The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (163 page)

Preliminaries Deal two players ten cards each, in ones, from a 52-

card pack. Turn the next to start the wastepile, and stack the rest

face down.

Object To be the first to knock by laying out al or most of one’s

cards in melds.

Melds A meld is three or four cards of the same rank, or three or

more cards in suit and sequence (Ace low only). A player may

knock only if the total face value of unmelded cards left in hand is

10 or less, counting Ace 1, numerals face value, courts 10 each. A

‘gin’ hand is one in which al ten cards are melded, and scores

extra.

Play To start, non-dealer may take the upcard or pass. A pass gives

dealer the same option. If both pass, non-dealer must take the top

card of stock into hand and make one discard card face up to the

wastepile. Each in turn thereafter draws the top card of either the

stock or the wastepile and makes one discard to the wastepile. If

you take the upcard, you may not discard it in the same turn.

In tournament play the wastepile must be kept squared up and neither player

may check through the earlier discards, but in home games this rule may be

waived by agreement. However, you are always allowed to spread the stock in

order to count how many are left.

Knocking Keep playing til either player knocks, or only two cards

remain in stock. In the lat er case the game is a no-score draw and

the deal passes. You knock by making a final discard face down to

the wastepile and spreading your other ten cards face up, separated

into melds and deadwood. Your opponent then makes whatever

melds he can, lays of any cards that match the knocker’s melds –

unless you went out ‘gin’, when this is not permit ed – and reveals

unless you went out ‘gin’, when this is not permit ed – and reveals

his deadwood.

The knocker normal y scores the dif erence between the values of

both players’ deadwood, plus a bonus of 25 if he went gin.

However, if he didn’t go gin, and if his deadwood equals or exceeds

that of his opponent, then the lat er scores the dif erence between

the two, plus a bonus of 25 for ‘undercut’.

Game The deal alternates and scores are kept cumulatively. The

winner is the first to reach or exceed a total of 100. Both players

then add 25 for each hand they won, and the winner adds a further

100 for the game. The final pay-of is the dif erence between these

end totals, and is doubled if the loser failed to win a single hand.

Variant score Many players score 20 instead of 25 for gin, undercut,

and each deal won by the overal winner.

Comment Played wel , Gin is a speedy game. Players often knock

before half the stock has gone, sometimes after only half a dozen

draws. This gradual y increases the importance of discarding high

unmatched cards rather than low ones in order to reduce

deadwood.

Three-hand Gin (Jersey Gin)

Highest cut deals, next highest sits at his left. Play as at two-hand

Gin, with the fol owing dif erences.

1. Eldest must take the first upcard or pass; if he passes, next in

turn must take it or pass; if he also passes, eldest draws from

stock and play begins.

2. At each turn a player may take either of the two top cards of

2. At each turn a player may take either of the two top cards of

the discard pile, unless one of them was taken by the previous

player, when he may only take the upcard.

3. The winner scores the dif erence between his own hand and

that of each opponent.

4. There is no bonus for undercut; instead, the knocker subtracts

20 (or 25, by agreement) from his score.

5. Opponents may lay of cards only against the knocker’s

original melds – not against each other’s, and not against a

card already laid of by the other.

6. The bonus for gin is 50.

7. If no one has melded when only three cards remain in stock,

the game is a no-score draw.

8. Game is 200 up.

There are also versions by which only two players are active at a

time, but it seems pointless for three players to play a two-hand

game. Even more pointless are forms of partnership Gin for any

even number of players whereby al play is two-handed but scores

are lumped together in teams.

Oklahoma Gin

As two-hand, but the maximum deadwood permit ed to the

knocker is not necessarily 10 but that of the face value of the initial

upcard. For instance, if the upcard is a Seven you may not knock

with more than seven. Furthermore, if it is an Ace, you must go gin

to knock.

In The Penguin Book of Card Games (1979) I mistakenly

reported that the maximum deadwood al owed in Oklahoma Gin

was that of the current upcard. You may like to try this as a variant.

It means you can stop your opponent from going out by discarding

a card lower than you believe his deadwood to be.

Hol ywood Gin

In ef ect, a method of playing several games simultaneously. Rule

up as many double columns as there are deals to be played, and

head each pair with the respective initials of the two players. The

score for the first deal is entered only in the winner’s half of the

first double column. That in the second deal is entered at the top of

the winner’s half of the second column and added to the same

player’s score in the first. Similarly, each new deal is entered at the

top of the next column and accumulated to the score in any

previous column that stil remains open. When either player

reaches a total of 100 in any column, the appropriate bonuses are

added and that double column is ruled of , indicating a won game

for that player.

Doubling Gin (Open Gin)

This incorporates the doubling principle of Backgammon and other

games. Before drawing, a player may of er to double. If the

opponent accepts, play proceeds as usual but the winner’s score for

that hand is doubled, or redoubled if already doubled, and so on. If

the double is refused, it doesn’t take ef ect, but the doubler must

knock immediately. There are variations on this theme.

Knock Rummy (Poker Rum)

(2-5p, 52c) Multi-player Gin precursor. Deal ten each to two, or

seven each to three, four, or five players. No one melds til

someone who thinks they have suf iciently low deadwood goes out

by drawing a card in turn, knocking on the table, and discarding.

