What Is Gin Rummy?
Gin Rummy is a two-player card game where you’re trying to organize your 10 cards into ‘melds’ — matching groups and sequences — while getting rid of leftover cards. The less deadwood (unmatched cards) in your hand, the better. You win a round by either ‘knocking’ when your leftover cards total 10 or less, or by ‘going Gin’ when you have NO leftover cards at all.
What You Need
- A standard 52-card deck
- 2 players
- Paper and pen for scoring
Understanding Melds
A meld is a valid group of cards you can lay down. There are two types:
- Set (Group): Three or four cards of the same rank. Example: 7♠ 7♥ 7♦
- Run (Sequence): Three or more consecutive cards of the same suit. Example: 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ 7♣
Deadwood = any cards in your hand that don’t belong to a meld. Aces count as 1 point of deadwood. Face cards count as 10.
Setup
- Shuffle and deal 10 cards to each player.
- Place the remaining deck face-down as the stock pile.
- Flip the top card face-up next to it — this is the start of the discard pile.
- The non-dealer gets the first choice: take the face-up card or pass. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If the dealer also passes, the non-dealer draws from the stock and play begins.
How to Play — Step by Step
- On your turn, draw one card — either the top card from the discard pile (face-up) or the top card from the stock (face-down, unknown).
- Look at your hand and try to form melds.
- Discard one card face-up onto the discard pile to end your turn.
- The game continues — draw and discard, draw and discard — until someone knocks or goes Gin.
Knocking
When your deadwood (unmatched cards) totals 10 points or less, you may ‘knock’ instead of discarding normally. To knock:
- Discard one card face-down.
- Spread your hand face-up on the table, clearly showing your melds and your deadwood.
- Your opponent spreads their hand and counts their deadwood.
- Your opponent can also ‘lay off’ their unmatched cards onto YOUR melds to reduce their deadwood.
Going Gin
If all 10 of your cards form melds (zero deadwood), you can ‘go Gin.’ Discard your last card face-down and spread your full hand. Your opponent CANNOT lay off any cards. You earn a special 25-point Gin bonus.
Scoring After a Knock
- Knocker wins: Score the difference between your deadwood and opponent’s deadwood. (You have 4 pts, they have 9 pts → you score 5.)
- Undercut: If your opponent’s deadwood is equal to or less than yours after laying off, THEY win and score the difference + 25 bonus points. This punishes premature knocking.
- Going Gin: Score all of opponent’s deadwood + 25 bonus points.
Winning
First player to reach 100 points wins, plus a 100-point game bonus. Each hand you won also earns a 25-point ‘line bonus.’ If your opponent scored 0 points all game, you earn an extra 100-point ‘shutout bonus.’
Strategy Tips
- Draw from the discard pile only when it directly helps a meld — otherwise you’re revealing your hand to your opponent.
- Watch the discard pile to figure out what melds your opponent is building.
- Keep your deadwood low even before you’re ready to knock — a quick knock at 10 often beats waiting for Gin.