Rummy Rules

These rummy rules cover Basic Rummy, also called Straight Rummy: 2 to 6 players, one 52-card deck, and a race to empty your hand by laying down sets and runs. Other games that share the name, from Rummy 500 to Shanghai, are compared at the end.

Rummy Rules at a Glance

Basic Rummy needs one 52-card deck and 2 to 6 players, and a hand is over as soon as one player's cards run out.

How to Play Rummy, Step by Step

Steps 4 to 6 repeat, player by player, until someone goes out.

1. Choose the dealer. Pick the first dealer at random or by drawing cards. After that the deal passes to the left, or with two players it alternates or goes to the last winner.
2. Deal the hands. Give each player 10 cards when two play, 7 when three or four play, and 6 when five or six play, dealing them singly.
3. Turn the upcard. Stack the undealt cards face down to form the stock, then flip its top card beside it; that upcard begins the discard pile.
4. Draw a card. Starting on the dealer's left and moving clockwise, each player draws one card: the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile, never one from deeper down.
5. Meld and lay off. If you choose, put sets and runs face up on the table, and extend any meld already there, whoever made it, one card at a time.
6. Discard. Close the turn by throwing one card face up onto the discard pile, but not a card you picked up from that pile this turn.
7. Go out. The hand stops as soon as one player holds no cards, whether the last one was discarded, melded, or laid off.
8. Score the hand. The winner collects the value of every card the others still hold: Ace 1, 2 to 10 at face value, and 10 for each Jack, Queen, and King.

The Deal: How Many Cards in Rummy

Hands shrink as the table grows: two players hold 10 cards each, three or four hold 7, and five or six hold 6, so one 52-card deck always leaves a stock of at least 15.

The first dealer is picked at random or by lot, and the deal then passes to the left. Cards go out one at a time, the next card is turned up as the upcard, and the player on the dealer's left goes first. In our game you deal every hand, so the computer players all move before you.

10 cards

Player 2

31 cards

Stock

Upcard

Discard pile

Your hand

Every rule book gives two players 10 cards, one also allowing 7; above that they differ. Some deal 10 each to three players (30 + 1 + 21 = 52) or 7 each to five (35 + 1 + 16 = 52), and Foster's 1914 Hoyle gave four players 6 each. Bigger groups sometimes shuffle two decks together and deal 10 each to as many as seven players: 70 + 1 + 33 = 104. Our game always uses one deck and the 10, 7, and 6 split, which matches what most rule books deal at each table size. Seven-card rummy is simply the three- and four-player deal.

Taking a Turn

Every rummy turn runs in the same order: draw one card, meld or lay off if you want to, then discard one card.

Draw. Your card comes from the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile; digging deeper into the pile is a Rummy 500 rule.

Keep or use it. A card taken from the discard pile can wait in your hand for a later turn, but it cannot be your discard on the turn you took it. A card drawn from the stock may go straight back.

Say that in the two-player deal above, Player 2 draws the 6 of clubs from the stock and throws it straight back, which is legal. You pick it up to go with your 4 and 5 of clubs. You may meld the three now or hold them, but the 6 cannot be this turn's discard, so you throw the King of spades.

The 6 of clubs cannot go straight back

You took it from the discard pile this turn. Meld it, keep it, or discard a different card.

Meld and lay off. Our game sets no limit on melds or lay-offs in a turn. Some traditional rules allow one meld per turn, and the 1914 Hoyle let a player put down no more than three cards at a time. When to meld and when to wait is covered in the rummy strategy guide.

Melds: Sets and Runs

Only two shapes of meld exist, sets and runs, and each needs at least three cards.

A set (a group or book to some players) is three or four cards of one rank; with one deck its suits all differ and four is the limit. A run (or sequence) is three or more cards of one suit in order, and it can stretch to all 13, Ace to King.

Our game ranks the Ace below the 2 and nowhere else, so A-2-3-4 counts as a run while Q-K-A does not. Many house rules also allow Q-K-A, letting the Ace sit at either end of a run but not both, and some then count a high Ace as 11 or 15 points instead of 1. Runs that wrap from King to Ace to 2 are an unusual house rule.

K-A-2 does not turn the corner

The Ace sits below the 2 only, so a King cannot lead into it.

Melds on the table cannot be rearranged. Once the 5, 6, 7, and 8 of clubs are down, nobody may pull out the 8 for a set of 8s; you can only add cards.

Laying Off

Laying off puts one card from your hand onto a meld that is already down, and any meld will do, yours or an opponent's.

