Gin Rummy

What you need & setup

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck and deal 10 cards to each of the two players.
2. Place the remaining deck face down between you as the stock (draw pile).
3. Turn the top card of the stock face up beside it to start the discard pile. This first card is called the upcard.
4. The non-dealer gets first choice of the upcard; if they decline, the dealer may take it. If both decline, the non-dealer draws from the stock and play begins.
5. Sort your hand into potential sets (same rank) and runs (same suit in sequence). Aces are low: A♦ 2♦ 3♦ is a run, Q-K-A is not.

Turn sequence

1. Draw one card: the face-up top card of the discard pile, or the face-down top card of the stock.
2. Rearrange your hand mentally — melds are never placed on the table during play; everything stays hidden.
3. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile, bringing you back to 10 cards.
4. If, after drawing, your deadwood totals 10 points or fewer, you may end the round by knocking: discard face down and reveal your melds.
5. If your ten cards form melds with zero deadwood, declare gin for a bonus instead of a plain knock.
6. If only two cards remain in the stock and no one has knocked, the round ends in a draw and the same dealer redeals.

Melds and deadwood

Melds are the same as in basic rummy: a set of three or four cards of one rank (7♣ 7♦ 7♥), or a run of three or more cards in one suit (4♠ 5♠ 6♠). A single card cannot belong to two melds at once — 7♠ can sit in a set of 7s or a spade run, not both.

Deadwood is every card in your hand that is not part of a meld. Deadwood is counted by value: face cards are 10, Aces are 1, and number cards count their face value.

Unlike basic rummy, you never lay melds on the table during play. Your whole hand stays secret until someone knocks or goes gin.

Knocking

When your deadwood totals 10 points or fewer after drawing, you may knock. Traditionally you signal this by discarding your final card face down, then spreading your melds and deadwood face up.

Knocking is optional. You can keep playing to reduce your deadwood further or try for gin — but waiting gives your opponent time to improve too.

You can never knock with more than 10 deadwood. If the knock is illegal, most rules require you to play on with your hand exposed, so count carefully first.

Laying off against a knock

After a knock (but not after gin), the defender may lay off: add their own deadwood cards to the knocker's melds. If the knocker shows 4♠ 5♠ 6♠, the defender can attach the 3♠ or 7♠ and stop those cards counting against them.

Laying off only shrinks the defender's deadwood — it never helps the knocker. This is why a modest knock can backfire against an opponent with well-connected cards.

Going gin blocks all lay-offs, which is part of what makes gin worth chasing.

Undercuts and gin

After lay-offs, compare deadwood totals. If the knocker's deadwood is lower, the knocker scores the difference between the two totals.

If the defender's deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker's, the defender has undercut the knocker and scores the difference plus a bonus, commonly 25 points. Knocking with 9 or 10 deadwood always carries this risk.

Going gin — melding all ten cards with zero deadwood — earns the full deadwood count of the opponent plus a gin bonus, commonly 25 points, with no undercut possible.

Scoring a match

Rounds continue with the deal alternating (or passing to the round's winner, by agreement) until one player reaches 100 points.

The match winner then adds bonuses: commonly 100 points for reaching the target, 25 points per round won (a line or box bonus), and a shutout bonus if the loser never scored.

Casual players often skip the bonus arithmetic and just play to 100 — perfectly fine for learning.

Scoring & how the game ends

• Knock and win: score the difference between your deadwood and your opponent's deadwood after lay-offs.
• Undercut: if the defender ties or beats the knocker's deadwood, the defender scores the difference plus a 25-point bonus.
• Gin: score your opponent's entire deadwood plus a 25-point bonus; no lay-offs allowed against gin.
• Card values for deadwood: face cards 10, Aces 1, number cards face value. First to 100 points wins the match, with traditional line and game bonuses added at the end.

Winning: Win rounds by knocking with less deadwood than your opponent or by going gin, and win the match by being first to 100 points.

Common variations

These are genuine regional and house-rule differences — none of them is “the one true way” to play. Agree with your table before starting.

• Oklahoma Gin

  The value of the first upcard sets the maximum knock for the round — if a 5 is turned, you need 5 or fewer deadwood to knock; an Ace means gin only.

  Common: Very common; many groups treat it as the default way to play.

• Hollywood scoring

  Three games are scored simultaneously on one sheet: your first win goes on game one, your second on games one and two, and so on — one sitting produces three results.

  Common: Traditional among long-session and club players.

• Big Gin

  If all 11 cards after drawing form melds, you may declare big gin without discarding, for a larger bonus (often 31 points) than regular gin.

  Common: Popular optional rule in casual and online play.

• Straight gin

  Knocking is not allowed at all — every round must be won by going gin, for higher stakes in points and patience.

  Common: Occasional house rule for players who enjoy longer rounds.

A little history

Gin Rummy is generally credited to the early 1900s in the United States, often attributed to Elwood Baker and his son, though details of its invention are not fully certain.

It reportedly became hugely fashionable in Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, which helped make it one of the most popular two-player card games in America.