Rummy (Basic / Straight Rummy) — Complete Rules

Rummy is a matching card game (from the "Rum" family, also called Straight Rummy or Sai Rummy) in which players draw and discard to arrange their hand into melds — sets of the same rank and runs of consecutive same-suit cards. The first player to meld their entire hand "goes out" and wins the round; opponents are penalized for the unmatched cards ("deadwood") left in their hands. Play usually continues over several rounds until a player reaches a target score.

This guide covers Basic Rummy as the standard, complete ruleset, then documents the common named relatives (Gin, 500 Rummy, Kalooki, jokers) as related variants. Where rules commonly differ, the standard/default choice is called out explicitly.

1. Equipment

• Deck: One standard 52-card deck for 2–4 players. No jokers in basic Rummy (jokers are an optional wild-card variant — see §9.3). For 5–6 players, use two decks shuffled together (104 cards); the two-deck game otherwise plays identically.
• Players: 2 to 6. Best with 3–4.
• Scorepad: Rummy is a multi-round game played to a target score (default 100, or 250 for a longer game). A running tally per player is required.

2. Card Ranking and Values

2.1 Rank Order

Cards rank, low to high:

A (low) · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7 · 8 · 9 · 10 · J · Q · K

The Ace is LOW by default. It ranks below 2. This affects runs (§3.2):

• A-2-3 is a valid run.
• Q-K-A is NOT a valid run by default (the Ace does not sit above the King).
• No wrap-around: K-A-2 is never a valid run.

Optional high-ace variant (§9.1): Ace can be played high or low (so Q-K-A becomes valid) but still never wraps (K-A-2 remains invalid, and the Ace cannot be both high and low in the same run). Default is low only.

2.2 Card Point Values (for scoring deadwood)

When a round ends, each player scores penalty points for the cards still in hand that are not part of a completed meld.

Note on the Ace value: because the default Ace is low, it is worth 1 point. In the high-ace variant, the Ace is worth 11 (or 15 in some rulesets) — pick one and be consistent. Default: Ace = 1.

Suits carry no point value and are all equal in rank. Suit matters only for building runs.

3. Melds

A meld is a valid group of cards. There are exactly two kinds: sets and runs. Every card in a completed meld is worth 0 penalty points to its owner.

3.1 Set (a.k.a. "Group" / "Book")

Three or four cards of the same rank, regardless of suit.

• Valid: 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ (three of a kind), Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ Q♣ (four of a kind).
• A set may be 3 or 4 cards only. There is no such thing as a 5-card set with a single deck (only 4 suits exist). With two decks, a set still may not contain duplicate identical cards in most rulesets — e.g. 7♥ 7♥ 7♦ is disallowed by default (see §9.4).
• Suits within a set must all be different by default (single-deck this is automatic; two-deck games enforce it).

3.2 Run (a.k.a. "Sequence" / "Straight")

Three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive rank order.

• Valid: 4♥ 5♥ 6♥, A♠ 2♠ 3♠, 9♦ 10♦ J♦ Q♦ K♦.
• Invalid: 4♥ 5♥ 6♠ (mixed suits), 4♥ 6♥ 7♥ (gap), Q♠ K♠ A♠ (default low-ace), K♦ A♦ 2♦ (wrap-around, never allowed).
• Minimum length 3; maximum length 13 (a full suit A→K, only possible under high-ace rules for the top end).

3.3 A Card Belongs to One Meld at a Time

A single physical card can be part of only one meld. You cannot "share" the 7♥ between the set 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ and the run 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ simultaneously. When validating a hand, each card is assigned to at most one meld.

4. Setup and Deal

1. Choose a dealer (high card draw, or rotation — house choice). Deal and turn pass clockwise.
2. Deal cards face down, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left. The number dealt depends on player count:

Standard deal: 10 cards for 2 players, 7 cards for 3–4. These are the standard counts.

1. Place the remaining deck face down in the center as the stock.
2. Turn the top card of the stock face up beside it to start the discard pile. (Only the top discard is ever visible/available.)
3. The player to the dealer's left takes the first turn.

