Gin Rummy Scoring

A knock scores the gap between two hands. Gin and the undercut each add 25.

Gin rummy scoring is based on the gap between the two hands. The knocker scores the opponent's deadwood minus their own. Gin scores 25 plus all of the opponent's deadwood. An undercut pays the defender 25 plus the difference. Hands add up until someone reaches 100. Then 25 goes on for every hand won, and 100 for the game; our tables add both on the final scoresheet.

The scoresheet at our tables

The game ends at the end of the hand that takes a player to 100 or more, and the higher score in hand points wins. Written rules then add end-of-game bonuses: 25 for each hand won (the box or line bonus) and 100 for winning the game, or 200 if the loser never scored. Our tables add these too: the running score shows hand points, and the final scoresheet at the end of the game adds the boxes and the game bonus.

Counting deadwood

Deadwood is every card that is not in a set or a run.

So K♥ 8♣ 3♠ left outside your melds is 10 + 8 + 3 = 21. That is why a loose king goes early: it costs 10 for every turn you hold it.

The same cards can often be split more than one way. With 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ 7♠ 7♦, taking the three sevens as a set leaves 8♥ 9♥ loose for 17. Taking the heart run instead leaves 7♠ 7♦ for 14. A card can only sit in one meld, and the lower split is the one that counts. Our table picks it for you.

Three hands, scored

The full cards for all three are on the how to play page.

A whole game, tallied

Here is a made-up game between two players, Sam and Lee, scored by the written rules with the end-of-game bonuses, the same way our final scoresheet adds them.

Sam passes 100 in hand 9, so the game ends there. Now the bonuses go on:

• Sam won six hands: 102 + (6 × 25) + 100 for the game = 352.
• Lee won three hands: 86 + (3 × 25) = 161.

Lee had the biggest hand of the game and still lost by 191. Six small wins put 150 in boxes on Sam's side against Lee's 75, before the game bonus was even counted.

Where other tables score it differently

Ask three gin players what an undercut is worth and you can get three answers. These are the differences you are most likely to meet:

• Bonus sizes. The rules on pagat.com give 20 for gin, 10 for an undercut and 20 per box, and note that some people play 25 for gin with 20 for an undercut, or 25 for all three. Our tables pay 25 for gin and undercut, 31 for big gin, and 25 per box. Wikipedia's gin rummy article mentions rule sets that pay 50 for big gin.
• The shutout. When the loser scores nothing all game, the pagat rules double the game bonus from 100 to 200. Some people double the winner's entire score instead. Our tables follow pagat: a shutout pays a game bonus of 200.
• How long a game runs. 100 is the usual target, and it is what our tables play. Pagat says Oklahoma gin is generally played to 150, and Wikipedia notes that tournament rules play a best of five with 250 points per game.

What the box bonus means for your play

Every hand won is worth 25 at the end, at our tables too, so a quick knock for a few points is rarely a waste. Two moments still call for care: knocking on 8 or 9 late in a hand risks a 25-point undercut, and once someone is near 100 a small knock that ends the game is worth taking. The strategy page goes into when to knock and when to wait for gin.