Gin Rummy

Draw, discard and build sets and runs until your deadwood is low enough to knock.

Logic

Play

How to play

  1. You hold ten cards. Start your turn by taking the face-up card, or drawing an unseen one from the stock.
  2. Group your cards into melds: three or four of the same rank, or three or more in a row in the same suit. Aces are low, so A-2-3 is a run and Q-K-A is not.
  3. Everything not in a meld is deadwood. Each card costs its face value, picture cards cost 10 and an ace costs 1.
  4. Finish your turn by throwing one card away. Tap a card to lift it, then tap the discard pile to throw it.
  5. When your deadwood is 10 or less you may knock instead of discarding normally — that ends the hand and scores the difference between the two deadwood totals.
  6. Deadwood of zero is gin: a 25-point bonus, and your opponent cannot lay any cards off on you.

What it trains

  • Working memory in a form you can feel: every discard is a small bet on what is still out there
  • The same ten cards can be arranged several ways and only one of them is cheapest — finding it is the puzzle
  • Calm by design: no ads, no account, no clock, and the opponent is the computer

Full rules

The deal

Ten cards each from a standard 52-card deck. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile and the rest becomes the stock. The deal alternates between hands, so neither side keeps the advantage of moving first.

Sets and runs

A set is three or four cards of the same rank — three nines, say. A run is three or more consecutive cards in one suit, such as the 4, 5 and 6 of clubs. A card can only belong to one meld at a time, which is the whole difficulty: holding the 7, 8 and 9 of hearts plus two more sevens means choosing which of the two the seven of hearts serves. The arrangement shown on screen is always the one that leaves you the least deadwood.

Aces are low

The ace is worth one point and sits below the two, so A-2-3 is a legal run. It does not wrap around: Q-K-A is not a run in gin rummy, unlike some other rummy variants.

Deadwood

Deadwood is every card left over once your melds are set aside, counted at face value with the picture cards worth 10 and the ace worth 1. It is the number that decides everything — when you can knock, and what the hand pays. Throwing your highest unmatched card is the usual way to bring it down, but a nine that sits next to two other nines is often worth keeping over a much smaller card that connects to nothing.

Knocking

Once your deadwood is 10 or less you may knock: you discard as usual, both hands are laid out, and you score the difference between your deadwood and your opponent’s. Knocking early with 10 is a real strategy rather than a lesser version of gin — it ends the hand before the other side has finished building.

Laying off

After a knock, the defender may add their own unmatched cards to the knocker’s melds — a fourth nine onto three nines, or the 3 of clubs onto a 4-5-6 of clubs — which cuts their deadwood and the knocker’s score with it. This is why knocking with a hand full of tempting melds can backfire.

Gin and undercuts

Deadwood of zero is gin. It scores the opponent’s entire deadwood plus a 25-point bonus, and no lay-offs are allowed against it. The reverse also exists: if the defender’s deadwood turns out to be equal to or lower than the knocker’s, they have undercut the knock and take the difference plus 25 themselves. That risk is what keeps a marginal knock honest.

Running out of cards

If the stock runs down to its last two cards without anyone knocking, the hand is dead: nobody scores and the cards are dealt again. It is not a loss, and it happens most often when both sides are holding out for gin.

How long a game lasts

One hand runs a few minutes and is the default here. The traditional game plays repeated hands until someone reaches 100 points. Your game is saved if you close the tab, and the opponent is the computer — nothing here is compared against another player.

Play Gin Rummy free online against one computer opponent — full screen, no download, no ads and no sign-up. You each hold ten cards: draw one from the stock or take the upcard, then throw a card away, and try to arrange your hand into sets of matching ranks and runs of the same suit. Everything left over is deadwood, and once it adds up to ten or less you can knock and end the hand. Get it to zero and that is gin, worth a 25-point bonus. Your melds are outlined as they form and the deadwood total is always on screen, so the shape of the hand is visible while you play rather than something you have to work out. One hand takes a few minutes, or play the traditional game to 100 points, and your game is saved if you close the tab.

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