Gin Rummy Rules

Gin rummy is a two-player card game in which each player draws and discards to turn ten cards into sets and runs, and a hand ends when one player knocks with 10 points or less of unmatched cards. These rules cover the standard game for two, the three- and four-player versions, and the best-known variants, with the common alternatives named wherever rule books disagree.

Quick Reference

One Hand, Step by Step

1. Cut and deal. The lower cut usually deals. The dealer gives ten cards to each player, singly, beginning with the opponent.
2. Turn the upcard. The 21st card goes face up as the first discard, and the other 31 wait face down as the stock.
3. Settle the first upcard. The non-dealer has first call on it, then the dealer; if both decline, the non-dealer opens from the stock.
4. Draw and discard. Each turn, take one card (top of the stock or top of the discard pile) and then throw one face up.
5. Knock or go gin. With 10 or less deadwood after your discard, discard face down and spread your melds and deadwood.
6. Lay off. Unless the knocker went gin, the defender spreads their melds and adds any loose cards to the knocker's melds.
7. Score. Compare deadwood and score the hand: the difference, an undercut, gin, or big gin. Play on to 100.

The Deal

Players cut, and most rule books give the first deal to the lower card; some American books favor the higher card. The dealer gives each player ten cards, singly, beginning with the opponent. The 21st card is turned up beside the pack as the first discard, and the other 31 cards sit face down as the stock: 10 + 10 + 1 + 31 = 52.

Who deals next varies more than any other rule. In many rule books the winner of a hand deals the next, some tables pass the deal back and forth, and a few have the loser deal. Agree before you start.

Non-dealer's hand

10 cards

Dealer's hand

Upcard

31 cards

Stock

The First Turn and the Upcard

The first draw of each hand follows its own order. The non-dealer has first call on the upcard and can take it or decline. A refusal hands the choice to the dealer. When both decline, the non-dealer opens by drawing from the stock, and play carries on normally. Whoever takes a card finishes the turn with a discard, and the other player moves next.

A variation skips the upcard altogether: the non-dealer is dealt eleven cards, nothing is turned up, and the non-dealer opens by discarding.

Drawing and Discarding

Every turn has two parts. First, draw one card: the top card of the stock, unseen, or the top card of the discard pile, which both players can see. Second, discard one card face up on the discard pile.

You may not take the top discard and throw the same card straight back in that turn. You may discard it on a later turn. Tournament rules published by the Gin Rummy Association relax this in narrow cases, but the plain rule is the one nearly every table plays.

Melds and Deadwood

The goal is to arrange your hand into melds and keep the rest cheap.

• A set is three or four cards of the same rank, such as three 9s.
• A run is three or more cards of the same suit in sequence, such as the 5-6-7 of hearts.

The Ace is always low. A-2-3 of clubs is a run; Q-K-A is not, and runs never turn the corner from King to Ace. Each card belongs to one meld at most, so the 7 of hearts in 7-7-7 cannot also sit in the 7-8-9 of hearts. Most gin hands are a 4-3-3, but two five-card runs are just as good.

Run

Run

Any card that is not in a meld is deadwood, and its value counts against you.

Knocking

You may end the hand on your turn, after drawing, once the cards you keep leave 10 or less in deadwood. Discard one card face down, which signals the knock, then lay out your hand with the melds grouped and the deadwood apart. The name is thought to come from the old habit of rapping the table.

You may knock on any turn, including your first. A player who knocks with no deadwood at all has gone gin; a knock with deadwood is sometimes called going down.

Laying Off

After a plain knock, the defender spreads their own melds, then lays off: adds loose cards to the knocker's melds. A fourth card can join a set of three, and a card can extend either end of a run. A card laid off can itself be extended, so the 8 and then the 9 of hearts can both go on a 5-6-7 of hearts.

Three limits apply. No one lays off on a gin hand. The knocker never lays off on the defender's melds. And nobody can lay off on deadwood: a knocker's loose pair of 2s does not become a set because the defender holds the third 2.

Knocker: 2

Set

Run + 1 laid off

Run + 1 laid off

Deadwood: 2

Defender: 29, then 11

Set

Run

Deadwood: 11

Gin and Big Gin

Knock with all ten cards melded and you have gin. The defender may still spread melds, but cannot lay off, and a gin hand can never be undercut, even if the defender also has no deadwood. Gin scores the defender's full deadwood plus a 25-point bonus, or 20 in older and British rules.

