Gin rummy
Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game created in 1909 by Elwood T. Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. It is a variant of rummy. It has enjoyed widespread popularity as both a social and a gambling game, especially during the mid twentieth century, and remains today one of the most widely-played two-player card games.
History
Magician and writer John Scarne believes gin rummy to have evolved from 19th-century whiskey poker and to have been created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy but less spontaneous than knock rummy.David Parlett finds Scarne's theory to be "highly implausible", and considers the game of Conquian to be gin rummy's forerunner.
Deck
Gin rummy is played with a standard 52-card pack of cards. The ranking from high to low is King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.Objective
The objective in gin rummy is to score points and reach an agreed number of points or more, usually more than 100, before the opponent does.The basic game strategy is to improve one's hand by forming melds and eliminating deadwood. Gin has two types of meld: Sets of 3 or 4 cards sharing the same rank, e.g. ; and runs of 3 or more cards in sequence, of the same suit, such as or more. Deadwood cards are those not in any meld. Aces are considered low—they can form a set with other aces but only the low end of runs. A player can form any combination of melds within their hand; all sets, all runs, or some sets and some runs.
The deadwood count is the sum of the point values of the deadwood cards—aces are scored at 1 point, face cards at 10, and others according to their numerical values. Intersecting melds are not allowed; if a player has a three-card set and a three-card run sharing a common card, only one of the melds counts, and the other two cards count as deadwood. For example; within the five cards, the seven of diamonds can be included in the set or included in the run, but it cannot be included in both.
Dealing
Dealership alternates from round to round, with the first dealer chosen by any agreed upon method. The dealer deals 10 cards to each player one at a time starting with their opponent, and then places the next card in the deck face up. This begins the discard pile. The face down pile is known as the stock pile.Playing
On the first turn of the round, the non-dealing player has first option of taking the upcard on the discard pile or passing. If the non-dealing player takes the upcard, they must then discard a different card to the discard pile. The player acting second can take the top card from the pile of their choice. However, if the non-dealing player passes the upcard, the dealer is given the opportunity to take the upcard or pass. If the dealer also passes, the non-dealing player must draw from the stock pile, then the next turn and after, players can draw from the pile of their choice.On each subsequent turn, a player must draw either the top card of the discard pile, or the top card from the stock pile, and discard one card from their hand onto the discard pile.
Players alternate taking turns until one player ends the round by knocking, going Gin, or until only two cards remain in the stock pile, in which case the round ends in a draw and no points are awarded. The game ends when a player reaches 100 or more points. In tournament rules the game is played in best of five with 250 points per game.
Knocking
In standard gin, only a player with 10 or fewer points of deadwood may knock. Knocking with 0 points of deadwood is known as going Gin or having a Gin hand, while knocking with deadwood points is known as going down.To knock, the knocking player discards as usual, announces knocking, and the hand is laid out with the melds clearly indicated and deadwood separated. The other player is then entitled to lay out any melds in their hand and can then lay off any of their remaining deadwood cards that fit into the knocking player's melds, provided that the knocking player does not have a gin hand.
For example, the knocking player has a meld of three Kings. The defending player's deadwood has a king. The player can lay off that king, reducing the deadwood count by ten. The knocking player can never lay off their deadwood into the defending player's melds. Once a player knocks or declares gin the round is over and scores are tallied, players cannot draw.
The knocking player then subtracts their deadwood points from the defending player's deadwood points. The result is the number of points the knocking player receives. An undercut occurs if a player knocks and the defending player's deadwood points are less than or equal to the knocking player's. In this case the defending player receives an undercut bonus plus the difference in deadwood points. If the defending player has less or equal deadwood to the knocking player's deadwood after laying off any of their deadwood, then it is still a valid undercut.
Gin
If all 10 cards in a player's hand fit into melds and thereby the player has no deadwood, they can choose to go Gin in which case the round ends and the player going Gin receives a Gin bonus of 25 points plus any deadwood points in the opponent's hand. The defending opponent can only lay out their melds and cannot lay off any deadwood into the melds of an opponent that has declared Gin. A player can go Gin with a hand of three or fewer melds as long as all cards fit into a meld. Players can also have an 11 card gin, see Big Gin Variant below.Big Gin
Gin hands normally consist of 10 cards. However, if a player chooses to draw so that 11 cards fit into melds, they can declare Big Gin in which case the player receives a Big Gin bonus of 31 points plus any deadwood in the opponent's hand.Scoring
Aces are scored at 1 point, face cards at 10, and all other cards are scored at their numerical values. The number of points awarded for bonuses may vary from region to region. No matter what the bonus amounts are, points are scored in Gin for the following:; Knock points :After a player knocks, and the layoffs are made, the knocking player receives a score equal to the difference between the two hands. For example, if a player knocks with 8, and the defender has 10 deadwood points in their hand after laying off, the knocking player receives 2 points for the hand. If a player is able to knock before any cards are accepted, it is considered a misdeal.
