Gin Rummy Rules

Gin Rummy is one of the most popular two-player card games in the world. The goal is to form combinations of cards (melds) and minimize the cards left outside any combination (deadwood).

The deck and the deal

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). At the start of each hand, 10 cards are dealt to each player. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile; the rest of the deck remains face down.

Melds

There are two types of valid combinations:

• Set (tris / poker): 3 or 4 cards of the same rank (e.g. 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ or J♣ J♦ J♥ J♠).
• Run (scala): 3 or more cards of the same suit in sequence (e.g. 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ 7♥).

Card values (deadwood)

Card	Points
Ace	1
2 – 9	Face value
10, J, Q, K	10

Opening phase (upcard)

The non-dealer decides first whether to take the face-up card. If they pass, the dealer may take it. If the dealer also passes, the non-dealer is forced to draw from the face-down deck.

Taking a turn

1. Draw: take the top card from the discard pile or draw from the deck.
2. Discard: place one card face up on the discard pile.

You cannot discard a card you just picked up from the discard pile.

Knocking

You may knock when your deadwood is ≤ 10 points. To do so, discard your last card and declare your melds. The opponent may then lay off their cards onto your melds, reducing their deadwood.

Gin

If you manage to meld all 10 cards (deadwood = 0), you can call Gin. The opponent cannot lay off any cards, and the Gin caller receives a bonus of +25 points in addition to the deadwood difference.

Scoring

Situation	Score
Knocker wins (knocker deadwood < defender deadwood)	Deadwood difference
Gin (deadwood = 0)	Deadwood difference + 25
Undercut (defender deadwood ≤ knocker deadwood after layoff)	Deadwood difference + 25 to the defender

Undercut

If after layoff the opponent's deadwood is less than or equal to yours, an undercut occurs: the opponent wins and earns the deadwood difference plus a 25-point bonus.

Match and dealer

The match continues until the target score is reached (default 100, configurable). The winner of the previous hand becomes the dealer for the next hand.

Oklahoma Gin

In the Oklahoma Gin variant, the knock threshold is not fixed at 10 but is set by the rank of the first face-up card at the start of the hand. If the first card is an Ace, you can only knock with deadwood = 0 (i.e. Gin only). If the first card is a King (10 points), the threshold is 10 as in classic Gin.

How to play "Gin Rummy - Luciano"

• Draw from deck: click the deck or right-click in the player area.
• Draw from discard pile: click the discard pile.
• Select a card: click a card to select it (it will be highlighted).
• Discard: click on the discard pile to discard the selected card, or drag a card onto the discard pile.
• KNOCK / GIN: buttons appear at the bottom right when conditions are met.
• Layoff: after the opponent knocks, click your cards to lay them off onto the opponent's melds, then confirm.

Buttons

• NEW: start a new game (choose variant and target score).
• RULES: show these instructions.
• FACE UP: reveal the opponent's cards and the top of the deck (practice mode).
• ↩ (UNDO): undo the last move.
• 123 / ♥♠: sort your hand by rank or by suit.
• 🔊 / 🔇 (Audio): enables or disables the game sound effects. Your preference is saved and applied across all games on the site. Note: if your browser or operating system has muted audio for this tab, sounds will remain silent regardless of this button, as that control is managed by the browser outside the scope of the page.

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