Gin Rummy

What is Gin Rummy?

Gin Rummy is the two-player member of the rummy family: you draw and throw cards, build sets and runs, and race to end the hand with as little as possible left over. It took off in the 1930s and has been one of the great games for two ever since.

Here you play against the computer, on three levels, in matches to 100 points. Every day brings a Daily match with the same deals for everyone.

How to play Gin Rummy

Each of you gets ten cards from a 52-card pack, and the 21st card is turned up to start the discard pile.

• The upcard. The player who did not deal may take the upcard first; if they pass, the dealer may. If both pass, the non-dealer starts by drawing from the stock.
• Your turn. Take the top card of the stock or of the discard pile, then throw a card face up. The card you just took from the pile cannot go straight back.
• Melds. A set is three or four cards of one rank. A run is three or more cards in a row of one suit, with the ace low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not.
• Deadwood. The cards outside your melds. An ace counts 1, a picture 10, the rest their number. Your hand sorts itself into melds with the deadwood set apart, and its count is always on screen; one tap switches between runs first and sets first.
• Knocking. With 10 or less in deadwood you may knock. Both hands go down, and the computer lays off its loose cards on your melds before the count.
• Scoring. The knocker wins the difference in deadwood. If the other side has as little or less, it undercuts: the difference plus 25. Gin, a knock with no deadwood at all, scores 25 plus all the other side's deadwood, and nothing may be laid off.
• The end. If the stock is down to two cards and nobody knocks, the hand is void. First to 100 wins the match; the winner adds 100 (200 if the other side never scored), and each side adds 25 for every hand it won. Your score is your final total.

Tips and strategy

1. Throw high cards early. A king or a queen that fits nothing costs you ten points if the computer knocks.
2. Keep cards that can grow. A pair or two cards in a row can become a meld in more than one way. Count how many of the cards you need are still out.
3. Watch what the computer picks up. The cards it takes from the pile are shown beside its hand and tell you what it collects. Do not feed it.
4. Knock with care. An early knock wins small hands, but against a hand building toward gin, a knock with 8 or 9 is easily undercut.
5. Mind the stock. When it runs low, knock if you can: with two cards left the hand is void.

Frequently asked questions

Is Gin Rummy free?

Yes. Like every game on Play, it runs free in your browser, with no download and no account.

Why can I not throw the card I just took?

The rules do not let you throw back the card you took from the discard pile in the same turn. You can throw it on a later turn.

What is the difference between knocking and gin?

You may knock with up to 10 points of deadwood, and the computer may then lay off cards on your melds and even undercut you. Gin is a knock with no deadwood at all: a 25-point bonus, no layoffs and no undercut.

How do the levels differ?

On Easy the computer remembers nothing, takes a discard only to finish a meld and knocks as soon as it may. On Medium it remembers the cards you pick up and keeps clear of them. On Hard it remembers everything you show, counts the cards still live and plays for gin.

What is the Daily match?

Every day everyone gets the same deals against the same computer on Medium, so scores compare directly on the leaderboard.