Rummy rules

Setup and the deal

Rummy is played here head-to-head with one standard 52-card deck, aces low. Each player is dealt ten cards; the next card is flipped face up to start the discard pile, and the rest becomes the face-down stock. The non-dealer moves first, and the deal alternates each hand.

Unlike Gin Rummy, your progress is public: melds are laid face up on the table during the hand, and both players can build on everything that is out there.

The turn

1. Draw — take the top card of the stock, or the top card of the discard pile. Only the top discard is available.
2. Meld and lay off (optional, unlimited) — place any number of new melds from your hand onto the table, and lay off any number of single cards onto existing melds. You may do both, in any order, on the same turn you drew.
3. Discard — end your turn by placing one card face up on the discard pile. Exception: if melding or laying off empties your hand, you have gone out and no discard is needed.

One restriction: the card you took from the discard pile may not be discarded back on the same turn. Take it only if you intend to use it or keep it.

A full turn in practice: the discard pile shows the 6♥ and you hold 4♥-5♥ plus the J♣, while your opponent has a set of three jacks melded on the table. You take the 6♥, meld 4♥-5♥-6♥ immediately, lay the J♣ off onto their jack set (lay-offs ignore ownership), and discard a lone king to end the turn. Your hand shrank by four in a single turn — and the forbidden move, throwing the 6♥ straight back, never came up because the card went into a meld.

Melds and lay-offs

A meld is a set — three or four cards of the same rank — or a run — three or more consecutive cards of one suit. Aces are strictly low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not, and nothing wraps around the corner.

A lay-off adds a single card from your hand to any meld already on the table — yours or your opponent's. Runs extend at either end (the 3 or the 8 onto a 4-5-6-7); sets accept the fourth card of the rank and are then full. There is no ownership advantage in straight Rummy: laid-off cards simply leave your hand, which is the whole point — every card out of your hand is a card that cannot be counted against you.

Going out and going rummy

You go out by shedding your last card — with a meld, a lay-off, or a final discard. The hand ends immediately and you score the total point value of every card left in your opponent's hand.

Going rummy is the premium play: if you had never melded nor laid off a single card in any earlier turn of the hand, and you shed your entire hand in one turn, the points you win are doubled. Holding a nearly-complete hand back for one explosive turn is high-risk (your whole hand counts against you if the opponent goes out first) and high-reward.

A worked example: you go out while your opponent holds K♠, 9♦, 4♣ and A♥ — 10 + 9 + 4 + 1 = 24 points to you. Had you gone rummy, the same cards would pay 48. Note what your opponent's earlier lay-offs did for them: every card they parked on the table is a card missing from that final count. Shedding a lone king onto someone's Q-J-10 run is worth a full 10 points of insurance.

The stock and the recycle

When the stock runs out, the discard pile (all but its top card) is shuffled face down to become a new stock — but only once per hand. If the stock runs dry a second time, the hand is a draw: nobody scores anything, and a fresh hand is dealt with the totals unchanged.

Winning the game

Hand scores accumulate. The game ends when a player reaches 100 points; since only the player who goes out scores in a hand, exactly one player can cross the line, and that player wins. A drawn hand (double-dry stock) simply moves the game to the next deal.

Strategy: melding fast vs melding smart

• Meld early by default. Cards on the table cannot be counted against you, and every meld you lay opens lay-off targets that let you drip cards out of your hand later. Hold back only when a genuine going-rummy hand is one draw away.
• Lay off relentlessly. A single lay-off costs nothing and removes up to 10 points of liability. Sweep your hand against every table meld before each discard.
• Mind what your melds open up. Every run you lay is also a ramp for your opponent's lay-offs. A 4-5-6 run invites their 3 and 7; sometimes the set is the safer meld even when the run scores the same.
• Discard dead ranks. Cards adjacent to what the table already holds are dangerous; cards of ranks fully visible in melds are safe throws, because nothing can be built through them.
• Respect the discard restriction. Taking the upcard commits you to keeping it for a turn — never take it on a vague hope, because the card you would otherwise throw straight back must stay in your hand and count against you.

Edge cases and fine print

• Sets are capped at four cards — you cannot lay a fifth card of a rank, and lay-offs onto a full set are rejected.
• Lay-offs are strictly one card at a time, but you may make as many as you like per turn.
• You may meld on the very turn you take the discard — taking the upcard to complete a run and melding it immediately is the classic play.
• Melds on the table can never be rearranged or broken up; a card once melded stays where it is.
• Going out with a final discard still scores the opponent's full hand — the discard does not need to be "dead".
• The going-rummy double applies to the points won in that hand only, not to previous hands.
• The recycled stock keeps the top discard in place as the new discard pile, so there is always a card to take.

Variants and house rules

This is the classic two-player straight Rummy played to 100, with table melding, universal lay-offs and the rummy double. Related variants, all documented separately:

• Gin Rummy — no table melds at all; hands stay hidden until a knock. See the Gin Rummy rulebook.
• Rummy 500 — every melded card scores immediately for the player who melds it, the discard pile is spread and diggable, and aces can be high. See the Rummy 500 rulebook.
• Block rummy — no recycle at all; one dry stock ends the hand. We allow exactly one recycle.
• Round-the-corner rummy — K-A-2 runs allowed. Here aces are strictly low.

Frequently asked questions

Related rulebooks

• Gin Rummy rules — meld, knock and go gin — first to 100
• Rummy 500 rules — dig the discard pile, meld your way to 500
• Canasta rules — partner up, build canastas, race to 5000
• Crazy Eights rules — match suit or rank — 8s are wild