Gin Rummy

What you need

Two players and one standard deck of 52 cards, no jokers. Aces are low: every suit runs ace, two, three and on up to the king. You play hand after hand, each one short, and the first player to reach 100 points wins the game. Two is the game. Three or four can sit in, and the table near the end shows how.

Every card has a value, and the values matter only for the cards you fail to match. Face cards count 10, the ace counts 1, and every other card counts its number. A nine is 9, a four is 4.

The deal

Draw for the first deal, and the lower card deals. After that the winner of each hand deals the next. The dealer shuffles, the other player cuts, and the dealer gives ten cards to each player, one at a time. The twenty-first card is turned face up to start the discard pile, and the rest of the deck goes face down beside it as the stock.

Pick up your ten cards and sort them. The whole game is in what you do with them next.

Melds and deadwood

A meld is a set or a run. A set is three or four cards of one rank: three sevens, or four queens. A run is three or more cards of one suit in sequence: the four, five and six of clubs, or the nine through the king of hearts. The ace is low, so ace, two, three is a run and queen, king, ace is not. A set stops at four cards. A run can keep growing as long as the suit does.

A card belongs to one meld at a time. Hold three sevens with the eight and nine of hearts, and the seven of hearts can sit in the set or start the run, never both. You need a sixth card, a fourth seven or the ten of hearts, to have both melds at once.

The cards in your hand that sit in no meld are deadwood, and deadwood is what you count. A hand holding a king, a four and an ace outside its melds has 15 in deadwood. A hand with every card melded has none.

Deadwood values

Card	Points
King, queen, jack	10 each
Ten down to two	The number on the card
Ace	1

The turn

A turn has two parts, and it is the same two parts every time.

1. Draw one card. Take the top card of the stock, face down, or the top card of the discard pile, face up. The pile shows you what you are getting. The stock does not.
2. Discard one card face up onto the pile. Your turn is over.

Take the top card of the discard pile and you must discard a different card that turn. You are free to discard it on a later turn.

The first turn of a hand is the exception. The player who did not deal looks at the upcard and takes it or passes. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock, and from there the turns alternate as usual.

A hand ends when a player knocks. It can also run out of cards. When the stock is down to two cards and the player who drew the third-last card discards without knocking, the hand is cancelled. Nobody scores, and the same dealer deals again.

Knocking and going gin

Once your deadwood adds up to 10 or less, you may knock. After your draw, place one card face down on the discard pile and lay your hand on the table, melds together and deadwood to one side. You may knock on any turn, the first included, and you never have to. Playing on for a bigger score is a fair choice, and a gamble. Knock early and you take a small, steady score. Hold out for gin and your opponent gets more turns to shrink their deadwood, and the undercut waits for you.

Knocking with no deadwood at all is going gin. Most gin hands are melds of four, three and three, and two runs of five is gin too. Gin earns a bonus of 25 on top of the hand.

Laying off. When you knock, your opponent spreads their hand into melds and deadwood as well. Then they may lay off: add a fourth card of the same rank to one of your sets, or add the next card of the suit to either end of one of your runs. Every card laid off leaves their deadwood. Nothing can be laid off on your deadwood, so a pair of twos among your unmatched cards does not take their third two. You, the knocker, never lay off on their melds. Against gin there is no laying off at all.

The undercut. Now count both hands. If your opponent's deadwood is equal to yours or lower, you have been undercut. They score the difference between the two counts plus a bonus of 25, and you score nothing. Gin can never be undercut: an opponent with no deadwood of their own still scores nothing against it.

Between hands: shuffling 52 cards

Card sizes and finishes are covered in what cards work with a card shuffler.

How to use Lotus for Gin Rummy

Gin is many short hands with one deck, so the shuffle comes around more often than in most games. The dealer drops the deck into a Lotus card shuffler and touches the sensor.

At the table	With Lotus
The pack	One standard deck, 52 cards, no jokers.
Loads	One, with room to spare. Lotus holds up to two standard decks, 104 cards, loaded together.
Who shuffles	The dealer, and the other player cuts. One touch on the sensor on top starts each pass. No buttons, nothing to grip.
When	After each hand is scored.
Passes	Drop the squared deck into the center tray and touch the sensor. Lotus deals the cards into two piles. Stack one pile on the other, and that is one pass. A pass takes about five seconds. About three passes suit a home game. About seven bring a 52-card deck to near-random, the figure from Bayer and Diaconis (1992).
The discard pile	It goes back in. Gather the discard pile, the stock and both hands, melds and deadwood together, face down, into one pack.
The deal moves	The winner of each hand deals the next. Lotus runs on a 9V battery with no cord, so it sits between the two players, in reach of both.

Another game for two: Cribbage. More rummy games: Rummy and Rummy 500. Every game is in the game table.

Scoring

One player scores in each hand, and the score comes from the deadwood.

What a hand is worth

Result	Who scores	Points
Knock	The knocker	The opponent's deadwood minus the knocker's
Gin	The player who went gin	The opponent's deadwood plus 25
Undercut	The knocker's opponent	The knocker's deadwood minus their own, plus 25
Cancelled hand	Nobody	0

Write the score under the name of the player who won the hand and draw a line under it. The lines matter at the end of the game.