A set takes its fourth card; a run takes the next card at either end, so the 4 and the 9 of clubs both fit the 5-6-7-8 of clubs. In our game you can lay off from your first turn, before melding anything, as many cards as fit.

You have not melded yet, but Player 2 has the Jack, Queen, and King of clubs down and Player 3 has three 4s. You lay off the 10 of clubs below the Jack and the 4 of clubs on the 4s. Your Ace of clubs has no home, because the Ace cannot follow a King.

Laying off before your first meld

The 10 of clubs extends Player 2's J-Q-K run. The Ace of clubs cannot go on the other end.

Stricter rules make you meld first: one rule set lets you lay off only from the turn after your first meld, and a milder house rule bars laying off on other players' melds until you have one of your own. The 1914 Hoyle allowed one card per turn onto another player's meld. Our game has none of these limits.

Going Out

You go out the moment your hand is empty, and in our game, as in most rule books, the last card need not be a discard.

Discarding, melding, or laying off your last card ends the hand on the spot, and no one else may meld after you. Sets and runs the others were holding back stay in their hands and go into your score.

Holding the 2 and 3 of diamonds, you draw the 4, meld all three, and are out with no discard.

Some families require a final discard, and under that rule those three diamonds cannot all go down, so you would discard one and wait for another turn. Our game does not use it.

Scoring: How to Score Rummy

The player who goes out scores the combined value of the cards still in the other hands; nobody else scores for the hand.

Every card left in a hand counts, even cards that would have formed a meld. In a three-player hand you hold the 7 and 8 of diamonds and the Queen of hearts. You draw the 9 of diamonds, meld the run, and discard the Queen to go out.

Player 2 was holding three Kings back, and they supply 30 of your 61 points.

Under penalty scoring, a house rule, each loser keeps their own total instead: Player 2 takes 34, Player 3 takes 27, you take 0, and when someone reaches 100 the lowest total wins.

With winner-collects scoring, home games play to a target, often 100, with 150 or 250 for a longer game, or for an agreed number of deals. Our game is one hand: the first player out wins, and the result screen lists what each opponent was left holding.

When the Stock Runs Out

In our game an empty stock never ends the hand: every discard except the top card is shuffled into a new stock, and play goes on.

In a two-player hand where nobody takes a discard, the 31-card stock is gone after 31 draws, leaving 32 cards in the discard pile. Say the 9 of diamonds is on top when you draw from the empty stock: the 9 stays face up, the other 31 become the new stock, and you draw its first card.

The top discard stays face up

The 9 of diamonds keeps its place; the 31 cards under it become the new stock.

Several rule books flip the discard pile face down without shuffling, so cards return in the order they were thrown, and some let the next player take the top discard first. Others shuffle, as our game does. Block Rummy never reuses the pile: the hand ends, and depending on the version either the lowest hand collects the difference from each player or everyone loses the points they hold.

Rummy House Rules

Settle these house rules before the first deal; our game plays none of them.

Going rummy. Going rummy means emptying your hand in a single turn when you have not melded or laid off at all earlier in the hand. Most players who use the rule double the score, and some add 10 points instead; the 1914 Hoyle called it a splash.

Dealt the 4, 5, and 6 of hearts, three Queens, and the 9 of clubs in a three-player game, you draw the 7 of hearts on your first turn, meld seven cards, and discard the 9. The other hands hold 48 and 47 points, so you score 95 in our game, 190 where going rummy doubles, and 105 where it adds 10.

Calling "Rummy!" Borrowed from Rummy 500 and missing from most card books, this rule lets any player except the discarder call "Rummy!" on a discard that could have been melded, before the next player draws. The caller takes the card, melds it, and discards, and play continues from the caller's left. In a milder version only a card that fits a table meld can be claimed, and the turn then returns to the player it belonged to. Some groups ban the call.

Rummy on the board. We have not found this phrase in any standard rule book. Rummy 500 rule books use "on the board" for the melds on the table, so it most likely means calling "Rummy!" on a discard that fits one of them. Agree what it means before you play.

Rummy Rules for 2 Players

Rummy for 2 players changes only the deal: 10 cards each, and the non-dealer goes first. Between hands the deal alternates or passes to the last winner, and one book also allows a 7-card deal. In our game, the 2P button above the table deals this game against one computer player, who draws first because you always deal. For a two-player rummy with hidden melds and knocking, play Gin Rummy.

Other Rummy Games and Variations

Rummy is a family, and this site plays four of its games: Basic Rummy, Gin Rummy, Canasta, and Tonk. None of the others below can be played here.

