Gin Rummy

How to play Gin Rummy

Gin Rummy is one of the most popular two-player card games in the world, invented in the early twentieth century and played ever since in homes, clubs and card rooms. It is played with a standard 52-card deck: you and the computer each hold ten cards and take turns drawing and discarding, quietly arranging your hand into melds while trying to shed the useless cards — the "deadwood". When your deadwood is small enough you "knock" to end the hand and score the difference between the two hands; melding every card is called "gin" and earns a bonus. Games run to 100 points across several quick hands. This version pits you against a computer opponent at three difficulty levels, entirely offline, with ranking points for every game you win.

The goal

The object of each hand is to arrange the ten cards in your hand into melds and keep your remaining unmatched cards — your deadwood — as low in value as possible. When your deadwood is 10 points or fewer you may knock to end the hand. You score the difference between your deadwood and your opponent’s. Win enough hands to be the first to reach 100 points and you win the game.

The deal

The game uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Each player is dealt ten cards. The next card is turned face-up to start the discard pile, and the rest of the deck becomes the face-down stock. You always take the first turn, so you get first choice of that opening face-up card. Because your opponent’s cards are hidden, Gin Rummy cannot be played fairly on a single shared screen — so this app offers only the game against the computer, whose hand stays secret until the hand ends.

A turn: draw then discard

On your turn you must first draw exactly one card: either take the known top card of the discard pile, or draw the unknown top card of the stock. After drawing you will hold eleven cards, and you must then discard exactly one card face-up onto the discard pile, returning to ten. That is the whole turn. Play then passes to your opponent, who does the same. The app highlights which pile you can draw from, and after you draw it lets you tap any card in your hand to discard it.

Melds: sets and runs

• A SET (also called a group or book) is three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ or Q♣ Q♠ Q♥ Q♦. Suits do not matter for a set — only the matching rank.
• A RUN (also called a sequence) is three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive rank, such as 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ or 9♠ 10♠ J♠ Q♠. All the cards in a run must share one suit.
• The ace is always LOW. A-2-3 of a suit is a valid run, but Q-K-A is not — runs never wrap around from King back to Ace. Each card can belong to only one meld at a time.

Deadwood and card values

Any card that is not part of a meld is deadwood. Deadwood is scored by point value: each ace is worth 1 point, number cards are worth their pip value (a 7 is 7 points), and every face card — jack, queen and king — is worth 10 points. Your deadwood total is the sum of the values of your unmatched cards, using the arrangement of melds that leaves the smallest possible total. The app works out the best arrangement for you and shows your live deadwood count at all times, so you always know how close you are to being able to knock.

Knocking

You may end the hand by knocking, but only when the ten cards you would keep have a deadwood total of 10 points or fewer. To knock, tap the Knock button and then tap the card you want to discard — only discards that keep you within the 10-point limit are allowed. You then lay your hand down, melds and deadwood visible. Knocking is optional: you can keep drawing to improve your hand, but every extra turn also gives your opponent another chance, and risks a costly undercut.

Going gin

If you can arrange all ten of your kept cards into melds with no deadwood at all, you have gin. Gin is the strongest finish: you cannot be undercut, your opponent may not lay off any cards, and you earn a 25-point gin bonus on top of all of your opponent’s deadwood. When a discard would give you gin, the app shows a Gin! indicator and turns the Knock button into a Gin button.

Laying off

After a normal knock (but never against gin), the defender — the player who did not knock — may reduce their own deadwood by laying off cards onto the knocker’s melds. A card can be added to the knocker’s set if it matches the rank, or to the end of one of the knocker’s runs if it continues the same-suit sequence. For example, if the knocker laid down 4♠ 5♠ 6♠, the defender could lay off their own 3♠ or 7♠. The app calculates and shows the best possible lay-off for you automatically.

Scoring a hand

• Normal knock: if the knocker’s deadwood is lower than the defender’s (after lay-off), the knocker scores the difference between the two deadwood totals.
• Undercut: if the defender’s deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker’s, the defender wins the hand instead and scores the difference plus a 25-point undercut bonus. Knocking with a slim lead is risky.
• Gin: the knocker scores the whole of the defender’s deadwood plus a 25-point gin bonus, and there is no lay-off and no undercut.
• The winner’s points are added to their running total. The first player to reach 100 points wins the game. This app uses simple scoring and does not add the optional "line" and "box" bonuses used in some tournament formats.

Playing the computer (ranked)

Choose one of three difficulty levels before you start. Easy draws and discards only to shrink its own deadwood and knocks the moment it legally can, so beginners can win. Normal keeps track of your discards, avoids feeding cards that obviously help you, and waits for a stronger hand before knocking. Expert models the melds you are likely building from the cards you pick up and throw away, holds back dangerous discards, and times its knock to avoid handing you an undercut. The computer thinks entirely on your device, so it works offline. Win a game to earn ranking points — Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100 — and sign in to record your best result on the leaderboard.

Strategy tips

• Watch what your opponent takes from the discard pile. A card they pick up tells you which ranks and suits they are collecting, so avoid discarding anything that would complete or extend those melds.
• Keep cards that work in more than one way. A card like 7♥ that could join a set of sevens or a heart run gives you two chances to meld and is worth holding on to a little longer.
• Shed high cards early. Unmatched kings, queens and jacks are worth 10 points each, so if a face card is not part of a developing meld, throwing it out keeps your deadwood low in case your opponent knocks.
• Do not chase gin blindly. Knocking early with a small deadwood is often safer than waiting for the perfect hand, because every extra turn gives your opponent more time to gin you or set up an undercut.

Frequently asked questions