At GameColony.com, gin rummy is played by two players with a standard 52-card pack. The players can choose the maximum points for a game (from 50 to 300). In 100 points game, the game is won by the 1-st player who reaches 100 points which may take several deals.
Cards rank A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K where ace ‘A’ costs 1 point, subsequent cards cost their nominal value up to 10, however Jack, Queen, King cost also 10 points each.
The object of the game is to collect sets of 3 or more cards that ‘go together’, either being of the same rank, like all sevens, or forming a sequence of the same suit – like 7,8,9 of hearts. Such matching collections of cards are called melds.
At the end, whatever cards are left in player’s hand that are NOT in melds, are called deadwood. Deadwood incurs penalties equivalent to the sum of their values. In the course of the game, players would try to discard unwanted cards and collect cards that would form melds.
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Example In the example on the left, the player's own cards are on the bottom (they are open) & the opponent's cards are on top (closed). The up card (10 of Diamonds) is visible to both players. The deck has 30 cards left in it (indicated by number 30). It is the turn of the 'bottom' player whose cards are visible to make a discard (there are 11 cards in hand). The player is about to make a discard by dragging one of the cards from hand to cover the up card (10 of Diamonds). The player whose cards are visible has 1 meld in hand (3 Kings). The rest of the hand is deadwood. The current value of the deadwood in points (before the discard) is: 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 8 + 9 = 38 points. |
Starting the game
In the online game of gin rummy, ten cards each are dealt to 2 players. The 21-st card is opened face up (upcard) and put next to the deck. At each turn you draw a card by dragging it from the deck or from upcard. When you discard a card, you place it on top of the current upcard so the newly discarded card becomes an upcard.
Only at the start of the game the non-dealer would consider either exchanging one of his cards with an upcard or passing the opportunity. The rules of the game do not allow yet any drawing from deck. In case of passing, the dealer would consider exchanging with the upcard or passing it. Again, no drawing from deck is yet allowed.
If both of gin rummy online players refuse the very first upcard, the non-dealer must start a game by drawing the top card from the deck, add it to his hand and discard ANY card face up on top of the original upcard to continue the waste pile.
Thereafter, each player in turn must draw and add to his hand either the unknown top card from the deck OR the known upcard on the very top of the waste pile. In either case, the online player completes his turn by discarding one card face up to the waste pile. It is not permitted to draw the upcard & discard it on the same turn.
The melds that the player is building may consist of
- either 3 or 4 cards of the same rank
- sequence of 3 or more cards in the same suit (Ace & King are not considered consecutive, but Ace and 2 are ).
A hand consisting entirely of melds with no deadwood is described as gin and carries a bonus. The online player, however, does not have to wait for gin but may end up a game as soon as the total value of his unmatched deadwood is 10 or less. (This is called maximum knocking value. It is set at 10 for pure gin rummy.
During online play melds are not revealed – they are kept secretly in hand.
Oklahoma Variation
While in regular Gin the knocking value is always 10, for the optional Oklahoma
variation, that GameColony.com supports, the maximum knocking value can be lower than 10
The knocking value is determined by the value of the initial upcard. For example, such
knocking value can be 2 if the initial upcard is 2. Initial Ace as an upcard, however, is
a special case in Oklahoma -- the knocking can happen only with a Gin hand (0 points).
Oklahoma variation is sometimes played with a rarely used optional double-spades rule.
This rule, however, is present in amateur games only as it diminishes the level of total
required skill. Standard Oklahoma without double-spade rule is implemented at
GameColony.com
Knocking, Ginning and Laying-off
When an online player is satisfied with low value of his deadwood, he/she ends the game by ‘theoretically’ knocking on the table AFTER he/she has drawn an 11-th card and BEFORE discarding the last card [knock button]. The final discarded card is placed face up on the closed stock. The knocker then will see his/her cards on the table face up, arranged in melds. The opponent, then, does the same, but has the privilege of ‘laying off’ any cards of his own deadwood which may be matched with any of the knocker’s melds in order to reduce the penalty value of his deadwood. This privilege does not apply if the knocker has a gin hand with no deadwood. When both players' cards are shown, the opponent of the knocker can lay-off or attach his/her own deadwood cards to opponent's melds by dragging the cards towards opponent's ones. If a player has a gin hand, still the same 'Knock' button has to be pressed and the extra 11-th card has to be discarded. The system will determine automatically whether it was a gin hand or not.
If the knocker has the lower count of deadwood, he/she scores the the difference between their values of deadwood. For gin, the knocker adds a 25 point bonus.
If the knocker has higher or equal value of deadwood, the knocker receives a 25 point penalty for undercut plus any difference in deadwood values.