; Gin bonus : After going gin, a player receives a bonus of 25 points plus the entire count of deadwood in the opponent's hand. There is no chance to lay off when a player goes gin.
; Undercut : Occurs when the defending player has a deadwood count lower than or equal to that of the knocking player. In this case, the defender scores an undercut bonus of 25 points plus the difference in deadwood in the knocking player's hand.
; Game bonus :Once a player has acquired 500 points the game is over, and that player receives a game bonus of 100 points.
; Line bonus or box bonus :Added at the end of the game. For every hand a player won during the game, 25 points is added to their score.
; Big gin : Prior to knocking, if all 11 cards in a player's hand form a legal gin, the player can retain the extra card as part of their hand, and is awarded 31 points plus entire count of deadwood in their opponent's hand.
; Shutout bonus : If a game is completed with the winner having won every hand, the points for each hand are doubled before adding the line bonus.
In some variations, if the winning player beats the losing player by exactly 50 points, the winning player must forfeit the match.
Variations
Straight gin
In straight gin, players are required to play until one of them can go gin. Knocking is not allowed. Scoring and rules remain the same as standard gin rummy.Mahjong gin
Similar to straight gin, knocking is not allowed. However, more than one card may be taken, in order, from the top of the discard pile. If more than one card is taken, the lowest position card taken must be used in a hand: e.g.Oklahoma gin
In this version of gin rummy, the value of the first upcard is used to determine the maximum count at which players can knock. If the upcard is a spade, the hand will count double. So if the first upcard was a 4, you can knock and go out with only 4 or fewer points in your hand; and if the card was, you would get double points that hand.Another version in this variation and in Hollywood gin, a second deck of cards will be used to determine the knock value of a hand. The knock value card will be dealt from the bottom and turned over on top. Above rules apply but both players are dealt ten cards with the last hand winner picking first from the deck.
Hollywood gin
This is a scoring style, not a rules change to the game of gin. In Hollywood gin, scoring is kept for three different games at the same time. A player's first win will be recorded in their column in Game One. A player's second win will be recorded in their columns for both Game One and Game Two. Their third win will be recorded in their column for all three games. Hands are played until all three games are finished.Tedesco gin
Similar to Oklahoma gin, except aces can be used high or low, and runs can be formed "around the corner". If you are caught with an unmelded ace, it counts as 15 points against you. Hollywood scoring of three games to 200 when playing head-to-head or with two-person teams. Three-person teams play to 300, 25 points extra if all three teammates win. 50 points for four-person team, etc. This is a more complex gin game for all levels of player.Single match
When a single match is to be played, the players will continue to play rounds until one player has 100 points or more. This player wins the match.Multi-match
In multi-match games, match scores are reset to zero with the start of each match, while game scores accumulate until a predetermined winning score is reached, perhaps 500 or higher. Each individual match ends when one player scores 100 match points. At the end of the match, players' match scores are credited toward their game scores, as well as:- 25 game points for each individual round won,
- 100 game points to the winner of the match, and
- 100 bonus game points to the match winner if the loser won no rounds.
Notable players
- Stu Ungar, widely regarded as the greatest gin rummy player of all time, was described by many as having a near clairvoyant ability to see his opponents' hands. Ungar's almost total dominance of the game during the 1970s and 1980s is thought to have been a factor in the decline of gin rummy as a tournament game in Las Vegas and other gambling venues.
- Oswald Jacoby, best known as a contract bridge and backgammon champion, also played high-stakes gin rummy and wrote several books on the game.
- Ernie Kovacs, the comedian and television pioneer, published a book in 1962 called How to Talk at Gin.
- The villain Auric Goldfinger cheats at gin rummy in the key introduction scene of the James Bond film Goldfinger, with the help of an accomplice looking at the opponent's cards through binoculars. The film script changed the game to gin rummy from two-handed Canasta in the source novel by Ian Fleming.