A worked game. You sit down with a friend, and three hands take the game to 100.

Hand one. You knock holding a four and a two outside your melds, 6 in deadwood. Your friend lays off one card on your run and is left with a king, a queen and a nine: 29. You score 29 less 6, which is 23.

Hand two. Your friend goes gin. You are caught with a king, a queen, a jack, a ten and an ace unmatched, 41 in deadwood, and there is no laying off against gin. Your friend scores 41 plus the 25 gin bonus: 66. The totals stand at 23 for you and 66 for your friend.

Hand three. You knock with a five and a four, 9 in deadwood. Your friend lays off their last two unmatched cards on your melds and has no deadwood at all. That is an undercut. Your friend scores the difference of 9 plus the 25 undercut bonus, 34, and the total reaches 100. The game is over.

End of the game

The first player to 100 ends the game, and the bonuses go on after that.

Bonus	Points
Game bonus	100 to the winner
Shutout	The game bonus doubles to 200 when the loser won no hand
Line bonus	25 to each player for every hand they won

The line bonus is why a line goes under every winning score: count the lines and multiply by 25. Line bonuses never count toward the 100 that ends the game. They are added once it is over.

In the worked game your friend finishes at 100, plus the 100 game bonus, plus 50 for two hands won: 250. You finish at 23 plus 25 for your one hand: 48. The margin is 202, and in a game played for stakes, the margin is what changes hands.

How other tables play

Gin has been played in card rooms, kitchens and tournaments for more than a century, and the bonuses moved around along the way. Settle these before the first deal.

Rule	This page	Other tables play
Knock limit	10 or less in deadwood	The value of the first upcard, as in Oklahoma gin
Gin bonus	25	20
Undercut bonus	25	10 or 20
Line bonus	25 for each hand won	20
Shutout	The game bonus doubles to 200	The winner's whole score doubles
Game	100	150 in Oklahoma gin, 125 for four in partnerships, 250 in tournament partnership play
Who deals	The winner of the last hand	The loser, or the players alternate
The first turn	The upcard is offered to the non-dealer, then the dealer	The non-dealer gets 11 cards, no card is turned up, and the hand opens with a discard
The last two cards	The hand is cancelled	The other player may take the final discard to knock or go gin
Discarding the card you took from the pile	Not on the same turn	Allowed, and the player who threw it cannot take it back unless knocking

Oklahoma gin, Hollywood, straight gin, three and four players

Game	Pack and deal	What changes
Oklahoma gin	52 cards, 10 each. The first upcard sets the knock limit: a seven means knock at 7 or less, a picture means 10	A spade upcard doubles the hand's score, bonuses included. Game is 150. Some tables play an ace upcard as gin only, and some award extra boxes for an undercut and for gin
Hollywood gin	The ordinary game	Three games are scored at once. A player's first win goes into game one, the second into games one and two, and the third and every later win into all three. Each game ends in the usual way with its own bonuses, and once it has ended, new scores go only to the games still open
Straight gin	The ordinary game	No knocking. The first player to go gin wins the hand, and it is often played best of seven rather than for points
Three players	52 cards, 10 each to two of them	The dealer sits out and deals to the other two. The loser of the hand deals the next, so the winner plays the player who sat out
Four players	Two partnerships. Each player plays a separate game against one opponent	Opponents alternate and partners stay. If both partners win their hands, the team scores the total. If one wins and one loses, the team ahead scores the difference. Game is 125

Rules as recorded by pagat.com, Gin Rummy, with its Oklahoma gin and three- and four-player sections. Hollywood and straight gin as described by Rummy-Games.com, one of the rules sites pagat links to. For tournament play, read the Gin Rummy Association's official rules.

Common questions

How many cards are dealt in gin rummy?

Ten to each player, one at a time, from a standard 52-card deck. The twenty-first card is turned face up to start the discard pile, and the rest is the stock.

How many points do you need to win gin rummy?

100. The bonuses come after: 100 for winning the game, 25 to each player for every hand they won, and the game bonus doubles if the loser never won a hand. Oklahoma gin plays to 150.

What is deadwood in gin rummy?

The cards in your hand that are in no set or run. Face cards count 10, aces 1, and the rest their number. You may knock once your deadwood adds up to 10 or less.

Can you knock with 10 in gin rummy?

Yes. The limit is 10 or less, so a count of 10 is a knock. In Oklahoma gin the first upcard sets the limit instead, and a picture card still means 10.

What is an undercut in gin rummy?

The knocker is undercut when the opponent, after laying off, holds deadwood equal to the knocker's or lower. The opponent scores the difference plus 25, and the knocker scores nothing. A player who went gin cannot be undercut.

Score keeper

Type your two names at the top of the table. For each hand, fill in the winner's column only: the deadwood difference, and a 1 under Went gin or Undercut when the hand earned the bonus. The keeper adds the bonus, keeps the running totals, and works out the game bonus and the line bonuses when a player reaches 100. Add the next hand with the plus button. It keeps the game on this device.