5. A Turn

A turn has up to three phases, in this fixed order:

5.1 Draw (mandatory)

Take exactly one card, from either:

• The top (face-down) card of the stock, or
• The top (face-up) card of the discard pile.

You now hold one more card than your hand size.

Default restriction on the discard draw: you may always take the single top discard. (Unlike 500 Rummy, basic Rummy does not let you take multiple cards from deeper in the discard pile.)

5.2 Meld / Lay Off (optional)

After drawing, you may (but are not required to):

• Lay down a new meld — place a valid set or run from your hand face-up in front of you.
• Lay off — add one or more cards to any meld already on the table (yours or an opponent's) as long as the result remains a valid meld. Example: an opponent's 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ on the table can receive your 3♥ or 7♥; a set Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ can receive Q♣.

You may lay down multiple melds and lay off multiple cards in a single turn.

Default melding policy — "meld anytime": players may lay melds down across many turns and lay off freely. This is the standard, most common form of basic Rummy. Alternative — "meld on going out only" (Gin-style, §9.2): players keep everything concealed and reveal all melds only at the moment they go out. Not part of the standard game.

5.3 Discard (mandatory)

End your turn by placing exactly one card face-up on top of the discard pile. After discarding you must be back to your original hand size (or zero, if going out — see §6).

• You cannot end a turn without discarding, except in the specific case where your final discard empties your hand and ends the round (§6). Even then, a discard is made.
• Discard-draw same-card restriction: if you drew the top card of the discard pile, you may not discard that same card on the same turn (no "pass"). You may discard it on a later turn.

5.4 Turn Summary

DRAW (stock or discard)  →  [optional] MELD and/or LAY OFF  →  DISCARD one card

Play then passes clockwise.

6. Going Out and Ending a Round

A player goes out (and the round ends immediately) when they have melded/laid off every card in their hand and finish with an empty hand.

6.1 The Standard Way to Go Out

On your turn: draw, then arrange so that all remaining cards are melded or laid off, and make your final discard. If after that discard you hold zero cards, you have gone out and won the round.

• Default: a final discard is required to go out. You must be able to meld/lay off all but one card, then discard the last card. (i.e., you go out by discarding your last card.)

Optional "going out without a discard" variant (§9.5): some rulesets let you meld your entire hand with no final discard. Not standard; the standard game requires the terminal discard.

6.2 Going Rummy ("Going Out Concealed")

If a player melds their entire hand in a single turn — having laid down no cards in any previous turn (no earlier melds, no earlier lay-offs) — they call "Rummy!" and their winnings for that round are doubled (see §7.3). This rewards holding a complete hand concealed and dumping it all at once.

• Going Rummy requires that the player had nothing on the table before this turn. A single prior lay-off disqualifies it.

6.3 Stock Exhaustion (no one has gone out)

If the stock runs out before anyone goes out, resolve using the default reshuffle rule:

• Take the discard pile, leave its current top card in place as the new discard, shuffle the rest, and place it face down as a new stock. Play continues. Reshuffles are unlimited.

Alternative "hand ends" rule (§9.6): instead of reshuffling, the round simply ends when the stock is exhausted; no one goes out, everyone scores their deadwood as a penalty and no one gets the winner bonus. Off by default — default is reshuffle.

6.4 Declared Stalemate (blocked rounds)

Blocked positions exist under the default rules: once every player's hand is down to 2 or fewer cards, no one can ever go out via a new meld (going out requires melding all but one card, and a meld needs 3+), so if the table offers no lay-offs either (e.g., every table meld is a completed 4-card set), the round can never be won and would reshuffle forever.

• Trigger: every player holds 2 or fewer cards AND the stock has subsequently been depleted.
• Once triggered, any player may declare a stalemate on their turn, at any later point in the round — the option persists even after reshuffles refill the stock.
• Effect: the round ends immediately. No points are awarded to anyone; the deal passes and the next round begins.
• Declaring is optional: if no one declares, play simply continues with unlimited reshuffles for as long as the players wish (lay-offs onto extendable runs may still end the round naturally).