Big gin comes one step later. When your draw makes all eleven cards fit into melds, you declare big gin without discarding, and score the defender's deadwood plus 31. Some rule books pay 50, and some leave big gin out altogether.

Scoring a Hand

Each player totals their deadwood, the defender after laying off.

The undercut bonus is the most disputed number in the game. North American play and our game use 25. British rules and the official laws of 1942 used 10, some tables use 20 or 15, and the 1942 laws paid nothing extra for a tie. Modern rules treat a tie as an undercut, so a knock with 7 against a defender's 7 scores the defender 25.

Worked Example: Three Layoffs and an Undercut

In the laying-off example above, the knocker holds 2 and the defender ends on 11, so the knocker scores 9. Layoffs can turn a hand the other way. Here the knocker goes down with the 9 of clubs and the defender, starting on 26, lays off three cards:

Knocker: 9

Set

Set + 1 laid off

Run + 2 laid off

Deadwood: 9

Defender: 26, then 1

Set

Run

Deadwood: 1

A knock with 9 is a risk whenever the defender holds cards that fit your melds, and this one hands over 33 points.

Scoring a Game: 100 Points and Bonuses

Hand scores add up, and the first player to reach 100 wins the game. Bonuses then go on top:

• Game bonus: 100 to the winner.
• Box bonus, also called the line bonus: 20 or 25 for each hand a player won, depending on the book. Box points sit outside the race to 100.
• Shutout: when the loser scored nothing, one tradition raises the game bonus to 200; another doubles each hand's points before the box bonus goes on, and a few tables double the winner's whole total.

Some groups play to 200 or 500 instead, and Gin Rummy Association tournament games run to 250.

When the Stock Runs Out

The hand ends with no score if the stock is down to its last two cards and nobody has knocked. The player who draws the third-last card, the 50th card out of the pack, may still knock or go gin on that turn; if they simply discard, the hand is void and the same dealer deals again. Some rules, including those of the Gin Rummy Association, give the other player one last chance to take that discard and knock, which players call action on the 50th card.

Misdeals and Mistakes

Tournament rules from the Gin Rummy Association cover the common accidents. A wrong number of cards found before the first play means a new deal. If one player is found with the wrong number after play starts, the other may let them correct the hand or call a new deal. A player who knocks with too high a count must play the rest of the hand with all ten cards face up, and the opponent may accept the bad knock if their own count qualifies for an undercut. Turn the wrong card face down when knocking and you may take it back and rearrange.

Rules for Three Players

With three, two play while the third deals and sits out. Whoever loses a hand deals the following one, so the winner stays on and meets the player who just dealt.

Rules for Four Players

With four, partners share a team score but each plays their own two-handed game against an opponent from the other side, and you rotate opponents from hand to hand. Two wins for one team: it adds both scores. One win each: the bigger score wins, and only the margin goes on the sheet. The target is 125.

In Gin Rummy Association partnership events, the dealer deals the opponent eleven cards, a separate deck supplies the knock card, and the team that lost points deals the next hand.

Other Ways to Play Gin Rummy

Oklahoma Gin

The first upcard sets the knock limit for that hand: a 7 means you need 7 or less, and a picture card leaves it at 10. Some play that an Ace upcard allows only gin, and a spade upcard doubles every score in the hand, bonuses included. The game usually runs to 150. Tournament play under the Gin Rummy Association uses the same knock-card idea.

Oklahoma: 7 of spades turned up

Knock with 7 or less this hand, and double the score. A gin worth 40 becomes 80.

Hollywood Scoring

Three games run at once on one score sheet. Your first hand won counts in game one, your second in games one and two, and every later win in all three. Each game closes with its own bonuses. The official laws of 1942 printed the format, which is named for the Hollywood gin craze of the early 1940s.

Straight Gin

Knocking is not allowed: a hand only ends with gin, so there are no undercuts or layoffs.

Tedesco Gin

Aces count high or low, runs may turn the corner (K-A-2), and an opponent caught with an unmatched Ace counts it as 15. Versions add the Oklahoma knock card and Hollywood scoring. Our descriptions come from player-contributed accounts, so expect house differences.

Seven Cards

Gin rummy always deals ten. Seven cards each is basic rummy for three or four players, which also deals ten each for two and six each for five or six.

How Our Game Compares

Our gin rummy plays the standard two-player game against the computer, one hand at a time.

Each deal is shuffled from a recorded seed, so you can send a friend the exact same hand to compare scores, or play the daily gin rummy challenge with everyone else.