Rummy
Be the first to get rid of your hand in the classic game of Rummy! Rummy is a card-shedding game for 2-6 players.
*There are many many variations of Rummy! If your group plays with different rules, feel free to implement them how you wish.
How to Play Rummy
Objective
- In Rummy, the goal is to be the first player to score a set number of points. This can be decided by the players, but for these rules we will be using the example of 150 points for 4 players (for lower player count, a lower point value is recommended).
- Points are scored each round by the player who gets rid of their hand of cards first.
Set-up
- Rummy uses a standard 52 card deck. For 2 players, shuffle and deal each player 10 cards. for 3-4 players, deal each player 7 cards. For 5-6 players, deal each player 6 cards.
- The remaining cards form the draw deck in the middle of the table and the top card of the deck is discarded to start the discard pile.
Playing the Game
- Cards in Rummy are ranked with Aces as the lowest card and K as the highest.
- Starting with the player left of the dealer, each player will take a turn in clockwise order.
- On a player's turn, they must start by either drawing the top card of the deck or the top card of the discard pile.
- Once a player has drawn a card, they may play cards from their hand to form new melds on the table or they may "lay off" (add card(s) to existing melds that were previously placed by themselves or other players). A meld is simply a group 3-4 cards that share the same rank (EXAMPLE: 4 Clubs, 4, Diamonds, 4 Spades) or a consecutive run of 3+ cards in the same suit (EXAMPLE: A, 2, 3, 4, 5 - all of Diamonds).
- A player may play as many cards as they can into existing melds and/or new melds but does not have to play a meld from their hand if they do not want to.
- Whether a player plays cards or not, they must discard one card to end their turn.
- The round ends when a player "goes out" by getting rid of the last card in hand by either playing it into a meld or by discarding it to end their turn.
- If a player is able to play/discard all of their cards in one turn without having previously played any melds or laid off any cards, this is called "going rummy". When a player goes rummy, they score double the amount of points (explained below). A player can only go rummy though if they have not yet played cards yet this round (they may still have drawn and discarded cards on previous turns).
- If the draw deck ever runs out, leave the top card of the discard pile and shuffle the rest of the discard pile to form a new draw deck.
- When starting a new round, the dealer is the player left of the previous round's dealer.
- *For PlayingCards.io, place your melds wherever there is space on the table. Stagger them in a way so that the cards are visible but not too spread out. Melds in rummy can be seen as communal as points are not scored from the melds but rather the cards left in hand.
Scoring
- After each round, points are awarded only to the player who went out/went rummy.
- The player who went out scores points for each card remaining in all other players' hands. If they went rummy, these points are doubled.
- Cards remaining in other players hands have the following point values: A = 1 point, 2-10 = Face Value (EXAMPLE: 5 of Hearts is worth 5 points), and K/Q/J are each worth 10 points.
Winning
The first player to 150 points (or the agreed upon point goal) is the winner!
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