Gin Rummy Plus

The objective in Gin Rummy is to collect cards into melds and have as little deadwood as possible at the end of each hand (aka round). A game usually consists of several hands, and each hand is scored separately depending on how much deadwood opponents have at the end of a hand. The hand ends with one opponent knocking, ginning or with a draw. The full game ends when one player reaches an agreed-upon number of total points (e.g. 100 points).

Knock out your opponent is allowed when the value of deadwood points is 10 points or less.

Basic concepts

• Set: Three or four cards of the same rank, for example, ♥8♠8♦8 or ♥Q♠Q♦Q♣Q
• Run: Three or more cards in sequence in the same suit, for example, ♥A♥2♥3 or ♣6♣7♣8♣9♣10. Aces are always low, never high, and runs can’t wrap around, so Q,K,A,2 would not be a legal run.
• Meld: A word for both Sets and Runs. You might, for example, have three melds, where two of them are sets and one is a run. Each card can only be part of one set or run, for example, if you have an 8 you cannot count it both as part of 8,8,8 and 7,8,9.
• Stock: A deck of facedown cards, in the middle of the table. Players draw one card from the stock in every round.
• Discard pile: A pile of faceup cards placed next to the stock. Players discard one card onto the pile in every round.
• Deadwood: Any cards in your hand that are not part of a meld.
• Knocking: Ending the round by putting a card face down on the discard pile.
• Gin: When all 10 cards in your hand are parts of melds and you have no deadwood.
• Big Gin: When all 10 cards in your hand and the card you just drew are parts of melds, so you have 11 cards, all in melds.
• Lay off: Adding your deadwood cards to an opponent’s melds.

Just Have Fun!