How to Play Rummy
Rummy is a simple party game that is often the only card game a group of disparate people all know how to play. If you want to be able to fit in at any random party when people pull out a deck of cards, it’s important that you know how to play Rummy.
The basic rules are simple. First, each player is dealt a hand of seven cards, face-down from a shuffled 52-card deck. The remainder of the deck is placed in the center of the table. If there are a lot of players, you can use multiple decks. Each player looks at his or her cards.
The player to the left of the dealer goes first, and picks up a card from the deck, then lays down any “runs” or “sets” of cards in his or her hand. A run is a group of three or four cards, all the same suit, in ascending numerical order. A set is a group of three or four cards of all the same value. After all cards are laid down, the player discards a card into the pile.
The player to the left does the same thing, with some changes. He or she may pick up from the deck or from the discard pile. In addition, he or she may play cards off of any runs or sets already laid down on the table. For instance, if the starting player laid down a 3, 4, and 5 of diamonds and the current player has a 6 of diamonds, he or she may play that card in addition to any runs or sets in hand. That player then discards the card onto the discard pile so that the previous card is still visible.
The next player does the same thing, but if he or she wants the first card in the discard pile, the player must pick up every card between the desired card and the top of the pile. He or she may only do this if the desired card is to be played as a run or a set.
Continue to play rummy in clockwise fashion until someone gets rid of all his or her cards. Tally up the number of cards in each player’s hand – 2 through 9 are worth 5 each, 10 through King are worth 10 each, and Aces are worth 15. The lowest score at the end of however many rounds you want to play wins.