The 2 last cards of the deck may not be taken. Both players have action on the 50th card -- they can use it in their hand or turn it over on the discard pile and knock. A player who takes the 50th card can either knock (with this card or otherwise) or let the opponent do the same. If nobody uses the 50th card for knocking, the hand ends with a draw.
The score is kept cumulatively for each player online. The winner adds his score for the hand to his previous total in order to make clear when 100 has been reached or exceeded. At GameColony.com 100 total points is a default, but players can choose 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, 300
The game ends as the player reaches the agreed upon number of points.
Gin Rummy History
Online Gin rummy was launched at GameColony.com September, 2000.
As a game, Gin first appeared in early 1900s. Some credit for the game is given to Elwood Baker (also a Bridge tutor) who later achieved much posthumous fame as a victim of an unexplained murder case (could it have been an irate card parter?). Only in 1930s the game of gin firmly appeared in popular American culture as gin became a game of popular Broadway and Hollywood stars and was featured in multiple movies.
The popularity of gin is probably due to the fact that the game is very easy to learn and it is a fairly fast-paced game as well. The earliest form of the game (rummy) can be also traced back to the mid-19-th century Mexican game of Conquian. Conquian was a simpler win-or-lose game played for a fixed stake. The best thing that Elwood Baker invented to make gin what it is now, is to refine the scoring system, making it much more interesting to play for money.
Gin Rummy Strategy
In online gin rummy you observe what the opponent is discarding and which of your discarded cards he is drawing. All discarded cards have to be also memorized. Based on the above and own hand cards, an inference is made as to the structure of opponent’s hand on the assumption that opponent is trying to make melds as best as he/she can.
It is unadvisable to go all out for gin hand online. The bonus of 25 is not sufficient to compensate for the times when you should have knocked.
Typical game ends at half-deck to 2/3 of deck, so knockers should not hesitate to do so earlier than that.
It is generally better to draw a deck card than an upcard because less of your hand will be known to your online opponent. Also, if you take upcard -–you are taking cards of no use to your online opponent, but drawing from deck you may be preventing him/her going for a gin hand.
The best game exception to the above rule is when you need the upcard to convert 2 matching cards into a meld of 3 or more thus eliminating 3 pieces of deadwood including the upcard. It is especially good if it enables you to knock immediately.
When you suspect an imminent knocking from your online opponent (far into the deck > 2/3) it may be worth taking a low upcard and throw any high-value deadwood.
It is good to retain high-ranking pairs and 2-card sequences acquired early in the online game in the hope that opponent will discard a matching 3-d. Thus, 3 high-ranking pieces can be potentially eliminated. Conversely, it is a good idea to delay discarding high-ranking non-paired unmatched deadwood until later in the online game to prevent the opponent from creating high-ranking melds.
In arranging your melds after knocking, prefer to attach a card to a set of 4 rather than a sequence if it could equally well go with either. This way, you prevent your online opponent from laying off his/her deadwood against it, attaching to your meld.
Before reaching half-deck, you can retain the high-value potential unmelded combinations (such as Ten plus Queen of Hearts waiting/hoping for in-the-middle Jack of Hearts). However, after reaching half-deck with unfulfilled hopes, it is advisable to discard these cards. Such discarding should be started such that it would not give your online opponent higher chances to form melds and knock in the game.
- If there are unmatched high-value cards in the beginning (with low probability to create melds), it’s not good to discard them before reaching half-deck because they may be of value to your online opponent. For example, discarding a Queen (10 points) if opponent takes it will potentially organize your online opponent’s meld of 3 Queens – 30 points with 20 points difference. So such high unmatched cards should be retained before half-deck as ‘stoppers’ – to stop opponent. If, however, opponent starts discarding cards that would have potentially created melds with your unmatched high-value cards, it may be safe to discard such high unmatched cards before half-deck – not in the very beginning. Continuing the example with one unmatched Queen of Hearts at the beginning of the game…if we see that the opponent discards one of his Queens, it may be safe to discard ours in the beginning. There may be a danger in such discarding, however, for example if opponent discarded the Queen of Spades, and we assume that we can safely discard our lonely Queen of Hearts because he cannot get 3 or more Queens, he may be able to take our Queen of Hearts to use in a meld with King of Hearts & Jack of Hearts – same 30 points gain.
- Early in the game it is advisable to discard a card ranking one or two away (better one away) and in a different suit to the one previously discarded by opponent. Example: opponent discards 9 of Clubs. It is best to discard one of {10 of Diamonds, 8 or 10 of Hearts, 8 or 10 of Spades, etc.}. If no such card is held, next best bet is to discard a card of rank equal to one discarded by opponent
- Seven is usually the most valuable card in the deck as far as its ability to form melds – it can extend melds better than any other card. Therefore, one should be careful discarding it too early in the online game since it can help the opponent