Gin Rummy Rules: How to Play, Knock and Score

Gin rummy is the best-known two-player game in the rummy family, made famous in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s. It is quick to learn, fast to play and has just enough strategy to keep you coming back. All you need is an ordinary deck of 52 cards and someone to play with.

This guide gives you the standard rules used by most rulebooks, then the scoring variations you may meet at other tables.

The goal of gin rummy

Arrange the 10 cards in your hand into melds and keep your unmatched cards (your deadwood) as low as possible. When your deadwood is low enough, you end the hand by knocking and score points for the difference between your deadwood and your opponent's. The first player to reach 100 points wins the game.

Card values

The ace is always low: it is worth 1 point and can only be used in a run as A-2-3.

Melds: sets and runs

There are two kinds of meld:

• A set is 3 or 4 cards of the same rank, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦.
• A run is 3 or more cards in sequence in the same suit, such as 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ or J♥ Q♥ K♥.

Each card can belong to only one meld at a time. Cards that don't fit into any meld are your deadwood, and their values are added together to give your deadwood count.

Dealing

1. Each player cuts the deck; the lower card deals the first hand. After that, the winner of each hand deals the next one (some players have the loser deal instead).
2. The dealer gives 10 cards to each player, one at a time.
3. The next card, the 21st, is turned face up to start the discard pile.
4. The rest of the deck goes face down next to it as the stock.

The first turn

The first turn has a special rule for the face-up card:

1. The non-dealer may take the face-up card. If they do, they discard a card and the turn passes to the dealer.
2. If the non-dealer doesn't want it, the dealer may take it (and then discard).
3. If both players refuse it, the non-dealer starts normally by drawing the top card of the stock.

How a turn works

Every turn has two parts:

1. Draw one card: either the top card of the stock (face down) or the top card of the discard pile (face up).
2. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile.

You always end your turn with 10 cards. One restriction: if you take the top card of the discard pile, you may not discard that same card on the same turn.

Players keep taking turns until someone knocks, or until the stock runs low (see below).

Knocking

You may knock after drawing, instead of making a normal discard, if your deadwood count would be 10 points or less.

1. Discard one card face down.
2. Lay out your hand face up, arranged into melds and deadwood.
3. Your opponent then lays out their hand in the same way.

Knocking is never compulsory. Sometimes it pays to keep playing for gin.

Going gin

If you knock with no deadwood at all, all 10 cards in melds, that is called going gin. You get a bonus, and your opponent is not allowed to lay off any cards.

Laying off

If you knock with some deadwood (not gin), your opponent may reduce their own deadwood by laying off: adding their unmatched cards to your melds. For example, if you show a run of 5♥ 6♥ 7♥, they can lay off a 4♥ or 8♥ on it, or a fourth card to one of your sets.

Your opponent can only lay off on your melds, never on your deadwood. The knocker can never lay off on the opponent's melds.

Scoring a hand

Compare the deadwood counts after laying off:

Example: you knock with 4 points of deadwood. Your opponent has 19, but lays off a card worth 5, leaving 14. You score 14 − 4 = 10 points. If they had got down to 4 or less, they would have undercut you and scored the difference plus 10.

A player who goes gin can never be undercut.

When the stock runs out

The last two cards of the stock are never drawn. If the player who takes the third-last card discards without knocking, the hand ends as a draw: no one scores, and the same dealer deals again.

Winning the game

Keep a running total. The game ends as soon as one player reaches 100 points or more. Then add the bonuses:

The line bonuses don't count towards reaching 100; they are added only at the end. The winner's final score minus the loser's gives the margin of victory.

Scoring variations

Different books and families use slightly different numbers, so agree before you play:

• 25-point bonuses: many older American rulebooks give 25 for gin and 25 for an undercut instead of 20 and 10, with a 25-point line bonus.
• Big gin: if all 11 cards (after drawing) form melds, you may lay out all of them without discarding. This is often worth a 31-point bonus. It is a popular extra, not part of the core rules.
• Oklahoma gin: the value of the first face-up card sets the maximum deadwood you may knock with on that hand (a 10 or picture card means 10, an ace means you must go gin), and a spade as the first card doubles the hand's score.
• Hollywood scoring: players keep three games going at once. A player's first hand win goes on game 1, their second on games 1 and 2, and from the third on all three games.

Strategy tips

• Watch what your opponent picks up. If they take the 8♦ from the discard pile, they're collecting 8s or diamonds around 8. Avoid discarding 7♦, 9♦ and other 8s.
• Get rid of high deadwood early. Unmatched kings and queens cost 10 points each if your opponent knocks. Keep low cards instead; they hurt less and help you knock sooner.
• Knock early when you can. In the first few turns your opponent's deadwood is usually high, so knocking with 8 to 10 points often wins.
• Play for gin late in the hand if your opponent is clearly close to knocking with low deadwood. Gin protects you from an undercut.
• Keep flexible cards. A 6♠ next to 5♠ and 6♥ can become part of a run or a set. Cards that can complete two melds are worth more than they look.
• Count the discard pile. If two 9s are already discarded, a pair of 9s in your hand will never become a set.

Common mistakes

• Discarding the card you just took from the discard pile.
• Knocking with more than 10 points of deadwood.
• Counting the ace as 11 or using it in a Q-K-A run.
• Laying off on the knocker's deadwood, or laying off after the knocker went gin.
• Forgetting the line bonuses at the end of the game.

Gin rummy and its relatives

Gin rummy grew out of older rummy games in the United States in the early 20th century. In other countries you'll find close relatives: Rommé in Germany, rami in France, chinchón in Spain and Latin America, and pife in Brazil. They share the idea of forming sets and runs, but each has its own number of cards, jokers and scoring.