How to Play Gin Rummy

Two players, ten cards each, and one number to keep an eye on: your deadwood.

To play gin rummy, two players are dealt ten cards each and take turns drawing one card and discarding one. You sort your hand into sets (three or four of the same rank) and runs (three or more in a row in one suit). Whatever is left over is your deadwood. Once it adds up to 10 or less you may knock and end the hand, and if nothing is left over you have gin.

Below are three hands played out with every card counted: an ordinary knock, a gin and an undercut.

Before the first draw

• One standard 52-card deck, ten cards to each player.
• The next card goes face up to start the discard pile. The rest of the deck is the face-down stock.
• Ace is low and counts 1. Twos to tens count their number. Jacks, queens and kings count 10.
• Because the ace is low, A-2-3 is a run and Q-K-A is not.
• The non-dealer gets first say on the face-up card. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock and play carries on from there.

Every turn after that is the same: take one card, either the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile, then throw one away so you are back to ten. You can't throw back a card you just took from the pile.

Hand one: knocking on 7

Seven is inside the limit of 10, so you can knock. You put your last discard face down, lay out the run and the set, and show the three loose cards.

Your opponent then shows their hand. They have Q♠ Q♦ Q♣ and 6♦ 7♦ 8♦ melded, with 8♣ K♦ 3♠ 5♥ loose: 26 deadwood. Before anything is counted they get to lay off, which means adding their loose cards to your melds wherever they fit. Their 8♣ goes on the end of your clubs run, so their count drops to 18.

You score the difference: 18 − 7 = 11 points.

Hand two: gin

Your opponent has 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ and 7♥ 7♣ 7♠ melded, with 9♥ 2♣ 2♦ A♣ loose: 9 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 14. Nobody may lay off against gin, so all 14 stand. You score the 25 gin bonus plus their deadwood: 25 + 14 = 39 points.

Look at their 7♠. It could stretch the spades to 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ 7♠, but then 7♥ and 7♣ would be loose and cost 14 more. A card can sit in only one meld, and the count always uses the split that leaves the least deadwood. Our table works that split out for you and shows your live count as you play.

One step past gin: if the card you draw lets all eleven cards meld, you go out without discarding at all. That is big gin, and at our tables it pays 31 plus the opponent's deadwood.

Hand three: the undercut

Your opponent has K♣ K♠ K♥ and 2♦ 3♦ 4♦ melded, with 6♠ 10♠ 3♣ 4♣ loose, which is 23. Then they lay off: the 6♠ onto your spade run and the 10♠ onto your tens. That leaves 3♣ 4♣, a count of 7.

Their 7 is lower than your 9, so the hand goes to them. That is an undercut: the defender scores the difference plus 25, here (9 − 7) + 25 = 27 points, and the knocker scores nothing. A tie would have been an undercut too. This is the risk every time you knock on 8 or 9.

When nobody knocks

If the stock gets down to its last two cards and nobody has knocked, the hand is dead. Nobody scores and the cards are dealt again.

Adding it up to a game

Hand scores add up until somebody reaches 100, and that player wins. Written rules then give each player 25 for every hand they won (the box or line bonus), and the winner 100 more, or 200 if the loser never scored. Our tables add these on the final scoresheet when the game ends. The Gin Rummy scoring page has the full sheet and a sample game tallied hand by hand.

Not every table pays the same. Older rule books give 20 for gin and 10 for an undercut, and some people play Oklahoma gin, where the first face-up card sets the knock limit. Our tables pay 25 for both and always knock on 10. The variants page goes through the differences.

Questions players ask

Words you'll hear at the table

Box

In the written rules, 25 points for each hand won, added when the game ends. Also called the line bonus. Our final scoresheet adds it.

Deadwood

Cards that are not in a meld. Their total counts against you.

Gin

Knocking with no deadwood at all. Worth 25 plus the opponent's count, and nobody can lay off against it.

Knock

Ending the hand when your deadwood is 10 or less.

Layoff

Adding your loose cards to the knocker's melds to cut your own count.

Undercut

The defender matching or beating the knocker's count. Worth the difference plus 25.

Wash

A hand that ends with two cards left in the stock and no knock. Nobody scores.

Next: Gin Rummy strategy for what to keep and when to knock, or Gin Rummy variants for Oklahoma, straight gin and gin rummy with 3 or 4 players.