1. Gin Rummy is very similar to regular Rummy, but Gin has some additional wrinkles that make it a more interesting and challenging game. To play Gin Rummy, you need the following: Two players: If more than two people want to play, you may want to send the extras out for ice cream or a walk.
2. (A Gin Hand with 3 melds) Card Game Rules. Gin Rummy or Gin is a traditional card matching game that requires 2 players and a standard 52 playing card deck with Kings high and Aces low. In Gin Rummy, cards are worth their numerical value with Aces worth 1 and face cards worth 10. The objective of Gin Rummy is to be the first to reach 100 points.
3. Strategy to win any game is all about staying ahead in the competition and the Middle Card Strategy for Gin Rummy, just like other games, is very useful for a player to win big.

1. Gin Card Game Online
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Sep 22, 2019 Gin Rummy is a game for 2 players, and can be played using the standard Anglo-American 52-card Poker deck. The game is one of the most popular variants of Rummy, and follows similar rules but with streamlining for a more fast paced game.

This is an archive copy of a page from the former website cardsanddominoes.com, with thanks to Howard Fosdick for permission to republish it here.

Gin Rummy or Gin is among the best two-handed card games. It features the simplicity of rummy combined with genuine strategic depth.

Gin was invented by Elwood T. Baker and played by his family back in 1910. Then it was forgotten. Baker’s son Graham was astonished to find the game being played at New York clubs in the 1930s. Somehow the game had survived or resurfaced after two decades! Gin became a fad in the early 1940s, probably because film stars adopted it as their favorite.

First we’ll summarize the rules for standard Gin Rummy, aka Oklahoma Gin. Then we give rules to a simple variant called Sequence Gin. Next come the rules to the high-end Skarney Gin. We wrap up with Colonel, a variant of Gin Rummy in which players lay non-scoring melds to the table.

Oklahoma Gin (aka Gin Rummy)

This is a game with a 52-card deck for two players. Cards rank A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K. The Ace is always the low card. Card values are--

The goal in a Hand is to be first to meld all the cards in your hand to go out (go gin). Or to meld enough cards such that the value of those left is less than or equal to the value of the turn-up card, and also less than the value of your opponent’s unmelded cards.

The goal for Game is to be the first player to 100 points across hands.

Valid melds are either--

1. 3 or 4 cards of the same rank
2. A sequence of 3 or more cards in the same suit

Deal each player 10 cards each. Turn one card face-up to start the discard pile. The remaining face-down cards become the draw pile.

In his turn, each player---

1. Takes one card into his hand. This may either be the top card of the discard pile, or the top card from the draw pile.
2. If he wants to or can, he goes out (thereby ending the hand).
3. Discards one card face-up on top of the discard pile. Unless mutually agreed otherwise, cards in the discard pile should be squared up so that only the single topmost card is visible.

There are two ways to go out--

1. Going gin, whereby all cards in the hand have been melded.
2. Melding all cards in hand but with remaining non-melded cards having a total value of less than or equal to that of the original turn-up card that started the discard pile. This is called knocking.

When a player goes gin, he scores a 20 point gin bonus, plus the total value of all unmelded cards in his opponent’s hand.

When a player knocks, he places his hand face-up on the table. His opponent then shows his own melds, and is allowed to meld any unmatched cards (if possible) on the melds of the player who knocked.

Total the remaining unmatched cards for each player. If the player who knocked has a total less than that of his opponent, he scores the total value of unmatched cards of his opponent. If the player who knocked has a total greater than or equal to that of his opponent, he has been under-knocked. The opponent scores a 20 point under-knocking bonus, plus the difference in value between the two hands.

When a player goes out, either by gin or by knocking, he optionally discards to conclude his hand.

Sequence Gin

In this variant of Gin Rummy invented by Howard Fosdick, players may only meld sequences (not 3 or 4 of a kind). Players score a 1 point per card bonus for each card in a long sequence of 6 or more cards. Score a 1 point per card bonus for each face card (K, Q, J) in sequences. These bonuses do not apply to whether one can knock or whether an under-knock occurs. They only apply when calculating the final hand scores.

All other rules are as per Oklahoma Gin above.

Skarney Gin

John Scarne was a magician who befriended Houdini, mobsters, and Presidents. Along the way he invented some classic card games. Scarne took standard Gin and enlivened it with more varied melds, a contract meld requirement, and direct interaction between opponents through new discard rules.

