Gin Rummy

Elwood T. Baker created Gin Rummy in 1909. This is a simple two-player card game. This game is faster than standard rummy although not as spontaneous as knock rummy. You play this game on standard 52-card deck. Aces are low. Ranking starts from Ace and proceeds as 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack, Queen, and King.

Initially each player receives ten cards and the remaining cards are in a middle stack. You organize received cards into melds or possible sequences. You take cards alternatively from the middle stack or from the discard pile.

You receive points at end of each hand, which is knocking or gin. The game ends if a player reaches 100 points. He receives an additional 100 bonus points. Each player receives 25 points for every hand won. Tally points and decide the winner.

The scoring system of Gin Rummy in the United States is 20/25 system. Traditional system of scoring was 10/20 system. Under this system, knocking player gets 20 points plus the deadwood count of the defending player if he goes gin.

If the knocking player does not go gin with the defending player having an equal or lower count of deadwood, the defending player scores ten points plus the difference by which his deadwood count was lower.

If the case is that the knocking player had not gin and is not undercut either, the score is according to the deadwood count margin. The 20/25 system also works similarly except that the upper limit is 25 and not 20 and the lower margin is 20 and not 10.