The goal
Be the first to get rid of all your cards by laying them down in sets and runs.
Setup
Two to six players, one 52-card deck without jokers.
The deal
Two players: 10 cards each. Three or four: 7 each. Five or six: 6 each. The rest is the stock; turn its top card up to start the discard pile.
A turn
- The player left of the dealer starts.
- Draw the top card of the stock or of the discard pile.
- Lay down melds if you can, face up: a set (three or four of a rank) or a run (three or more in a row, same suit).
- Lay off: add cards from your hand to any meld on the table, yours or anyone’s.
- Discard one card, but not the one you just took from the discard pile.
Special cards
- Aces are low: A-2-3 is a run. Some tables also allow Q-K-A.
- Going rummy: laying down your whole hand in one turn, without having put any cards on the table before. Your score for the round counts double.
- If all your remaining cards fit into melds, you may go out without a final discard.
Scoring
- The player who goes out scores the points of the cards left in the other hands.
- King, queen, jack: 10. Ace: 1. 2 to 10: the number on the card.
Winning
Deal again and keep a running total; the first player to reach the agreed target (for example 100) wins.
House rules
- Aces high or low. Allow Q-K-A as well as A-2-3 (but not K-A-2). An ace left in hand then costs 15 instead of 1.
- Block Rummy. When the stock is gone and nobody wants the discard, the hand ends. The player with the lowest card total left in hand scores the difference from each other player.
- Turning the pile. When the stock is empty, turn the discard pile over, without shuffling, to make a new stock.