Card historians sort the family by how a hand ends and what scores. Basic games like ours put melds down as you play; knock games such as Gin hide them until someone knocks; contract games set a required first meld for each deal; meld-scoring games such as Rummy 500 pay you for your melds; and in rearrangement games such as Rummikub anyone may rebuild the table. The history of rummy traces where each came from.

Rummy 500

Rummy 500 pays you for your own melds and lets you dig into the discard pile: you may take a buried card if you also take every card above it and meld it at once. Melds and lay-offs score for the player who made them, less the cards left in hand, and the first player to 500 wins. Two players get 13 cards; three to eight get 7, with a second deck from five players up.

Indian Rummy (13-Card Rummy)

Indian Rummy hides your hand until you declare, and the declaration needs a pure sequence. Each player gets 13 cards from two decks with printed jokers, and a card turned up at the start makes its whole rank wild. You win by discarding your 14th card and showing all 13 in melds, with at least two sequences, one of them pure (no wild card). Losers count unmatched cards, with Aces and face cards at 10, capped at 80 points in online play.

Kalooki: Two Different Games

At least two unrelated games are called Kalooki, also spelled Kaluki or Kalookie. British Kalookie deals 13 cards each to 2 to 5 players from two decks and 2 jokers, and your first meld must total at least 40 points. Jamaican Kalooki is a contract game for 3 to 6 players with 108 cards, played over nine deals of 9 to 16 cards, and the lowest total wins.

Contract Rummy, Shanghai, Liverpool, and Progressive Rummy

Contract Rummy makes you hold the deal's contract before you put anything down, and the contracts get harder: two sets, then a set and a run, two runs, three sets, two sets and a run, a set and two runs, and three runs. It takes 3 to 8 players with two or more decks plus jokers, over 7 deals of 10 cards, rising to 12 in the later deals. Runs need at least 4 cards, and you may buy a discard out of turn by taking a penalty card with it. The lowest total after 7 deals wins.

A run here, too short for a contract

The 4, 5, and 6 of spades make a run in Basic Rummy. Contract Rummy needs at least four cards in a run.

Shanghai, Liverpool, May I, and Progressive Rummy are close versions of the same game. Shanghai deals 11 cards every deal, limits buying, and plays the Ace high only in runs; books give it either 10 deals or 7. Liverpool adds extras such as a 50-point reduction for cutting exactly the number of cards the deal needs. Progressive Rummy versions differ in the number of deals and cards dealt.

Knock Rummy and Tonk

Knock Rummy keeps every meld in the hand and lets any player knock after drawing, on any turn and with any count. The lowest unmatched total collects the difference from each player, and a knocker who does not have the lowest count pays an extra 10. Two players get 10 cards; three to five get 7.

Tonk deals 5 cards each to 2 to 4 players, and anyone dealt exactly 49 or 50 points wins immediately. At the start of a turn you may drop, claiming the lowest count, and pay double if you are caught. Tonking out, emptying your hand, also pays double.

Gin Rummy and Oklahoma Gin

Gin Rummy, usually for two players with 10 cards each, hides melds until someone knocks holding unmatched cards worth 10 points or less, or goes gin with none. After a knock short of gin, the other player may lay off onto the knocker's melds, and a defender left with an equal or lower count undercuts the knocker. Oklahoma Gin, not on this site, lets the first upcard set the knock limit, and a spade upcard doubles the hand.

Canasta

Canasta is usually a partnership game for four, played with 108 cards: two decks plus four jokers. Melds are of one rank, 2s and jokers are wild, and a meld of 7 or more cards is a canasta, worth 500 when natural and 300 when mixed. You need a canasta to go out, and the game runs to 5,000.

Michigan Rummy

Michigan Rummy usually means the Tripoley or Rummoli board game, which is not a rummy at all. Two to nine players collect chips for holding pay cards, play a round of poker, then race to shed cards in suit order, and nobody melds. A few card books use Michigan Rum as another name for Rummy 500.

Rummikub

Rummikub uses 106 numbered tiles instead of cards, 14 each for 2 to 4 players. Your first play must total at least 30 points from your own tiles, and after that anyone may rearrange the table as long as every group is valid when the turn ends.

Continental Rummy and Dummy Rummy each name several games: one Continental is the contract game May I, and one Dummy Rummy deals 7 cards with a wild rank that changes every deal.

Rummy Variations Compared

How Our Game Compares

Our rummy plays the common rules at every step; where the books split, it makes the choices below.

Play rummy against the computer to try these rules with every meld checked for you. The rummy FAQ answers quick questions, the rummy glossary defines each term on this page, and the full list of card games shows everything else on the site.