Rummy

What Is Rummy?

Rummy is one of the most popular card games in the world, and the ancestor of dozens of variations. Your goal is to arrange all your cards into ‘melds’ — matching groups or sequences — and then go out by playing your last card. Along the way you’re drawing, organizing your hand, and discarding cards you don’t need.

What You Need

• A standard 52-card deck
• 2 to 6 players (2 decks for 5–6 players)
• Paper and pen for scoring

Understanding Melds

• Set: Three or four cards of the same rank. Example: J♠ J♦ J♥
• Run (Sequence): Three or more consecutive cards of the same suit. Example: 3♣ 4♣ 5♣ 6♣

Aces can be high (above King) or low (below 2), but NOT both in the same run.

Setup

1. For 2 players: deal 10 cards each. For 3–4 players: deal 7 cards each. For 5–6 players: deal 6 cards each.
2. Place the remaining deck face-down as the draw pile.
3. Flip the top card face-up to start the discard pile.

How to Play — Step by Step

1. Draw: Take one card from either the top of the face-down draw pile (unknown) or the face-up discard pile (you can see it). You must draw at the start of every turn.
2. Meld (optional): If you have valid melds, you may lay them face-up on the table in front of you.
3. Lay off (optional): If melds are already on the table (yours or others’), you may add cards to them. For example, if someone laid 3♣ 4♣ 5♣, you can add 2♣ or 6♣.
4. Discard: Play one card face-up onto the discard pile to end your turn.

Going Out

When you have no cards left in your hand after discarding, you ‘go out’ and the round ends. You MUST discard your final card — you cannot go out without discarding.

Going Rummy

If you go out in one move — melding your entire hand without having laid any cards down in previous turns — it’s called ‘Rummy!’ You score double for the round.

Scoring

• Aces: 1 point each
• Face cards (K, Q, J): 10 points each
• Number cards: face value

The player who goes out scores zero. All other players count the points of cards still in their hand — that’s their penalty score. The WINNER scores the total of all opponents’ penalty points.

Winning

First player to reach the agreed target (usually 100 or 500 points) wins.

Strategy Tips

• Pick from the discard pile only when it directly completes a meld — otherwise you’re showing your opponents what you need.
• Watch what others pick up from the discard pile — it tells you what melds they’re working on, so don’t feed them the cards they need.
• Keep your hand flexible early — don’t lock yourself into one meld strategy too soon.
• Going Rummy is risky but rewarding — hold off on laying melds and try to go out in one big move for double points.

▶ Watch: How to Play Rummy (YouTube)