Rummy
Melds and going out, for two to six players.
At a glance
A standard 52 cards. Ten each at two players, seven at three or four, six above that.
Form sets of the same rank and runs of the same suit, lay them down, and be first to get rid of your hand.
Two conventions, and tables genuinely differ. Either whoever goes out takes the value of everyone else's remaining cards, or every player counts their own melds and subtracts what is left in hand — which can put a score below zero.
Face cards are worth ten, aces one or eleven by agreement, and everything else its number.
Hands are dealt until somebody crosses the target — 500 by default. Highest score wins.
How Rummy scoring works
The hand ends when somebody goes out. Everybody else counts the cards left in their hand, and those count against them: number cards at face value, face cards at 10, aces at 1.
Play continues until a player crosses the agreed target — commonly 100 or 500 — and the lowest score wins. Like Hearts, the scoreboard climbs and you want to be at the bottom of it.
The player who goes out scores nothing for that hand, which is the whole point of going out.
Melds: sets and runs
Cards leave your hand in melds: a set of three or four of the same rank, or a run of three or more consecutive cards in one suit. On your turn you draw one card and discard one, laying down melds as you make them.
Most tables also allow laying off — adding a card to a meld already on the table, including someone else's. It is the fastest way to empty a hand late in a round.
Going out, and going out concealed
Going out means playing the last card in your hand. Many tables reward going out concealed — melding your entire hand in one turn, having laid nothing down beforehand — by doubling everyone else's penalty for that round.
It is worth agreeing before you start whether a final discard is required to go out. Both versions are played and it decides close hands.
Common disputes, settled
Is an ace high or low? Low by default — A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A usually is not, unless your table says otherwise. Agree first.
Can I pick up the whole discard pile? Not in basic Rummy; that is Gin and its relatives. Here you take one card, from the deck or the top of the discards.
What if the deck runs out? Shuffle the discard pile and keep going.
Does the winner score anything? Not in this scoring. They take nothing while everyone else takes what they were holding.
Keeping score without the arithmetic
Rummy's scoring is quick per hand and easy to lose track of across an evening, especially with a house rule or two attached. Casetta Cards keeps the running totals, knows which direction the game is won in, and remembers every hand — for as many rounds as you feel like playing. Free, in a browser.
Variations
All off unless you turn them on when starting a game.
Everyone scores their melds — Each player counts what they melded and subtracts what is left in their hand, so a bad hand can score below zero. Known as 500 Rum.
250 points — Half an hour or so at a steady table.
500 points — The traditional target, and the one the game is often named after.