How to Play Gin Rummy

Overview & Objective

Gin Rummy is a two-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. Each turn you draw one card and discard one, trying to arrange your ten cards into melds — sets of the same rank or runs in one suit. Cards that are not in a meld are deadwood, and the aim is to have as little of it as possible. When your deadwood is down to 10 points or fewer you may knock to end the hand; if it is zero, you go gin. Points are scored on the difference in deadwood, and the first player to 100 points wins.

The Deal

• Players: Exactly 2.
• Deck: A standard 52-card deck. Aces are low.
• Deal: 10 cards each. The remaining 32 cards are placed face down as the stock.
• Upcard: The top card of the stock is turned face up beside it to start the discard pile.
• First turn: The non-dealer goes first. On CardCouch, the first player simply chooses between the upcard and the stock (house rule: the traditional pass-then-offer exchange on the first upcard is skipped). The computer deals the first hand of every game, so you move first; afterwards the loser of each hand deals the next.

Melds: Sets & Runs

A meld is a group of three or more cards that belong together:

• A set is three or four cards of the same rank — for example 7♠ 7♥ 7♣.
• A run is three or more cards of consecutive rank in the same suit — for example 4♦ 5♦ 6♦ 7♦.

Aces are low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not. A card can belong to only one meld at a time, so a 7♥ cannot be in both a set of sevens and a run of hearts. CardCouch automatically sorts your hand into the arrangement that leaves the least deadwood, so you never have to work out the best combination yourself.

Deadwood

Every card not in a meld is deadwood and counts against you:

• Ace = 1 point
• 2 through 10 = face value
• Jack, Queen, King = 10 points each

A hand of two melds plus a 9, a 4 and an Ace has 14 points of deadwood. The lower your deadwood, the sooner you can knock and the less you concede if your opponent knocks first.

Taking a Turn

1. Draw one card: either the top card of the stock (face down, unknown) or the top card of the discard pile (face up, so your opponent sees what you took).
2. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile. You may not discard the card you just took from the discard pile on the same turn.
3. Optionally knock (or declare gin) as you discard, if your remaining ten cards qualify — see below.

Play alternates until someone knocks or the stock runs down to two cards, in which case the hand is a draw and nobody scores.

Knocking

When the deadwood in your ten cards (after discarding) totals 10 points or less, you may knock to end the hand. You are never obliged to knock — you can keep playing for gin. After a knock, both players lay their melds down, the opponent may lay off, and the hand is scored. On CardCouch, choose the card to discard and the Knock button lights up whenever knocking is legal.

Going Gin

If all ten cards in your hand are in melds — zero deadwood — you can declare gin as you discard. Gin scores a 25-point bonus on top of your opponent's entire deadwood, and they are not allowed to lay off cards on your melds. Gin cannot be undercut.

Laying Off & the Undercut

When a player knocks (but not after gin), the opponent may lay off: add any of their deadwood cards to the knocker's melds — a fourth card on a set, or a card that extends either end of a run. This reduces the opponent's deadwood before scoring. CardCouch lays off automatically in the way that helps the defender most.

If, after laying off, the opponent's deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker's, the opponent has undercut the knocker: the opponent scores the difference plus a 25-point bonus. That is the risk of knocking with a high deadwood count.

Scoring Table

Example: you knock with 6 deadwood; your opponent lays off one card and is left with 15. You score 15 − 6 = 9 points. Had they got down to 6 or less, they would have scored the difference plus 25 instead.

Frequently Asked Questions

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