Everyone then displays their hands, separated into melds and

deadwood. Whoever has the lowest deadwood scores or is paid the

dif erence between their count and that of everyone else. Melding

every card scores a bonus of 25. A winning player who undercuts

the knocker wins a bonus of 10 from the knocker. The game ends

without score if the stock gets reduced to a number of cards equal

to the number of players.

Tonk or Tunk

(2-6p,4-5best, 52c)Highly variable gambling gamewithone

characteristic feature, namely: If, after the initial deal of five cards

(sometimes seven), anyone has a hand worth 49 or more, or 15 or

less (counting Ace 1, numerals face value, courts 10 each), they may

immediately ‘tonk’ (knock), thereby winning without play, and

receiving a double stake from each opponent. If two players tonk, it

is a no-score draw and there is a new deal. No one may tonk once

play has begun. Each in turn may draw from stock or discards, may

meld or lay of , and must discard unless they have gone out. Play

ceases when someone knocks or plays their last card, or the stock

runs out. The player with the lowest deadwood wins a single stake

from any higher hand. If anyone knocks and is equal ed or beaten,

they pay double to the winner. Subject to many incidental

variations (see Pagat website).

Elimination Rummy (Java Rummy, Freeze-out)

Deuces are wild, as are any Jokers that may be added. Deal seven

each. Each in turn draws and discards without melding. This

continues until one player, without drawing, goes out by melding

al seven cards, or six cards provided that the seventh does not

count more than five. Jokers count 25 against, Aces 15, courts 10,

others at face value. Going out by melding al seven entitles you to

deduct 25 from your current penalty total. Upon reaching 100

penalties, a player drops out and pays a single stake to the pool.

The pool eventual y goes to the last player left in, or to the player

with the lowest score if more than one reach 100 simultaneously.

Kings and Queens

Two-pack basic Rummy with Deuces wild. A player goes out by

melding al seven cards in sequences and/or sets of three or more,

or by melding six cards provided that the seventh counts not more

than seven. Play then ceases, and, if that player has a card

unmelded, opponents may lay of their own unmeldable cards of

the same rank against it to increase his deadwood. The game is so

cal ed because any King forming part of a valid meld reduces a

player’s penalty score by 5 points, and any Queen similarly by 3

points. Players drop out when they reach 100 penalty points, the

last two in sharing the pool between them in proportions of 3:1.

Alternatively, the game ends when one reaches 100, and the winner

is the player with lowest count (which may be negative).

Mississippi Rummy

(3-8p, 104c, deal ten each) A hard- and soft-score game that limits

the amount any player can lose. Assuming a limit of 100p,

everyone places that amount on the table to start with. Each player

antes 10p before each deal. After the deal, but before play begins,

(1) anyone dissatisfied with their hand may lay it face down and

decline to play; and (2) anyone dealt 10 of a suit (‘Mississippi’) or a

rummy hand (al cards meldable) shows it, receives 20p from each

opponent, adds 20p to the pot, and retires from the play of that

hand.

A player may knock on a count of 5 or less. A knocker who goes

rummy receives 10p from each other active player and pays 10p to

the pot. Otherwise, unless undercut, the knocker receives 5p from

each opponent and pays 5p to the pot. If undercut, the knocker

pays 20p to anyone who undercut and 5p to each active opponent,

and the under-cut er adds 10p to the pot.

A player who goes rummy or who goes out without drawing may

deduct 10 points from their penalty score, likewise 20 points for a

Mississippi.

Upon reaching 100 penalty points a player is eliminated, but

may buy in again for 10p and a penalty score equal to that of the

second-highest player.

Three Thirteen

(2–4p, 52c) There are 11 deals. The first is of three cards, and

Threes are wild; the second of four cards, with Fours wild; and so

on, up to a final deal of eleven cards with Kings wild. At each turn

draw the top card of stock or the upcard and make one discard.

Play ceases when one player goes out by melding al their cards

face up, with or without making a final discard. Other players may

then meld as many of their cards as possible, but not lay cards of to

then meld as many of their cards as possible, but not lay cards of to

other players’ melds, and score penalty points equivalent to the

value of their deadwood. The player with fewest penalty points

after 11 deals wins. (From Leah Mathis, via the Pagat website.

Related games include Nickel Nickel, the French-Canadian game of

Dime, and the Sri Lankan game of Proter.)

Chin-Chon

Spanish Rummy, played by up to three players with 40 cards, or up

to five with 48 cards. If 48, cards run A23456789 Sota Cabal o Rey,

and courts count 10 each; if 40, cards run A234567SCR, and courts

count respectively 8, 9, 10. Deal seven each and play as at Gin. A

player may knock with deadwood of 5 or less, and whoever has

least deadwood deducts 10 from his (penalty) score. Melding one’s

entire hand is Chin-Chon, and makes everyone else lose double.

Players drop out upon reaching 100 penalty points.

Thirty-One Rum (Scat)

2-9 players, 52 cards

We were playing three-penny-scat, the dullest card game ever invented, but it was too hot to think about anything more complicated.

Stephen King, The Body (Dif erent Seasons)

This popular American game is cal ed Thirty-One (but see separate

entry for this title), or Scat (but it bears no relation to Skat), or Ride

the Bus (related to Stop the Bus – see Bastard Brag). It amounts, in

fact, to Thirty-One played in the manner of Rummy instead of with

a spare hand, for which reason I have added ‘Rum’ to the title. The