The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (159 page)

hand in one go. In this respect they resemble shedding games

such as Crazy Eights.

Knock-out games, such as Gin. No melds are revealed until

someone ends the game by knocking, believing themselves to

have the lowest amount of deadwood.

Drift-out games, such as basic Rummy. Melds are revealed as

play progresses, and the game ends when someone runs out of

cards.

Contract games. The first meld you make in each deal must

conform to a statutory pat ern (the ‘contract’), and the contract

requirement gets tougher as further deals ensue.

Rearrangement games, such as Vatican. Melds are revealed as

play progresses and are common property, enabling anyone

to extend and rearrange their constituent cards to form

dif erent melds.

Special terms used in Rummy games

concealedSee go out.

deadwood Cards left unmelded in your hand at end of play. These

deadwood Cards left unmelded in your hand at end of play. These

always count against you, except, in some games, those that are

capable of being melded, or which can be laid of to existing melds.

Typical y, numerals count at face value and court cards 10 each.

Aces usual y count 1 in games where they form only low sequences

(A-2-3), but 15 or more if they can be used high (Q-K-A). Jokers

and other wild cards count higher stil .

discard An unwanted card thrown face up to the discard pile,

usual y at the end of the player’s turn. As verb, to throw such a

card.

discard pile The pile of discards made during play, also cal ed the

wastepile or pack. In some games they are kept squared up, in

some they are spread slightly so al can be identified. The top card

is the upcard. An invariable rule of al Rummy games is that, if you

draw just the single upcard, you may not immediately discard it (or

its twin when more than one pack is used). This would amount to

passing one’s turn, which is not al owed.

draw To take a card, usual y the top card of the stock or the upcard.

escalera A sequence meld. Spanish for ‘ladder’. Many Rummy

games were developed in Spanish-speaking countries.

face value Numerals Two to Ten have face values of 2 to 10 points

respectively. Ace is usual y 1, unless otherwise stated.

go out (or go down) To play the last card from your hand, thereby

ending the play. Whether or not the last card must be a discard

depends on the rules of the individual game. Most games impose

conditions on when you may go out. To go out by melding al your

cards in one turn, without having previously melded any, is cal ed

‘going rummy’, or ‘gin’, or ‘going out concealed’. In some games this

is the only way in which you can go out. In others it is optional,

is the only way in which you can go out. In others it is optional,

and earns a special reward.

group See set.

knock To end the game by knocking on the table. Some games

permit this provided thatyourdeadwood does not exceed acertain

amount.

lay of Add a card to an existing meld, for example a fourth King to

a set of Kings, or a card at either end of a suit sequence. In some

games you may lay of cards only to your own or partner’s melds,

in others to any meld at al . In most games you cannot lay of to

another player’s meld until you have made at least one of your

own.

meld A valid combination of matching cards which you can play

from the hand in order to make a score or to go out: either three or

more cards of the same rank (cal ed a set or a group) or three or

more cards in suit and sequence (cal ed a sequence or a run). To

meld is to set out such a combination face up on the table for

everyone to see. Strictly speaking (since the word comes from

German melden, meaning to register or declare), a combination in

the hand does not become a meld until it is actual y revealed; but

the habit of referring to undeclared combinations as melds is now

too widespread to revoke.

natural card See wild card.

pack In Canasta games, the discard pile.

rummy See go out.

sequence Three or more cards in suit and sequence. In some games,

sequence Three or more cards in suit and sequence. In some games,

Ace is low only (A-2-3), in some it is high only (Q-K-A). In some it

may be either, and if more than one pack is used it is possible to

form a 14-card sequence running A23456789TJQKA. Rarely, it may

count simultaneously high and low, permit ing a sequence to ‘turn

the corner’ (-K-A-2-); but this should not be assumed permissible

unless specifical y stated.

set or groupThree or more cards of the same rank.

stock The stock of undealt cards placed face down at start of play.

turnthe corner See sequence

upcard The most recent discard, lying uppermost on the discard

pile.

wild card One that may be used to represent any natural card.

Jokers

are usual y wild, so, for example, a sequence may consist

of 3-4-

-6, and a set of 3- 3-

. In many games, Deuces

(Twos) are also wild. Games involving wild cards usual y permit

you to steal a wild card from any meld on the table provided that

you can replace it from your own hand with the natural card it

represents, though certain other conditions may also at ach to this

procedure.

Rummy (Basic Rummy)

2-7p, 52 or 104c

The archetypal Rummy dates back to the early 1900s, when it was

described under such names as Coon Can, Khun Khan, Colonel. The

fol owing rules are typical, but subject to local variations due to the

fact that players tend to bring back into it features they have

fact that players tend to bring back into it features they have

encountered in other games of the same type.

Preliminaries Two or three players use a single pack, seven use a

double pack, other numbers may use either. It is usual to add two

or more Jokers per pack. Unless otherwise specified, the number of

cards dealt should be as fol ows:

players: 2 3

4 5 6 or:4-7

cards:

52 52

52 52 52 104 (+ Jokers)

deal each: 10 7 or 10 7 7 6 10

Thorough shuf ling is essential before each deal. Decide first

dealer by any agreed means. The turn to deal and play passes

always to the left. Stack the undealt cards face down and turn the

next as an upcard. (Variant: No upcard until the first discard.)

Object To go out first by get ing rid of al your cards in melds, with

or without a final discard.

Melds Valid melds are sets and suit-sequences of three or more

cards. The lowest sequence is A-2-3 and the highest ends J-Q-K.

This was the original rule. Many now count Ace high or low but not both, thus