The objective of Gin Rummy is to arrange the cards in your hand so you can knock with less "deadwood" than your opponent. Ten cards are dealt to each player. The stock (the stack of undealt cards) is placed on the table. The top card of the stock is flipped over and becomes the upcard. The upcard is the first card in the discard pile.
Cards in your hands must be arranged into groups of three or more cards of either the same rank (such as the "7" of hearts, "7" of clubs, "7" of spades), or of the same suit in sequential order (such as the "2" of spades, "3" of spades, "4" of spades, etc.). Every card that is not part of either type of group is "deadwood" (like penalty points). The objective is to swap cards from the discard pile and/or the stock with the cards in your hand in order to reduce or even entirely eliminate any deadwood (known as a Gin), and to do so before the opponent does.
The nondealer begins play by either taking the upcard or passing it. If it is passed, the dealer makes the same choice. If both players pass the upcard, the nondealer takes the top card of the stock and play begins. On all subsequent turns, players may begin their turn by taking either the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. After a card is taken from the stock or discard pile, the player has two choices:
- simply discard any card in his hand to the discard pile
- "knock" (end the hand with a showdown) and discard any card to the discard pile.
Note - If the stock ever has only two cards in it, the hand ends in a draw. The final discard is not made and the player may not knock.
A player can choose to knock (but is not required to) when he has deadwood (cards not belonging to any group) that totals ten points or less. (This may be lower if you play the variant Oklahoma Gin, see options below). Points are counted as follows:
- Aces are played as low cards (value 1).
- Face cards count for 10 points.
- Other cards count for their face value.
If a player knocks with deadwood that is above the limit, the opponent may accept the knock or refuse it. If the knock is refused, the player who illegally knocked must continue playing the hand and play with his cards face up on the table, so other players will be able to see his cards.
After a legal knock, both players lay out their cards into the groups (which is done automatically). Deadwood is separated into its own group. If the knocker does not have Gin, his opponent is then allowed to play any of his deadwood onto the knocker's groups. After this is done, both players count their deadwood. The player with the lower deadwood is the winner of the hand. If the deadwood is tied, the knocker loses the hand. The winner of the hand is the dealer of the next hand.
Options
You can choose to play Gin Rummy (default setting) or the variant Oklahoma Gin. In Gin Rummy the limit is always 10. In Oklahoma Gin the upcard determines the legal value for knocking. If the upcard is an ace, Gin is required to knock (no deadwood). Also, in Oklahoma Gin, if the upcard is a spade, the scores for that hand are doubled. The rest of the Gin Rummy rules apply.
You can also choose to sort the cards ascending or descending by value or by suit.
Scoring
The winner of the hand scores the difference of the deadwood plus any applicable bonuses:
- GIN BONUS - A player who has Gin (knocks with no deadwood) scores 25 additional points. Only the knocker may score for the Gin Bonus.
- UNDERCUT BONUS - If the knocker loses the hand, his opponent scores 25 additional points.
The game is over when either player reaches a score of 100 points. After the game is over, other bonuses are then added:
- GAME BONUS - The winner of the game scores a 100 point bonus.
- SHUTOUT BONUS - If the loser of the game has not won a hand, the winner doubles his game score and game bonus.
BOX BONUS - Each player scores 25 points for each hand he won.
With those final bonuses added, it would hypothetically still be possible (although unlikely) for the loser of the actual game to still come out on top of the winner. That would be the case if the loser won far more hands, each with little deadwood points, versus the winner who won very few hands but with lots of deadwood points each.