7. Scoring

At the end of each round, tally points. There are two common scoring philosophies; this guide uses the "winner collects deadwood" method as the standard.

7.1 Default Method — Winner Collects Deadwood

1. Every losing player sums the point value (§2.2) of the cards still in their hand (deadwood). Cards they had melded or laid off on the table count as 0.
2. The winner (the player who went out) scores the total of all opponents' deadwood as positive points. Losers score 0 for the round (their deadwood is transferred to the winner, not charged against them).

Example (3 players): Winner goes out. Player B holds K♠ 3♦ = 13. Player C holds 9♥ 9♣ 2♠ (unmelded) = 20. Winner scores 13 + 20 = 33 this round. B and C score 0.

7.2 Alternative Method — Players Charged for Deadwood (§9.7)

Each loser is charged their own deadwood as a negative/penalty score, and the winner scores 0 (or a small fixed bonus). The game is then played to a low target (loser eliminated at a threshold) rather than a high one. Off by default.

7.3 Going-Rummy Bonus

If the winner went out by going Rummy (§6.2), their score for that round is doubled. Under the default method, the winner collects 2× the total opponent deadwood.

7.4 Reaching the Target and Winning the Game

• Running totals accumulate across rounds.
• The game ends when any player reaches the target score (default 100; use 250 for a longer game). That player wins.
• If two players cross the target in the same round, the higher total wins; if tied, play one more round as a tiebreaker.

Single-round mode: for a quick game, "first to go out wins, one round only" is a common simplification. The standard is play-to-target (100), with single-round as a faster option.

8. Special Situations & Edge Cases

• Dealt a complete hand: it is technically possible (rare) to be dealt a hand that is already fully melded. The player must still wait for their turn, draw, and then go out with a discard (or go Rummy). You cannot win before your first turn.
• Laying off onto opponents' melds: allowed by default (§5.2). This is a key strategic lever — dumping deadwood onto others' melds reduces your penalty. If the "meld on going out only" variant is active, there is nothing on the table to lay off onto until someone reveals, so lay-offs effectively don't occur mid-round.
• A meld that becomes invalid: melds are validated at the moment they are placed and are immutable in composition thereafter except by valid lay-offs. You cannot rearrange or "borrow back" a card from a meld already on the table (default). Some house rules allow rearranging your own melds — off by default.
• Simultaneous validity — set vs. run: if a drawn card could complete either a set or a run, you choose which meld to build it into — but it can only ever belong to one meld at a time (§3.3).
• Discard pile is empty: only possible if the opening up-card was immediately drawn and nothing re-discarded — cannot happen under normal turn order because every turn ends with a discard. If a rule variant allows going out without discarding, guard against an empty discard pile at the start of the next player's turn (they must then draw from stock).
• Stock and discard both unusable: if using the "hand ends" variant and stock is empty, the round ends (§6.3 alternative). Under the default reshuffle rule this state is unreachable.
• Blocked round (nobody can ever go out): possible when all table melds are full 4-card sets and every hand is below 3 cards — hand sizes never grow (draw 1, discard 1), so no new meld can ever be formed. Resolved by the declared stalemate rule (§6.4): once every hand is ≤2 cards and the stock has been depleted, players may end the round with no score.
• Two-deck duplicate cards: with two decks, decide whether identical duplicates (7♥ 7♥) may coexist in a set. Default: disallowed — a set must have four distinct suits max, and a run cannot contain two of the same card (§9.4).
• Going out on the very first up-card: if the "meld anytime" rule is on and a player can go out on their first turn, that is allowed and counts as Going Rummy (they had nothing on the table before). This is legal.
• Deadwood tie among losers: irrelevant under the default method (losers score 0 regardless). Under the "charged" variant, each loser is simply charged their own deadwood independently.

9. Common Variants and House Rules (Summary Table)

Each of these can be adopted independently as a house rule. The Default column is the standard, most widely used choice.

