Gin Rummy is a card game for two. Build sets and runs in your hand. Then knock or go gin before your opponent does.
It's often just called Gin. It's a quicker, tighter cousin of Rummy.
The video covers the rules, then plays one full hand, from the deal to the score.
At a glance
- Players: 2. Three or four can play, with the variations below.
- Deck: One standard 52-card deck, no jokers
- Time: 30 to 60 minutes for a game to 100
- Goal: The first to 100 points
The cards above are from The Trout Edition.
Setup
Cut the deck. The higher card chooses who deals first. After that, take turns dealing.
Deal 10 cards each, one at a time, starting with your opponent.
Turn the next card face up to start the discard pile. The rest are the stock, face down.
Aces are low. An ace counts 1, face cards 10, and other cards their number.
Melds and deadwood
Your aim is to form melds in your hand. You keep them hidden until the hand ends.
- Sets. Three or four cards of the same rank.
- Runs. Three or more cards in a row, all one suit. Ace, 2, 3 is a run. Queen, king, ace is not.
Cards that aren't in a meld are deadwood. A card can be in only one meld at a time.
How to play
The first turn is different. Your opponent may take the face-up card or pass. If they pass, the dealer may take it.
If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock. From then on, play goes back and forth.
On your turn, draw one card: the top of the stock or the top discard. Then discard one card face up.
You can't discard the card you just took from the discard pile.
Knocking and going gin
You may knock when your deadwood counts 10 or less. Knock after you draw, and discard face down.
Lay out your melds, with your deadwood to one side. Your opponent then lays out theirs.
Your opponent may lay off deadwood on your melds. You can't lay off on theirs.
If your deadwood counts 0, you've gone gin. Nobody can lay off on a gin hand.
Nobody draws the last two cards of the stock. If nobody knocks before then, the hand is a draw.
Scoring
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Knock, with less deadwood than your opponent | The difference |
| Gin | 25, plus your opponent's deadwood |
| Undercut: your opponent's deadwood is equal or lower | The difference plus 25, to your opponent |
Say you knock with 6. Your opponent lays off and is left with 16. You score 10.
If they were left with 5 instead, they undercut you. They score 1 plus 25, so 26.
How to win
Keep a running score. The first to 100 wins the game and scores 100 more.
Each player then adds 25 for every hand they won. This is the box, or line, bonus.
If the loser won no hands at all, it's a shutout. The winner's score doubles before the box bonus.
Tips
- Watch what your opponent takes from the discard pile. It shows what they're building.
- Throw away high deadwood early. A king you can't use costs 10.
- Knock as soon as you can, unless gin is close. Waiting gives your opponent time.
- Late in a hand, keep your deadwood low. That guards against a knock.
- Don't discard a card that fits a meld your opponent may be building.
Variations
- Oklahoma Gin. The first face-up card sets the knock limit. A 7 means you knock with 7 or less, and a face card means 10. If it's an ace, you must go gin. If it's a spade, the hand scores double.
- Big Gin. Use all 11 cards in melds, after your draw. It scores 31 plus your opponent's deadwood. Some play it at 50.
- Straight Gin. No knocking. Play until someone goes gin.
- Hollywood scoring. Keep three games going at once. Your first win scores in game one. Your second scores in games one and two. Later wins score in all three.
- A longer game. Play to 150 or 250 instead of 100. Tournament games often go to 250.
- Older bonuses. Early official rules gave 20 for gin and 10 for an undercut.
- Three players. The dealer deals to the other two and sits the hand out. The deal passes each hand.
- Four players. Play in two partnerships, as two games of two at once. Add each pair's scores together.
History and where it's played
Gin Rummy is an American game from the early 1900s, credited to Elwood T. Baker of New York and his son, Graham, who is said to have named it after the drink. A 1950 New York Times piece on Graham gives the year as 1909, while Pagat says around 1911. Card writers disagree on its roots: Pagat points to Conquian and Rum, and John Scarne traced it to whiskey poker, a theory David Parlett calls highly implausible.
It stayed mostly in New York until 1941, when it became a Hollywood fad and publicity carried it across the country. A 1947 survey by playing card makers found that as many people learned gin during World War II as learned pinochle, cribbage, poker and bridge combined.
Films kept it in view. Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine play it in The Apartment. In Goldfinger, the villain cheats at gin with an accomplice using binoculars, though Ian Fleming's novel had him cheating at Canasta.
Where these rules come from
These rules follow the Makers of Playing Cards' Gin Rummy rules. They're checked against Wikipedia's Gin rummy article. That sheet stops before the undercut bonus, so the 25 points follow Wikipedia. Oklahoma, Big Gin, Hollywood and the older bonuses follow Wikipedia too. Three and four players follow GameRules.com. The history draws on Wikipedia's Gin rummy article and Pagat's Gin Rummy.
Common questions
What is deadwood?
Cards in your hand that aren't part of a meld. Their points count against you.
When can you knock in Gin Rummy?
On your turn, after you draw, when your deadwood counts 10 or less.
What is an undercut?
The knocker's opponent ends with equal or less deadwood. The opponent scores the difference plus 25.
What does gin score?
25, plus your opponent's deadwood. Nobody can lay off on a gin hand.
Who can lay off after a knock?
Only the player who didn't knock, and never after gin.
Is an ace high or low in Gin Rummy?
Low. It counts 1, and it can only start a run.
What happens when the stock runs out?
Nobody draws the last two cards. If nobody has knocked by then, the hand is a draw.
Can three or four people play Gin Rummy?
Yes. See Three players and Four players under Variations.
How is Gin Rummy different from Rummy?
Gin is for two, and your melds stay in your hand until someone knocks. In Rummy, melds go down as you make them.
More games
Rummy is the family game Gin grew from. Spades is a trick-taking game for four. War is a game of pure luck for two.
Cheat sheet
Download the Gin Rummy cheat sheet, a one-page PDF to print.