How to play
Gin Rummy is a two-player race to build melds from a hand of ten cards. A meld is either a set of three or four cards of the same rank (7♠ 7♥ 7♦) or a run of three or more cards in sequence in one suit (4♣ 5♣ 6♣). Aces are low only: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not. Cards that are not in a meld are your deadwood, and each one counts against you: aces are 1, number cards their face value, and 10s and face cards 10 each.
Choose Computer or Friend in the menu. In friend mode both players share the device, and the screen hides the cards and asks you to pass the phone whenever the turn changes. Then pick a target: 50, 100 or 150 points. 100 is the traditional game.
Each hand starts with ten cards each, the rest face down as the stock, and one card turned up beside it. You see your hand already sorted into its best melds, with the deadwood total shown underneath, so you never have to count.
The first turn. The non-dealer may take the face-up card or pass. If they pass, the dealer gets the same choice. If both pass, the non-dealer must draw from the stock. The dealer alternates every hand.
Every turn after that has two steps:
- Draw one card, either the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile. Tap the stock or the pile.
- Discard one card. Tap a card to select it, then tap Discard (or tap the same card again). The card you just took from the discard pile cannot go straight back.
Knocking. When the deadwood left in your hand after discarding is 10 or less, the Knock button lights up for the selected card. Knocking ends the hand. If your deadwood is 0, that is gin, and the button says so.
Scoring a hand
When you knock, both hands are laid out. The game arranges each hand into its best melds automatically, and then the opponent lays off: any of their deadwood that fits onto your melds (a fourth 7 on your set of 7s, the 3♣ or 7♣ on your 4-5-6♣ run) is added there and no longer counts against them. Layoffs chain, so 7♣ and then 8♣ can both join that run. You cannot lay off against a gin hand.
- Knock: you score the difference between the opponent’s deadwood and yours.
- Gin: 25 bonus points plus all of the opponent’s deadwood.
- Undercut: if the opponent’s deadwood, after laying off, is equal to or lower than yours, they score the difference plus a 25-point bonus instead.
Whoever scores the hand also wins a box (a hand won). If the stock is down to two cards and the player who drew the fiftieth card discards without knocking, the hand is void: no score, and the same dealer deals again.
The match ends as soon as someone reaches the target. The winner adds a 100-point game bonus, doubled to 200 if the loser never won a hand (a shutout), and both players add 25 per box. The summary at the end of the match shows how the final totals were built.
Strategy
Knock early. A hand with deadwood under 10 is usually worth cashing in rather than chasing gin. The longer a hand goes, the more likely your opponent gets low too, and an undercut turns your knock into 25 points for them.
Watch what your opponent takes. A card picked up from the discard pile tells you what they are collecting. Hold neighbouring cards of that rank or suit when you can, and discard around them.
Discard high deadwood first. A lone king costs 10, a lone 3 costs 3. If two cards are equally useless, throw the bigger one.
Draw from the stock unless the discard really helps. Taking from the pile reveals your plans. The computer only takes a discard when it completes a meld or clearly improves the hand, and the same rule serves human players well.
Count the stock. With few cards left and no knock in sight, dump deadwood aggressively: a void hand scores nothing, but a surprise knock from your opponent scores against everything you are holding.
About the computer player
The computer plays by the information on the table only: its own hand, the discard pile and the number of cards in the stock. It never sees your cards or the order of the stock. It rates its hand by deadwood points minus credit for cards that are close to melding, takes a discard only when that forms a meld or clearly improves the hand, discards the card that leaves the best hand, and knocks at the first opportunity, preferring gin when it can. In 200 simulated bot-against-bot matches to 30 points, the seat that moves first in hand one won 106 and the other 94, so the deal order is not a decisive advantage.
If you enjoy Gin Rummy, try Go Fish or Golf Solitaire next.
