The knocking player then subtracts his deadwood points from the defending player's deadwood points. The knocking player can never lay off his or her deadwood into the defending player's melds. He can lay off that king, reducing his deadwood count by ten. The defending player has a king as part of his deadwood. The other ('defending') player is then entitled to lay out any melds in his or her hand and can then lay off any of his or her remaining deadwood cards that fit into the knocking player's melds, provided that the knocking player does not have a gin hand.įor example, the knocking player has a meld of three Kings. To knock, the knocking player ends his turn by discarding as usual, announces that he is knocking, and lays his hand out with the melds clearly indicated and deadwood separated. Knocking with 0 points of deadwood is known as going Gin. KnockingĪ player may only knock if he has 10 or fewer points of deadwood. The game ends when a player reaches 100 or more points. Players alternate taking turns until one player ends the round by knocking, going Gin, or until only two cards remain in the stock pile, in which case the round ends in a draw and no points are awarded. Gameplayĭraw either the (up card) top card of the discard pile, or the (face-down) top card from the stock pile, and discard one card from his or her hand onto the discard pile. Once the first upcard has been drawn into a player's hand or both players have passed it, subsequently each player may choose from which pile to draw. If the dealer also passes, the non-dealing player must draw from the stock pile. If the non-dealing player passes the upcard, the dealer is then given the opportunity to take the upcard or pass. On the first turn, the non-dealing player has first option of taking the upcard on the discard pile or passing. The face down pile is known as the stock pile. The dealer deals 10 cards to both players, and then places the next card in the deck face up. The deadwood count is the sum of the point values of the deadwood cards - aces are scored at 1 point, face cards at 10, and others according to their numerical values.ĭealership alternates from round to round. Q ♠ K ♠ A ♠ is not a legal run in gin rummy.Ī player can form any combination of melds within their hand, whether it contains all sets, all runs, or both. In gin rummy aces are considered low and can form any set of aces but only the low end of runs 3 ♥ 4 ♥ 5 ♥ or more.ĭeadwood cards are those not in any meld. Gin has two types of meld: Sets of 3 or 4 cards sharing the same rank, e.g.Īnd runs of 3 or more cards in sequence, of the same suit. The basic game strategy is to improve one's hand by forming melds and eliminating deadwood.

The objective in gin rummy is to score points and reach 100, before your opponent does.

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