TRADITIONAL RUMMY RULES
Rummy is a broad term used to describe a large family of card games, all of which preoccupy themselves with the matching of similar cards. More often than not the word rummy is used to refer to the variety Gin Rummy but the following is a list of Rummy variants, all with different sets of rules: 500 Rum, Anarchy, Bing Rummy, Canasta, Conquian, Continental, Contract rummy, Dos Trios, Dummy rummy, Florida Rummy, Indian Rummy, International Rummy, Kalooki or Jamaican Rummy, Khanhoo, Liverpool rummy, Mah Jongg, Penang Rummy or Si Rummy, Phase 10, Progressive rummy, Robbers' rummy, Rumino, Rummikub, Rummy Omar, Shanghai rum, Statian Rummy, Ten pennies, Ten Step, Three thirteen, Tonk or Tunk, Tong Its, Uno, Zigity and Zioncheck.
This article will focus on the traditional game of rummy, outlining the rules of the game and explaining its terminology. Though having now been superseded as the most popular rummy variety, it is the quintessential one and, as such, is an excellent place o start. The aim in rummy is to get rid of your cards as soon as possible by making and playing your cards in sets and runs (called 'melds' in rummy). Successful players meld all the cards in their hand and can also discard the last card left onto the discard pile. The game is typically played between 2-4 players with a normal deck of 52 cards. The way a game of rummy reaches its conclusion it that hands either continue to be played up to a predetermined number, or until a player has reached a certain agreed score. The player left with the lowest score wins.
In rummy the score is taken when one player has run out of cards, when this occurs all the cards in each players hands are tallied. The lowest score wins in rummy so those left with fewer cards will fare better than those left holding a lot, with the player who has manged to get rid of all of their cards in a hand having scored best.
Numbered cards are worth the number they depict, face cards are all worth ten points and Aces are worth 11points. There are two ways of winning a hand: 'Going Out' and 'Going Rummy'. Going out is when a player gets rid of all their cards by melding, adding to other players' melds or getting rid of their final card in the discard pile. Going Rummy is the aim of the game and the most effective way to beat other players, similar to Going Out, it is when a player manages to put down all of their cards by dropping all cards in their own melds, by adding to other people's melds and by dropping a final card into the discard pile, the difference being that to go rummy the player has to accomplish this in the same round in which they make their first melds. Then this happens all other players receive a 25 point penalty, which pushes the player who goes rummy further towards victory.
To determine the dealer each player is dealt a card, the player with the highest card is designated as dealer for the game. After the dealer has been selected the cards are shuffled and cut and then each player is dealt a single card, in sequence from the left of the dealer round, until all players are holding ten cards. After this is done an 'open pile' or 'discard pile' is created by placing a single card face up, this is where cards are discarded at the end of each player's turn. What is left of the deck is the placed face down on the table creating the 'Draw Pile'. The game begins with each player, in the same sequence in which they were dealt their cards, draws a card either from the draw or open pile, they then attempt to make sets and runs from the hand they are working with, placing these on the table face up in front of them. After they have finished doing this they must choose one card to place on the discard pile. The following player then does the same thing and so on until one player is left with no cards. Other rules include: Players cannot draw and discard the same card, players cannot build on other melds without first placing one down, finally if the draw pile should dip to only 2 cards the game is automatically forfeit.