9.10 Notable Named Relatives (not implemented here, for context)

• Gin Rummy — strictly 2-player, 10 cards, conceal-until-out, "knocking" with ≤10 deadwood, "gin"/"undercut" bonuses. A distinct game; not the same as basic Rummy.
• 500 Rummy / Rummy 500 — melds scored positively as you lay them; you may take multiple cards from the discard pile; play to 500.
• Kalooki / Kaluki — jokers wild, larger hands, contract-style requirements.
• Contract Rummy / Canasta — meld requirements escalate per round; Canasta uses two decks + jokers and "canastas" of 7.

These are mentioned only for context, to clarify what basic Rummy is not — each is a distinct game with its own rulebook, not a variant covered by this guide.

10. Strategy Notes (Not Rules)

Not part of the rules, but they explain why the rules create interesting decisions:

• Hold flexible cards. A middle card like 6♥ can extend a run either direction and pairs toward a set; edge cards (Kings, Aces) are less flexible.
• Watch the discard pile. The card an opponent takes tells you what they are building; avoid discarding cards that complete their likely melds.
• High cards are dangerous to hold. Face cards are 10 points of deadwood each — shed them if you can't meld them, especially if an opponent looks close to going out.
• Lay off to dump deadwood. If someone melds 4♥ 5♥ 6♥, your stray 3♥/7♥ can be offloaded onto it — turning penalty points into zero.
• Consider going Rummy. Concealing a full hand for the 2× bonus is tempting but risky: if an opponent goes out first, you're caught with a full, high-value hand.

11. Turn-Order Quick Reference

On your turn, in order:

1. Draw one card — from stock (face down) or the top of the discard pile.
   • You may not discard that same drawn discard-card this turn.
2. (Optional) Meld and/or lay off — lay down valid sets/runs; add cards to any table meld.
3. Discard one card face-up.
   • If this leaves you with zero cards, you have gone out → round ends.
   • If you melded your entire hand this turn with nothing previously on the table → Rummy (2× score).

Round ends when a player goes out (or, if stock exhausts under the "hand ends" variant, immediately). Then score (§7), pass the deal clockwise, and start the next round until a player reaches the target.

12. Glossary

• Meld: A valid group of cards — a set or a run.
• Set / Group / Book: 3–4 cards of the same rank.
• Run / Sequence / Straight: 3+ consecutive cards of the same suit.
• Deadwood: Unmatched cards left in hand at round's end; they score penalty points.
• Lay off: Add a card from your hand to an existing meld on the table.
• Go out: Meld/lay off your whole hand and discard the last card, ending the round.
• Going Rummy: Melding your entire hand in one turn with nothing previously on the table; scores double.
• Stock: The face-down draw pile.
• Discard pile: The face-up pile; only its top card is available to draw.
• Target score: The running-total threshold that ends the game (default 100).

13. Recommended Standard Ruleset

If you just want one clean, unambiguous way to play, this is it:

• 1 standard 52-card deck, no jokers; support 2–4 players.
• Deal: 10 cards for 2 players, 7 cards for 3–4 players.
• Ace low only. A-2-3 valid; Q-K-A and any wrap invalid.
• Melds: sets = 3–4 same rank; runs = 3+ consecutive same suit. Each card in ≤1 meld.
• Meld anytime: players may lay melds and lay off (onto anyone's melds) on any turn after drawing.
• Turn = draw → optional meld/lay-off → discard. Cannot re-discard the just-drawn discard card.
• Go out by discarding your last card. Melding the whole hand in one turn with a clean table = Rummy (2× round score).
• Stock exhausted → reshuffle the discard pile (keeping the top card) into a new stock; unlimited reshuffles.
• Declared stalemate (§6.4): once every hand is ≤2 cards and the stock has been depleted, any player may end the round with no score; otherwise play continues indefinitely.
• Scoring: winner collects the sum of all opponents' deadwood (Ace=1, 2–10 face, J/Q/K=10). Losers score 0.
• Game ends when a player reaches 100 points; highest total wins ties-broken by an extra round. Offer a "single round" quick-play mode as an option.
• Every variant in §9 can be swapped in as a house rule if your table prefers it.

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