How to Play Rummy: The Complete Rules, Step by Step

Rummy is a draw-and-discard card game: on each turn you draw a card, lay down any melds you can, then discard one card, and the first player to get rid of every card wins the hand. A meld is either a set (three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦) or a run (three or more cards in sequence in one suit, such as 5♥ 6♥ 7♥). That is the whole game in two sentences. Everything else in these rummy rules is detail, and a fair amount of it changes from one kitchen table to the next.

This guide walks through how to play rummy from the deal to the scoresheet. Where families disagree, I’ll tell you, and I’ll show how we settled each question in Café Rummy, since a phone app has to pick one rule and stick to it.

What you need to play rummy

A standard 52-card deck works for two to four players in the classic game. Once you get to five or six, or if you play one of the long two-deck versions popular in the UK, you shuffle two decks together. Jokers are optional in Basic Rummy and essential in games like Kalooki.

You also need a pencil and paper if you keep score across several hands, and somebody honest enough to add up their own cards.

Café Rummy uses two 52-card decks plus six jokers, so 110 cards in all, for two to four players. Because there are two decks, every natural card exists twice. You can hold two Q♠ at once, which matters later when you build sets.

The aim of the game

You want to empty your hand. You do it by turning your cards into melds on the table, adding single cards to melds that are already down, and throwing your last card on the discard pile.

The other players are trying to do exactly the same thing, and whoever gets there first ends the hand. The cards still stuck in everyone else’s hand count against them. So rummy is a race, but a race where you also watch what your neighbours pick up and throw away.

Setting up: the deal

The dealer shuffles and deals the cards one at a time, face down. The number of cards varies a lot:

Game	Players	Cards each
Basic Rummy (one deck)	2	10
Basic Rummy (one deck)	3 to 4	7
Basic Rummy (one or two decks)	5 to 6	6
Rummy 500	2	13
Rummy 500	3 or more	7
Kalooki (UK, two decks)	2 to 5	13
Café Rummy (two decks, six jokers)	2 to 4	13

The rest of the cards go face down in the middle as the stock (some people say the draw pile). The top card of the stock is turned face up beside it to start the discard pile.

Thirteen cards feels like a lot the first time. It gives you more to work with, and the hands last longer, which is why the two-deck games tend to win over people who find seven-card rummy over too quickly.

How a turn works

Play goes clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer’s left. Every turn has the same three steps.

1. Draw

Take either the top card of the stock, which nobody has seen, or the top card of the discard pile, which everybody has. Taking the discard tells the table something about your hand. Taking from the stock tells them nothing.

Some games restrict the discard pile. In Rummy 500 you can dig deeper into it if you use the card at once, and in British Kalooki you usually can’t touch it until you’re ready to lay your first meld. Basic Rummy and Café Rummy keep it simple: you may always take the top discard, and you don’t have to play it straight away.

2. Meld and lay off (optional)

If you hold a valid meld, you may lay it face up in front of you. You may also lay off, which means adding cards to melds already on the table, yours or anybody else’s. If 8♣ 9♣ 10♣ is down and you hold the J♣, you can tack it on the end.

You never have to meld. Holding cards back is sometimes the better play, as the rummy tips guide explains.

3. Discard

End your turn by putting one card face up on the discard pile. Then it is the next player’s turn.

One small courtesy rule that most tables follow: if you just took the top discard, you can’t throw the same card straight back. Café Rummy doesn’t forbid it, by the way. You may even discard the card you just drew from the stock.

Melds: sets and runs

Sets (also called groups or books)

Three or four cards of the same rank. K♠ K♥ K♦ is a set. Add the K♣ and it becomes four of a kind.

With two decks, there is an extra rule almost everyone agrees on: a set uses different suits. 7♠ 7♠ 7♦ is not a set, because the two 7♠ come from different decks but are the same card. For the same reason a set tops out at four cards.

Runs (also called sequences)

Three or more cards in order, all in the same suit. 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ is a run, and so is 9♦ 10♦ J♦ Q♦ K♦. Mixed suits don’t count: 5♥ 6♠ 7♥ is nothing.

Where does the ace go?

This is the first argument at any new table. The options are:

• Ace low only. A♣ 2♣ 3♣ is fine, Q♣ K♣ A♣ is not. This is the usual Basic Rummy rule.
• Ace high or low. Both of the runs above are fine. Very common as a house rule.
• Round the corner. K♣ A♣ 2♣ is also allowed. Rare, and plenty of players consider it cheating.

Café Rummy plays ace high or low with no wrapping. A♣ 2♣ 3♣ and Q♣ K♣ A♣ both work, and K♣ A♣ 2♣ doesn’t. A run can be up to 13 cards long and holds only one ace, whether real or a joker standing in for one.

Jokers and wild cards

Classic one-deck rummy is often played with no jokers at all. Once they come in, they are wild: a joker stands for whichever card you need. 9♠ Joker J♠ is a run, the joker being the 10♠. 4♥ 4♣ Joker is a set of fours.

Tables limit jokers in different ways. Some say a meld must contain at least two natural cards. Some forbid two jokers side by side. Many let you swap a joker out of a meld if you hold the card it represents.

In Café Rummy every meld needs at least two natural cards and at least as many natural cards as jokers. So 6♦ 7♦ Joker is fine, 6♦ Joker 8♦ Joker works too (two naturals, two jokers), and 6♦ Joker Joker is out. After your first meld you can win a joker back by laying the real card in its place, but you must play that joker again in a meld before your turn ends. The full story, with examples, is in our rummy joker rules guide.

