Gin Rummy

Setup

• Two players and a standard 52-card deck without jokers. Aces are low: the order runs A, 2, 3 … 10, J, Q, K.
• Deal ten cards each. Put the rest face down as the stock and turn the top card face up to start the discard pile.
• The player who starts may take that first upcard or pass. If they pass, the opponent may take it. If both pass, the starting player draws from the stock and play carries on as normal.
• The first seat starts the first hand. After a scored hand the starting player alternates; after a drawn hand the same player starts again.

How to play

• A meld is three or four cards of the same rank (a set), or three or more cards in sequence in one suit (a run). A-2-3 is a run, but Q-K-A is not. A card can only be in one meld.
• On your turn, draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile, then discard one card. You cannot discard the card you just took from the discard pile.
• Unmatched cards are deadwood. Aces count 1, number cards their face value and face cards 10.
• If your deadwood after discarding is 10 or less, you may knock: press Knock after choosing your discard. With zero deadwood you go gin. Your melds are arranged automatically for the lowest deadwood.
• After a knock, the opponent lays out their melds and may lay off unmatched cards on the knocker's melds, reducing their own deadwood. There are no layoffs against gin.
• If only two cards are left in the stock and the player who just drew discards without knocking, the hand is a draw and nobody scores. The stock is never reshuffled.

Winning

• Knock: the knocker scores the difference between the two deadwood counts, after layoffs.
• Undercut: if the opponent's deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker's, the opponent scores the difference plus a 25-point undercut bonus.
• Gin: score the opponent's deadwood plus a 25-point gin bonus.
• Hands continue until someone reaches 100 points; that player wins. No game or line bonuses are added.

House rules