Skarney Gin adds an extra meld to Oklahoma Gin. The poker meld is a set of cards in sequence (they do not have to be in the same suit). So there are three kinds of melds in Skarney Gin--

1. Set (3 or 4 of a kind)
2. Sequence (3 or more cards in suit in sequence)
3. Poker Meld (3 or more cards in sequence, regardless of suits)

Aces can be either high or low in melds. So you can play A-2-3 or Q-K-A. You can not make “round the corner” melds with Aces, such as K-A-2.

The first meld a player makes in each hand must be his contract meld. The contract meld consists of exactly three 3-card melds. The melds may be any combination of 3-of-a-kind sets, 3-card same-suit sequences, or 3-card poker melds. After a player lays down his contract meld, in subsequent turns he may lay off either one or two cards on each of his melds on the table. He can not lay off cards on his opponent’s melds. Of course, the player can also lay down any new melds he likes (each consisting of three or more cards).

Play differs from regular Gin in that there is no “discard pile.” (After dealing cards to each player, you do not turn up a card to start the discard pile.) Instead of discarding, a player holds up one card from his hand and offers it to his opponent. The opponent may say “I’ll take it,” and put it into his hand. If the opponent rejects the card, the player must put it back into his own hand.

A player can not offer to his opponent the same card he just accepted from his opponent in the prior turn. If the pro-offered discard is an Ace, and the player accepts it, that player loses his draw from the draw pile on his next turn.

Whether the second player accepts the discard (and puts it into his hand) or not, he still always starts his turn by drawing the top card from the stock pile. The single exception is if he accepted the offered discard from his opponent and that card was an Ace.

When a player has only 1 card left in his hand, he does not offer a potential discard to his opponent. Instead, he just says “last card” and keeps that card in his hand.

Scoring differs from regular Gin in that Aces are worth 15 points (instead of 1 point). A player who goes gin receives the total value of all cards in his opponent’s hand (regardless of whether they are meldable or not). The player who goes out does not receive any points for cards his opponent has already melded to the table.

Going gin also scores a gin bonus of 20 points. This doubles to 40 points if the opponent has not yet put his required contract meld to the table.

Since Skarney Gin does not have a discard pile, you must go out by melding all cards in your hand without a discard.

There is no knocking in Skarney Gin. The hand ends by a gin. If players draw all the way through the deck (with the exception of the last two cards, which are never drawn), the hand ends without the last player offering a potential discard. The player holding the lower total value for unmelded cards in his hand scores the difference in the unmelded point totals.

A Game is 200 points or more across hands.

Strategy

As you’ve probably guessed, this game is way different from standard Gin!

The number of cards in a player’s hand varies during a hand. There is no knocking, only gin (or else the hand ends when the draw pile is exhausted). And there is the presence of a third meld, the poker straight in which cards are in sequence but not in suit.

Poker straights are often easier to extend than sets or sequences in one suit.

You’ll have to think very carefully about when to lay down your contract meld. Too early and you could end up stuck with a single card in hand and little flexibility. Too late, and your opponent may gin and catch you with all cards in hand. Remember that all cards in hand count against you if your opponent gins (whether matched or not). And, only cards in hand count in the scoring (cards melded to the table are not part of the score).

Enhanced Rules

We’ve simplified by leaving out Scarne’s system for scoring Games for the purposes of settling.

More Information

See John Scarne’s Encyclopedia of Card Games, one of the classic card game compendiums. The book has a chapter on Skarney Gin and its rummy relative, Skarney.

Also Try

If you like Skarney Gin, you might also try Scarne’s partnership scoring rummy, Skarney.

Colonel

Colonel is a variation of standard Gin Rummy in which the two players lay melds on the table. This adds interest to the game as the melds progressively yield more information as the game evolves. This is a fast, fun, simple card game for two.

As in standard Gin Rummy, this the two players use one 52-card deck. Cards rank from Ace (high) to 2 (low). The Ace is always played as high card in sequences (A-K-Q-J...), never as the low card (A-2-3...).

The goal is to win the hand by being first to go out of cards. Like Gin Rummy, the only scoring is done at the end of the hand.

The allowable melds are:

1. Sets of 3 or 4 cards of the same rank
2. Sequences of 3 or more cards in the same suit

Dealer starts the hand by dealing each player 10 cards face-down, one at a time. He turns one card face-up to start the Discard Pile, and the remaining cards remain face-down and become the drawing Stock.

In his turn each player:

1. Either draws the top card from the Stock or takes the face up card from the top of the Discard Pile
2. Optionally melds as many sets and sequences as he or she can.
   The player may also optionally add one or more cards to any set or sequence already on the table, regardless of who originally placed that meld on the table. Thus one can play cards on the opponent’s melds.
3. Discards one card to the top of the Discard Pile. This should cover up all previous cards in the pile.