Your first meld: opening rules

In Basic Rummy, you can lay down any valid meld whenever you like. Many other rummy games, and most UK two-deck games, make you open with a minimum number of points, often 40 or 51. Until you reach it, you can’t lay anything at all, and some tables won’t let you lay off on other people’s melds either.

The point threshold changes the game. It keeps people from dumping small melds early, and it makes high cards more valuable. It also makes the first few rounds a waiting game.

Café Rummy keeps the opening light: one valid meld is enough, with no points minimum and no requirement for a joker-free run. Three 2s can open. Once you’re down, you can add to your melds and anybody else’s, in the same turn if you like. If you were brought up on 51, it takes a hand or two to get used to. We go through the different traditions in detail in the rummy opening meld.

Going out and winning the hand

A player goes out when the last card leaves their hand. How that last card is allowed to leave is another family argument.

• Melding out allowed. You can go out by laying your final cards in melds, no discard needed. Basic Rummy usually allows this.
• Final discard required. You must keep one card back and discard it to finish. Many households insist on it, and so does Café Rummy.

If you play with a compulsory discard, plan for it. Holding 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ and nothing else means you can’t go out by melding all four. You lay 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ and throw the 7♠, or lay 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ and throw the 4♠. That’s how it works in Café Rummy too.

Going rummy

Going rummy means laying your entire hand in one turn, having melded nothing before. A lot of tables reward it by doubling that hand’s score. Others give a flat bonus, and some don’t bother at all. Café Rummy currently adds no special bonus for it.

What if the stock runs out?

Usually the discard pile, except its top card, is turned over or shuffled to make a new stock, and play carries on. Some tables end the hand instead. Café Rummy shuffles the discards into a new stock, keeping the top discard face up.

How scoring works in rummy

When someone goes out, everybody else counts the cards left in their hand. The usual values in Basic Rummy are:

Card	Points
2 to 10	Face value
J, Q, K	10
Ace	1 (or 11 or 15 in some games)
Joker	Often 15, 20, 25 or 50, by house rule

In Basic Rummy the winner scores the total of everyone else’s leftover cards. In penalty-style games such as UK Kalooki it works the other way: each loser writes down what they’re holding, and you’re knocked out when your total passes a limit. Rummy 500 scores the melds you laid down minus what’s left in your hand, and the game ends when someone passes 500.

Café Rummy counts 2 to 10 at face value, J, Q and K at 10, aces at 11 and jokers at 25 for cards left in hand. The rummy scoring guide covers keeping a scoresheet and how the main variants count.

A sample turn, start to finish

Say it’s your turn and you hold, after a few rounds:

3♦ 4♦ 5♦ 9♠ 9♥ J♣ Q♣ 2♥ Joker K♠

The top discard is the 9♦.

1. Draw. The 9♦ gives you 9♠ 9♥ 9♦, a set with no joker. Take it.
2. Meld. Lay 3♦ 4♦ 5♦ and 9♠ 9♥ 9♦. You could also make J♣ Q♣ Joker with the joker as K♣, which empties your hand faster. Whether you should is a matter of taste: a joker in your hand is flexible, a joker on the table can be swapped out by an opponent.
3. Discard. Throw the K♠, your highest single card, unless you’ve seen someone collecting kings.

If you laid all three melds, you’re left with 2♥ K♠ before discarding: one discard, then a single card in hand. Next turn, if nothing better arrives, you throw that last card and the hand is yours.

Common house rules worth agreeing before you start

Most rummy arguments happen because nobody said the rule out loud. Settle these before the first deal:

• How many cards each, and how many decks.
• Jokers in or out, and whether they can be swapped back.
• Ace low, ace high or low, or round the corner.
• Is there an opening minimum, and does laying off count towards it?
• Can you lay off on other players’ melds, and from when?
• Must you discard to go out?
• What happens when the stock runs out?
• Bonus for going rummy, and how much?
• The target score, or the number of hands.

Write the answers on the scoresheet. It saves a surprising amount of grief at eleven o’clock at night.

Rummy and its relatives

The word rummy covers a whole family. Gin rummy is a two-player game where you knock rather than lay off as you go, and it plays very differently, as gin rummy vs rummy explains. Rummy 500, Kalooki, contract rummy, Indian rummy and Canasta all belong to the same tree. If you want a tour, start with our rummy variants guide. If you want to know where the whole thing came from, the history of rummy is murkier than most card games.

And if your regular game is just you and one other person, the dynamics change enough to deserve their own page: rummy for two players.

Rummy rules in Café Rummy, in short

Café Rummy plays one rulebook in every mode, whether you’re practising against the computer, playing a quick match or sitting at a private table with friends:

• Two to four players, 13 cards each, two decks plus six jokers.
• Draw from the stock or take the top discard, which you can keep without playing it.
• Sets of three or four in different suits, runs of three or more in one suit.
• Ace before the 2 or after the K, never between them.
• One valid meld opens, with no points minimum.
• After opening, add to any meld on the table and swap jokers, replaying each one the same turn.
• A joker can only be discarded as your very last card.
• Keep one card back and discard it to win.
• 45 seconds a turn.

The Café Rummy rules page has the illustrated version. The app isn’t in the stores yet, but when it lands, you’ll be able to play rummy online with friends using exactly these rules.

Where to go from here

Play a few hands with the basic rules before you add jokers and opening minimums. You learn the rules in ten minutes. The feel for when to hold and when to lay down takes longer, and nothing teaches it faster than losing a hand with three picture cards still in your fist. Next time, you’ll throw them earlier.