Rummy rules: how to play rummy, gin rummy and tile rummy
Rummy, remi in Bosnian, is a card game nearly every family in the Balkans knows. It is played over coffee, on holiday and at family gatherings, and the rules often vary a little from house to house. The shared idea is always the same: arrange your cards into sets and runs and be the first to run out.
This guide describes rummy as it is most often played in Bosnia, then explains two related games you can play on Online igre: gin rummy and tile rummy.
Cards and the deal
It is usually played with two 52 card decks and four jokers, for two to six players. Each player gets fourteen cards and the player who starts gets fifteen. The rest of the deck sits on the table, with a discard pile beside it.
Each turn, a player takes one card, from the deck or the top of the discard pile, and ends the turn by discarding one. The starting player already holds fifteen cards, so they discard straight away.
Sets and runs
A set is three or four cards of the same rank in different suits, three queens for example. A run is three or more consecutive cards of one suit, such as the five, six and seven of hearts. The ace can go before the two or after the king, but usually not both in one run.
A joker stands in for any card in a set or run. Many house rules let a player swap a joker on the table for the real card and take the joker.
Opening and laying down cards
The first time you lay cards on the table is called opening. The most common rule says the first melds must be worth at least 51 points together. Face cards are worth ten, an ace eleven and every other card its face value.
Once you have opened, you may lay down new melds and add cards to your own and other players’ melds on later turns. The hand ends when someone lays down or adds every card and discards their last.
Scoring
The player who goes out usually gets minus points as a reward, and everyone else adds up the cards left in hand. A joker left in hand is often worth twenty or more, so it pays to lay it down in time.
A game runs to an agreed total, and the lowest score wins. This is where house rules differ most, so agree on them before you play.
Gin rummy: the quicker cousin
In gin rummy two players hold ten cards each, with no jokers and no 51 point opening. Cards are arranged in hand, and a hand ends with a knock when your unmatched cards are worth little enough. A hand with no unmatched card at all is called gin and scores a bonus.
Gin rummy is played to 100 points and is great practice for full rummy, because it trains you to remember what your opponent takes and throws away. For longer sessions against the computer there is Classic Gin Rummy with ten levels.
Tile rummy
Rummy is also played with tiles instead of cards. The tiles carry numbers in four colours, and the rules for sets and runs are the same. Rummi is a version for two players where whoever places all their tiles first wins.
Tips for better rummy
Do not hold on too long to cards that wait for a single card. Combinations with several ways out, like a six and seven of one suit, close far more often. Remember what opponents discard: a player who keeps throwing sixes is probably not collecting them.
Throw away high cards that do not fit early, because if someone goes out, they cost you the most.
Cards on the table, coffee on the side
Rummy is a game of patience and memory, with a little luck. Once you know the basics, you will pick up any house variant quickly at any table.
On Online igre you can practise gin rummy and tile rummy against the computer, free and without signing up. More card games wait in the Table games world, and for dice games read the jamb rules.