Gin Rummy

How to Play Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy is a casual two-player card game about building melds: runs of consecutive cards in one suit and sets of three or four cards of the same rank. You and the computer rival draw and discard once each turn, trying to organise ten cards into melds first.

The game opens in your browser with no registration or download. Your current match, settings, and statistics stay on your device between visits.

Starting Cards and the First Upcard

Each player begins with ten cards from a standard 52-card deck. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile, and the remaining cards form the draw pile. Aces are always low: ace, two, three is a run, but queen, king, ace is not. Face cards count as ten points, aces as one, and every other card uses its number.

The player who did not distribute the cards gets the first chance to take the opening upcard. If they decline, the other player may take it. If both decline, the first player draws from the draw pile. The starting role alternates each round.

Drawing and Discarding

On your turn, draw one card from the draw pile or the top of the discard pile, then discard one card face up. You finish each turn with ten cards.

If you take the top card of the discard pile, you may not return that same card on the same turn. Keep it until at least your next discard.

Knocking, Gin, and the Undercut

Cards that fit no meld are deadwood. When your deadwood totals ten points or less, you may knock to end the round. Your opponent then adds any suitable loose cards to your melds, and the score uses the difference between the remaining deadwood totals.

Gin means ending with zero deadwood. It adds the deadwood difference plus 25 extra points, and the opponent cannot add cards to those melds. If the opponent finishes with the same or a lower deadwood total after adding cards, they receive the difference plus 25 extra points for an undercut. Big gin, where the extra drawn card also fits your melds, adds 31 extra points.

Completing the Match

Rounds continue until one player reaches 100 points. If only two cards remain in the draw pile and nobody knocks, the round ends without changing either score and the cards are distributed again.

Basic Strategy

Watch the discard pile. Every card the rival takes hints at what they are collecting, and every card they release hints at what they no longer need. Avoid discarding cards next to ranks or suits they recently picked up.

Early in a round, middle cards can join more runs than very high or very low cards. Later, a quick knock can be more effective than waiting for every card to fit a meld.

Gin Rummy Questions