Gin Rummy rules: how to play

Gin Rummy is a card game for two players. Each player holds ten cards and tries to arrange them into sets and runs; the cards left over are deadwood. On your turn you draw a card and throw one away, and once your deadwood adds up to 10 or less you may knock to end the hand. The first player to 100 points wins. Here are the rules in plain English, with hands worked through.

Cards and their values

Two players use one ordinary pack of 52 cards, no jokers; on this site you play against the computer. The Ace is low and counts 1, the 2 to 10 count their number, and the Jack, Queen and King count 10 each.

Sets, runs and deadwood

A set is three or four cards of the same rank, such as three 7s. A run is three or more cards of the same suit in order, such as the 4, 5 and 6 of clubs. Because the Ace is low, Ace, 2, 3 is a run, but Queen, King, Ace is not. Sets and runs are also called melds.

Every card that is in no set or run is deadwood, and your deadwood count is what those cards add up to. The whole game is about bringing that number down.

Three 7s and a run of clubs. The loose cards are the deadwood: 1 + 3 + 9 + 10 = 23.

A card can be in only one set or run at a time. Holding the 5, 6 and 7 of hearts with the 7 of spades and 7 of clubs, the 7 of hearts can finish the run or the set, not both, so arrange the hand whichever way leaves less deadwood. On this site your cards are arranged that way for you as you play, with a bar under each set and run.

The deal and the first card

The dealer gives ten cards to each player, one at a time. The next card goes face up to start the discard pile, and the rest are the stock, face down.

The player who did not deal may take that first face-up card or pass. If they pass, the dealer may take it or pass. If both pass, the player who did not deal draws the top card of the stock, and play goes on from there. On this site the deal takes turns, so you get the first chance at the first card every other hand.

A turn

Draw one card: the top card of the stock, which nobody has seen, or the top card of the discard pile.
Throw one card face up on the discard pile. A card you have just taken from the pile may not go straight back on it.

You always hold ten cards between turns. Taking from the pile tells the other player something, because they can see what you picked up. Drawing from the stock gives nothing away.

Knocking

When, after your draw, you can throw a card and be left with deadwood of 10 or less, you may knock. Put that card face down on the pile and lay your hand out on the table: your sets and runs, then your deadwood. You do not have to knock as soon as you can, but you may not knock with more than 10.

You knock with 7 in deadwood: 1 + 2 + 4.

Laying off

After a knock, the other player lays out their own sets and runs, then may lay off loose cards onto the knocker’s: the fourth card of a three-card set, or the next card at either end of a run. Cards laid off no longer count against them. The knocker may not lay off on the other player’s cards.

The computer had the 7 of hearts and the 9 of clubs too, and lays them off on your cards. Its deadwood is 6 + 8 + 10 + 2 + 5 = 31.

The 9 of clubs joins your 9s and the 7 of hearts your run. You score the difference: 31 − 7 = 24 points.

Gin

Knock with no deadwood at all and you have gin. Gin scores a bonus of 25 plus all of the other player’s deadwood, and after gin nothing may be laid off.

Every card is in a set or run. If the computer is left with 18 in deadwood, you score 25 + 18 = 43 points.

The undercut

Knocking is a risk. If the other player, after laying off, has as little deadwood as the knocker or less, they undercut the knocker: they score the difference plus a bonus of 25, and the knocker scores nothing. A tie is an undercut too. Gin can never be undercut.

The computer knocks with 8: 1 + 3 + 4. You lay off the Queen of clubs and the 9 of clubs.

You are left with 5, less than the computer’s 8: an undercut. You score 8 − 5 + 25 = 28 points.

Scoring

The hand ends with	Points
A knock, the knocker with less deadwood	The difference, to the knocker
An undercut	The difference plus 25, to the other player
Gin	25 plus all the other player’s deadwood

Points carry over from hand to hand. When one player reaches 100, the game is over and the bonuses are added:

Game bonus: 100 to the player who reached 100.
Box bonus (also called the line bonus): 25 to each player for every hand they won.
Shutout: if the loser did not win a single hand, the game bonus is doubled to 200.

For example, you reach 104 points having won 4 hands, and the computer has 60 from 3 hands. You finish with 104 + 100 + 4 × 25 = 304, and the computer with 60 + 3 × 25 = 135.

When the stock runs low

If a player throws a card that leaves only two cards in the stock and nobody has knocked, the hand is called off. Nobody scores, and the same dealer deals again.

House rules you may meet

Smaller bonuses. Older rule books give 20 for gin and 10 for an undercut, and 20 a hand for the box bonus. This site uses the 25s that most online games use.
Who deals next. Some players let the winner of each hand deal the next. Here the deal takes turns.
Big gin. Some tables pay 31 for a hand where all eleven cards, after the draw, fit in sets and runs. This site does not.

Tips

Throw high cards early. A loose King costs 10 if the other player knocks; a loose 2 costs 2.
Watch the pile. If the other player picks up the 8 of hearts, they want 8s or hearts near it. Hold those back.
Knock early. Waiting for gin gives the other player time to lower their deadwood and undercut you. Late in the hand, knock only with a low count.
Take from the pile only what you can use. Every card you pick up shows the other player what you are collecting.