A large family of domestic card games. In one popular version, each player has seven cards, and the object is to form them into two hands, one of three cards and one of four (or one hand of seven) by taking and discarding cards from the pack. The hand obtained must be three (or four) cards of the same denomination, or a sequence of three (or four) cards of the same suit. A variation popular in the USA is gin rummy, in which hands (of three or four) are laid face upwards, and can be added to by players in certain circumstances during the game. Points are deducted according to which cards are left in the hand when one of the players wins the game by disposing of all his or her cards.
Rummy is a generic term for card games of the same family as gin rummy. David Parlett (The Penguin Book of Card Games, 1978) describes the Mexican game of Conquian as being ancestral to all rummy games.
General features of Rummy-style games
This section describes the common features of the Rummy-style games, including Gin, Canasta, Mah Jong, and games called Rummy.
Melds
A meld consists of at least three cards, and there are two types of melds. This is an almost universal pattern, although there exists minor variations such as allowing only melds of the first type or requiring in melds of the first type that the cards are all of the same suit or 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.
Each player is dealt a certain number of cards, not exhausting the entire deck.
The Play
In each turn, a player may either take the top card of the stock, or some portion of the discard pile. (Depending on the game, for example the entire pile, or only the top card.) There may be further requirements that restrict taking cards from the pile, for example, you may have to meld the top card of the pile in order to take it.
After you take card(s), you may, depending on the game, make melds and add cards into existing melds by placing the cards that form a meld face-up on the table. In some games, the distinction between your own melds and other players' melds is made, and you may be allowed to add cards only into your own melds.
You end your turn by placing a card from your hand on the top of the discard pile, and the turn passes to the next player. The next player is usually the one in your left, but some games allow anyone steal a turn if they can make certain types of melds with the top card of the discard pile.
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. 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.
Basic Rummy
There are many variations of the card game Rummy.
The Shuffle and Deal
Each player draws a card.
In two player rummy, each player gets ten (10) cards. Starting with the player to the dealer's left, cards are dealt clockwise, face down, one at a time.
In three or four player games, seven (7) cards are dealt to each player. Five or six players may also play, in which case each player receives six (6) cards. Each player draws a card from the stock or the discard pile.
Melding
If a player has three or more 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.
Laying off
A player may also choose to "lay off" some cards on an existing meld. 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 of 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 of the player with 6.
Discarding
Finally, after any melds or lay offs, the player must discard a single card to the discard pile, face up.
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. After forming the new stock, the top card is drawn to form the new discard pile, just like after the deal.
Going Out
When a player has gotten rid of all of their cards, they win the hand. Either the player must discard the last remaining card in their hand on the last turn, or they need not.
For example, if a player had the 7 and 9 of diamonds, and they drew the 8 of diamonds (forming a sequence), then they would not be able to go out if playing with the discard rule variation (because they would not have enough cards to meld as a sequence if they had to keep one for the discard).
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.
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.
Strategy
Watching which cards are discarded is important to knowing what kind of hand your opponent may have. A player may choose not to discard a card that might be advantageous to their opponent.
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