, in which case each player receives six cards.

[edit]
Playing Rummy

Play begins with the player on the dealer's left and proceeds clockwise. Each
player draws a card from the stock or the discard pile. The player may then meld
or lay off, which are both optional, before discarding.

[edit]
Melding

If a player has three cards of the same suit in a sequence (called a sequence
or a run), they may meld by laying these cards, face up, in front of them. If
they have at least three cards of the same value, they may meld a group (also
called a set or a book). Melding is optional. A player may choose, for reasons
of strategy, not to meld on a particular turn. The most important reason is to
be able to declare "Rummy" later in the game.

[edit]
Laying off

A player may also choose to "lay off" some cards on an existing meld. This
means that if a player can add to a sequence or a group that is in front of them
or any of the other players, they may do so. For example: if another player had
a sequence consisting of A, 2, and 3 of hearts in front of them, the player
would be able to add any of the following: K of hearts, 4 of hearts, and so on,
thereby continuing the sequence in either direction. Also if a player has 3 of a
kind, one of which continues another sequence on the field then another player
may also continue off that card. For example: if a player had a 3, 4, and 5 of
hearts and another player had a three of a kind with 6, then another player may
continue the sequence off the player with 6.

[edit]
Discarding

Finally, after any melds or lay offs, the player must discard a single card
to the discard pile, face up. The only condition is that it not be the card that
they drew from the discard pile on the same turn. They may, however, return it
on the next turn. In addition, if they drew from the stock instead of the
discard pile, they are allowed to return that card in the same turn. In this
way, the discard pile changes every turn.

[edit]
The End of the Stock

If, while playing, the stock runs out, the next player may choose to draw
from the discard pile or to turn the discard pile over to form a new stock. The
discard pile is not shuffled in the process. After forming the new stock, the
top card is drawn to form the new discard pile, just like after the deal. You
can call rummy if a point is discarded into the discard pile. You cannot however
call rummy if the card becomes a point while in the discard pile.

[edit]
Going Out

When a player has gotten rid of all of their cards, they win the hand. There
are two variations. Either the player must discard the last remaining card in
their hand on the last turn, or they need not. Playing with this rule makes
ending a hand slightly more difficult.

For example, if a player has only the 7 of diamonds and 8 of diamonds left in
their hand, and they draw the 9 of diamonds (forming a sequence), then whether
they win the hand or not depends on if they are playing the discard rule
variation. If they are playing this variation, they can not win the hand at this
point, because they have to finish the turn by discarding one of the three cards
in their hand, causing them to no longer have a sequence. However, if the player
is allowed to lay off this sequence without a final discard, then the game ends
when the player lays down the sequence..

[edit]
Declaring Rummy

If a player is able to meld all of their cards at once, they may say "Rummy"
on their turn and go out. To declare Rummy, a player must not have melded or
laid off any cards prior during the hand. If playing with the discard rule, they
must also discard after melding. If a player goes rummy when a card can be
played, that player is out for that turn. Game players are still in game but
hand goes dead. Playing for Rummy is more risky, but it carries the reward of
double the score. Each player must wait until their second turn to go out. If
there is a rummy lying in the pile, the player must then pick up the entire
pile.

[edit]
Scoring

After a player goes out, the hand ends, and the players count up their cards.
Any cards left in each player's hand are counted up and added to the winner's
score. Aces count as 15, face cards and 10s count as 10, and the rest are worth
5. If a player has declared Rummy, then this score is doubled. The player that
goes out first receives a 25 point bonus. The other players must deduct the
points in their hand from the points they have accumulated throughout the
game.

Another variation is that face cards count as 10; three aces count as 15
each; a run of ace, king, queen, the ace is 15; a run of ace, two, three, the
ace is 5; and the rest are worth 5 each. Any cards left in each player's hand
are counted up and subtracted from their score on the table. You cannot count
Jokers or Wild Cards during the scoring.

[edit]
Variations of basic
Rummy

In some instances, jokers are used, for example it has been played with the
rule if you discard a joker you miss some turns, missing two turns for
discarding the red joker and 5 turns for discarding the black joker. This
becomes difficult when it is sometimes unavoidable to pick up a joker and
keeping it will prevent you from creating a fully melding hand.

In another variation, discards are placed so that all the cards are visible.
At the beginning of his or her turn, a player may take any card from the discard
pile, so long as he or she also picks up all the cards that are on top of it,
and the last card picked up is played immediately. If only picking up the top
card, the player must keep it and discard a different card from their hand.

[edit]
Variants of Rummy

[edit]
Simple variations for
children

Children's Rummy or Ruckus is played by young children; each
player is dealt 7 cards. Players immediately put down all cards of the same
value (example, two 6's or three Kings) face up. If another person has a card of
that value, they can put it down on the pile and take the pile to their part of
the table. All players do this at the same time. Once all play has stopped, the
dealer hands out new cards, and the pile building and taking is repeated until
all cards have been dealt. The player with the most cards in piles at the end
wins. Commercial versions of this game exist.[1]

Other variations of Children's Rummy include Safari Pals packs which
have cards arranged in sets of animals. When playing with this pack, melds can
be formed either by matching sets or by arranging animal cards together which
share a behaviour or habitat. For example a meld may be formed with the
crocodile, flamingo and kingfisher cards because they all live near fresh
water.

[edit]
Related card games

There are a large number of games derived from Rummy. Although in North
America the word "Rummy" is often used as a stand-in for the specific game "Gin Rummy", the term is
applicable to a large family of games, including Canasta and Mahjong. Some play with jokers
using them as wild cards. They can be used in sets or runs but can not be
replaced when 'melded'. Nor can you lay off a card to replace it by you or your
opponent.

Gin
rummy

500
Rum

Bing Rummy

Biriba

Buraco

Canasta

Carioca (card
game)

Conquian

Continental

Desmoche

Dummy rummy

Indian Rummy

Kalooki

Kampala
Rummy - Fua Edition

Khanhoo

Liverpool rummy

Indian Marriage

Mahjong

Penang Rummy

Phase
10

Pope Joan (card
game)

Robbers' rummy

Rumino

Rummikub

Shanghai rum

Ten
pennies

Three thirteen

Tonk (aka Tunk)

Tri (card game)

Uno

Zigity

Zioncheck

[edit]
References

^ Ruckus: Our
Current Favorite Family Card Game http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/159719/our-current-favorite-family-card-game

[edit]
External links

Rules of different rummy variants

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rummy"

Categories: Rummy

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