How to play Gin Rummy
A fast two-player card game: build sets and runs, cut your leftover points, and knock before your opponent does.
By admin
Updated
- Players
- 2
- You need
- A deck of cards
- Game length
- 30–60 min
- Difficulty
- Easy to learn
- Ages
- 8+
01 — Goal
Form melds, cut deadwood, reach 100 first
Arrange your 10 cards into melds. Cards that don’t fit any meld are deadwood. End a hand with less deadwood than your opponent to score points. The first player to 100 points wins the game.
02 — Setup
Deal 10 cards each
- Shuffle a standard 52-card deck. Deal 10 cards to each player, one at a time.
- Place the rest face down as the stock. Turn its top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
- The non-dealer may take that first upcard. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock and play begins.
03 — Melds
Sets and runs
A set is three or four cards of the same rank. A run is three or more cards in a row of the same suit. Aces are always low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not. A card can only belong to one meld at a time.
| Card | Deadwood value |
|---|---|
| Ace | 1 |
| 2 – 10 | Face value |
| J, Q, K | 10 |
- 7 of spades
- 7 of hearts
- 7 of clubs
- 4 of diamonds
- 5 of diamonds
- 6 of diamonds
- 7 of diamonds
04 — A turn
Draw one, discard one
Take the top card of the stock or the discard pile, then discard one card face up. You can’t discard the card you just took from the discard pile in the same turn.
05 — Knocking & gin
End the hand on your terms
When your deadwood totals 10 or less, you may knock: discard face down and lay out your melds and deadwood. Your opponent then lays out theirs and may lay off deadwood onto your melds. If you knock with zero deadwood, that’s gin, and no laying off is allowed.
House rule note: if only two cards remain in the stock and nobody has knocked, the hand is a draw and is redealt.
06 — Scoring
Who gets what
- Knock
- Knocker scores the difference between both deadwood totals.
- Gin
- 25-point bonus plus all of the opponent’s deadwood.
- Undercut
- Defender’s deadwood is equal or lower? They score the difference plus 25.
07 — Tips
Play smarter
- Dump high deadwood (face cards) early: they cost you 10 each.
- Watch what your opponent picks from the discard pile, and avoid feeding their melds.
- Knock early when you can. Waiting for gin often hands your opponent the undercut.