Rummy is a popular combination and shedding card game for at least two players using two decks with Jokers. You aim to win by getting rid of your hand cards before your opponents do. To do so, you can play your cards in combinations and add your cards to existing combinations. In our game at the Rummy Palace, you can play Rummy live with up to three other players!
Rummy is a popular card game in many countries worldwide, but especially so in India, the USA, the Philippines, as well as the general areas of Europe and South America. Rumms is so well-loved since it is suitable for people of all ages and skill levels based on its simplicity and versatility.
In Rummy, you aim to play your hand cards in combinations (melds) and add your cards to existing melds. These melds must meet certain conditions of the Rummy Ruleset, though. If you empty your hand first, you end and win the round!
Learn all Rummy rules in detail in our Rummy School featuring our Rummy Manual, Rummy Lessons, and more. Now, let’s continue with a more general overview here.
To prepare the Rummy game, the dealer shuffles all 110 cards (six Jokers accompanying two decks with 13 cards in four suits each) and then distributes 11 cards to each player. The number of cards dealt can vary depending on the number of players. The remainder becomes the face-down draw pile. Its topmost card is revealed next to it as the base for the discard pile.
Then you take turns melding in clockwise direction:
- You always start your turn by drawing one card from the discard pile or from the draw pile.
- To end your turn, you discard a card.
- Between drawing and discarding, you may meld cards in groups or runs and add cards to existing melds. Melding means taking cards from your hand and placing them on the table. Check our Rummy Lesson on melding for the full scoop!
The round ends after one player places all their hand cards in melds on the table and discards their final card. Then, it is time to count the points: they are scored based on the cards remaining in the other players’ hands. Often, the players with cards remaining in hand will also receive penalty points for their respective remainder.
If a player manages to empty their entire hand within a single turn, and no other player has melded yet, this player goes Rummy successfully, which yields bonus points.
After that is sorted, there goes the next round! If you play multiple rounds, the player with the highest combined score over all rounds wins the entire game.
These are the basics of playing Rummy, but there are many regional variations and additional rules to explore. You can try a lot of them in our game at the Rummy Palace, and you can read about them in our Lesson on Rummy Rule Variants, if you like.