The first player to play all cards from his hand wins the hand. You can either go out on a discard or solely through melding.

Scoring

The player who rummies (goes out) scores 10 points for each Ace, King, Queen and Jack remaining in his opponent’s hand. All other cards score their pip value.

If the game ends by the exhaustion of the Stock, players each total the points in their hands. The player with the lower total wins the hand. He scores points by subtracting his remaining point total from his opponent’s.

Optional Rule

At any time a player may challenge his opponent. The opponent may either accept or reject the Challenge. If he accepts the Challenge, both players total the points in their hands, and the player with the lower point total wins the hand. He scores the total points in his opponent’s hand -- without deducting his own remaining point total.

If the player rejects the Challenge, play of the hand continues as per usual.

Strategy

Tension in this game centers on when to play your melds to the table. Doing so early reduces your chance of being stuck with lots of cards in hand, should your opponent rummy. However, this also exposes your sets and sequences so that your opponent can play his cards on them to reduce his hand.

A player who is having trouble melding might stock up his hand with low point total cards, then challenge his opponent. The large hand with a deceptively low point total will often succeed in a Challenge.

More Information

Colonel is described in George F. Hervey’s compendium of card games, published in the UK several times by Hamlyn since 1973. I know of no other published source for this game.

Gin Rummy is a matching type card game and popular variant of the Rummy, played with a standard french deck of 52 cards. The game objective is to combine sets of card sequences from the same suit or same rank and score an agreed number of points. The game continues till the winner reaches the final score goal which usually is 100 points.

Gin Rummy is also known as Gin, Knock Poker or Gin Poker.

How to Play Gin Rummy Online

Gin Rummy is played by 2 to 4 players. Our default online version is for 2 players and similar to a Rummy card game each participant plays for himself. The rules below include an explanation about the cards, the terms, as well as dealing and scoring. Additionally we added information on how to play for free and custom game options.

Use of the Cards

The card deck doesn’t contain Jokers and the ranking from high to low is King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. The Ace can only be followed with a 2 and can’t be meld with a King.

Gin Card Game Online

Dealing

The dealer shuffles the deck and passes out 10 cards alternately to each player (1 card at a time per player). The remaining cards are placed face down in the center of the group to form the stock. The top card of the stock is flipped face-up and placed next to the stock form the discard pile.

You can discard a card you’ve just taken only if you got it from the pile.

It is not possible to discard a card that was face up when you took it (i.e from the discard pile) by default, after the first deal, order the cards by suit.

If both players pass on the first card, none of them can take it and have to draw from the draw pile.

• Stock or draw pile – the cards that remain from the initial card distribution
• Discard pile or pile is a place where each player places a discarded card after each turn
• Deadwood cards are cards not being part of a meld
• Knocking – you can knock when you have deadwood cards sum value of 10 or less
• Meld – when a player makes a meld by either having three or more of a kind or by having three or more of a run. A run is made of three or more cards of the same suit in increasing or decreasing order. Unlike Basic Rummy, players do not lay down their melds in Gin Rummy until someone goes Knock. Intersecting melds is not allowed
• Gin is when the declaring player has 10 melded cards (has no deadwood cards)
• Big Gin refers to when players have Gin but they are drawn an 11th card, and if it’s part of his melds. They can declare big gin without discarding a card
• Layoff means to add a card to an existing meld
• Attacker – player performing a knock
• Defender – player being knocked
• Undercut is when the Defender has equal or fewer deadwood points than the knocking player. The situation is known as an Undercut and the defending player receives the points along with a point bonus

Points are counted from the deadwood cards:

Ace is 1 point / Number cards worth their face value / Picture cards value is 10 points

Round scoring

After a player knocks, and the layoffs are made, the knocking player receives a score equal to the difference between the two hands. For example, if a player knocks with 8, and the defender has 10 deadwood points in their hand after laying off, the knocking player receives 2 points for the hand.

Gin is 25 points + sum of deadwood in the opponent’s hand. Big Gin is 31 points + sum of the opponent’s deadwood.

In a draw, there are not awarded points to either player.

Io Card Games Gin Rummy

Game Scoring

The first player who reaches 100 points wins the game.

Points adjustable for online game in the custom room (“Play with friends”):

Gin Card Game Rules

• Undercut – 10, 20 or 25
• Gin – 20 or 25
• Big Gin – 25, 31 or 50
• Final score – 100/250/500 points

There are two available options to play Gin Rummy for free:

Gin Card Game Rules 3 Players

• Create custom games in the “Play with friends” room and adjust the option to start the game with “0” chips.
• Practice your skills in the lobby “Play with computer” where all games are free.

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