Gin Rummy Glossary

Definitions for 27 gin rummy terms, from deadwood and the knock to big gin, the box bonus, and the 50th card. Where rule books disagree on a value, the entry gives the common versions and says which one our game uses. The full gin rummy rules show every term in play.

Big Gin

All eleven cards melded after the draw, declared without a discard. It scores the opponent's deadwood plus 31 in our game and many rule books; some pay 50, and some leave big gin out.

Box Bonus (Line Bonus)

Points added at the end of a game for each hand a player won, 20 or 25 each depending on the rule book. They sit outside the 100 a player needs to win.

Deadwood

Unmatched cards left in a hand. Each counts its pip value, with Aces at 1 and picture cards at 10, and the total decides whether you can knock.

Defender

The player who did not knock. The defender spreads their melds, lays off where the rules allow, and wins with an undercut if their count ends equal to or lower than the knocker.

Discard Pile

The face-up pile beside the stock. Every turn ends with a discard onto it, and the next player may take its top card instead of drawing from the stock.

Draw

Taking the top card of the stock or the discard pile at the start of a turn. A hand is also called a draw when the stock falls to two cards without a knock, and nobody scores.

Fiftieth Card

The third-last card of the stock, and the 50th card out of the pack. If the player who takes it discards without knocking, the hand is void. Some rules give the other player one chance to take that discard and knock, called action on the 50th card.

Game Bonus

The 100 points added to the score of the first player to reach 100 in a game of several hands.

Gin

Knocking with all ten cards melded and no deadwood. The opponent cannot lay off or undercut, and gin scores the opponent's deadwood plus 25, or 20 in British and older rules.

Gin Chances

How many unseen cards would complete gin the moment you drew one. Classic strategy books use the count to choose between knocking and playing on; four or more with nine cards matched is their usual signal to play on.

Going Down

Knocking with some deadwood left, as opposed to going gin.

Hollywood Scoring

A format that scores three games at once on one sheet. The first hand a player wins scores in game one only, the next in games one and two, and each one after that in all three. The official laws of 1942 printed it.

Knock

Ending the hand by discarding face down and spreading your melds and deadwood, allowed once your deadwood after the discard is 10 or less. The name is thought to come from rapping on the table.

Knock Card

In Oklahoma gin and Gin Rummy Association tournaments, the first upcard, whose value sets the most deadwood you may knock with that hand. A picture card allows 10.

Knocker

The player who ends the hand. The knocker can never lay off on the defender's melds, and if the defender finishes equal or lower, the defender scores the difference plus the undercut bonus.

Layoff (Lay Off)

After a plain knock, the defender gets rid of loose cards by adding them to the knocker's melds, completing a three-card set to four or extending a run at either end. Layoffs are not allowed after gin, and never onto deadwood.

Meld

A set or a run. In gin rummy, melds stay in your hand until someone knocks, so you can rearrange them on any turn.

Oklahoma Gin

A variant in which the first upcard sets the knock limit for the hand. A spade turned up doubles that hand, some play an Ace turned up as gin only, and games usually run to 150.

Run (Sequence)

Three or more cards of one suit in order, such as the 5-6-7 of hearts. The Ace is always low: A-2-3 is a run, and Q-K-A is not.

Set (Group)

Three or four cards of the same rank, such as the 9 of clubs, diamonds, and spades.

Shutout (Schneider)

A game in which the loser scores nothing. Rule books reward it differently: a game bonus of 200 instead of 100, every hand's points doubled before the box bonus, or the winner's whole total doubled.

Spread

To lay your hand face up after a knock, melds grouped and deadwood apart, so both counts can be checked.

Stock

The face-down pile left after the deal: 31 cards once ten each are dealt and one is turned up. A hand ends as a draw when the stock is down to two cards and nobody has knocked.

Straight Gin

A variant with no knocking. A hand ends only when someone goes gin, so there are no undercuts and no layoffs.

Tedesco Gin

A variant with Aces high or low, runs that turn the corner such as K-A-2, and an unmatched Ace worth 15 against the player caught holding it. Accounts come from players, so house rules vary.

Undercut

When the defender's deadwood, after laying off, is equal to or lower than the knocker's. The defender scores the difference plus a bonus: 25 in our game and North American play, 10 or 20 elsewhere.

Upcard

The top card of the discard pile. The first upcard is the 21st card, turned face up after the deal; in standard rules the non-dealer and then the dealer may take it before anyone draws from the stock. In our game you simply take it or draw.