Porchlight › How to play › Gin Rummy
How to play Gin Rummy
A card game for two players. Draw and discard to build sets and runs, and end the hand while the cards you haven't matched are worth little.
The aim
Arrange your cards into melds and keep the value of your unmatched cards, your deadwood, low. The first player to reach the target score wins.
- A set is three or four cards of the same rank.
- A run is three or more cards of one suit in sequence.
Aces are low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not. Deadwood is counted by card value: aces 1, number cards their number, jacks, queens and kings 10.
Setting up
The first dealer is chosen at random, and the deal alternates after that. Each player gets ten cards. One card is turned face up to start the discard pile, and the rest form the stock.
The non-dealer may take the first upcard or pass. If they pass, the dealer may take it or pass. If both pass, the non-dealer begins by drawing from the stock.
Playing
Each turn has two steps:
- Draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile.
- Discard one card from your hand. You can't discard the card you just took from the pile.
Knocking. When you discard, you may knock if the deadwood you have left is worth 10 or less. Both hands are then shown. The other player (the defender) arranges their own melds, then lays off any deadwood that fits your melds: extending one of your runs, or adding the fourth card to one of your sets.
Gin. Knocking with no deadwood at all is gin. The defender can't lay off against gin.
Big gin. If all eleven cards in your hand form melds right after you draw, you may declare big gin without discarding.
A wash. If a discard leaves only two cards in the stock and nobody has knocked, the hand ends with no score.
Scoring
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Knock, and your deadwood is lower | The difference, to you |
| Knock, and the defender's deadwood is equal or lower (an undercut) | The difference plus 25, to the defender |
| Gin | 25 plus the defender's deadwood, to you |
| Big gin | 31 plus the defender's deadwood, to you |
Gin and big gin can't be undercut.
Winning
The first player to reach the target score wins. There are no end-of-game bonuses for hands won or for a shutout.
Table options
| Option | Choices | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Play to | 50, 100 or 150 points | 100 |
| Computer player | Easy, Normal or Hard | Normal |
| Turn timer | Normal, Relaxed (twice as long), Quick (half as long) | Normal |
Ranked games always use the defaults.
On Porchlight
Your hand is arranged for you: each meld in its own group, then your deadwood, with a running deadwood count. At the end of a hand, melds and lay-offs are worked out automatically, in the best way for each player.
- The first upcard. Click the pile to take it, or press Pass.
- Drawing. Click the stock or the pile.
- Discarding. Click a card to pick it; the count shows what your deadwood would be without it. Click it again to throw it. To knock, press Knock (or Gin!) instead. The button appears when the card you've picked allows it.
- Big gin. A Big gin! button appears when all eleven cards form melds.
After a hand, press Next hand. The next hand starts when both players have pressed it, or after 25 seconds on a Normal timer.
On a Normal timer you have 30 seconds per move. If time runs out, the computer moves for you. If it runs out twice in a row, you forfeit the game. You also forfeit if you leave, or if your connection drops and you don't come back within about a minute.
Tips
- Throw high unmatched cards first. Low cards cost little to hold.
- Watch what your opponent takes from the pile, and avoid discarding cards that fit with it.
- Late in a hand, your opponent's deadwood may be low too, so a knock risks being undercut.