The winner of a hand deals the next hand.

In addition the winner of each hand is designated by drawing a lines beneath his score. If the knocker ends up with zero points of deadwood, he has gin, for which he earns a 25 point bonus.Ī running score is kept for each player.

For example, if the opponent had ended up with 6 points of deadwood, he would have earned the difference in the two hands (2 points), plus an undercut bonus of 25 points, for a total of 27 points. This is referred to as an undercut, and earns the undercutter a bonus. If, however, the opponent had more melds, and had been able to lay off more points, he may have ended up with fewer points of deadwood than the knocker. In the example above, the knocker has 8 points of deadwood, and his opponent has 32 points of deadwood. Scoring: Scoring for each hand is based on the deadwood difference between the two hands. The opponent would have one meld (the K-K-K), would be able to lay off the 10 of spades (which connect to the knocker's J-Q-K of spades, and have 32 points of deadwood (10+8+6+5+2+1). For example, a player holding the following hand may knock: Knocking: When a player will hold less than than 10 points of deadwood (cards not part of a meld) after discarding, he may knock (though he is not required to knock). If a player draws the upcard, he may not discard it during the same turn. If he passes on it as well, then the non-dealer draws the top card of the stock, and play proceeds.Įach player's turn begins by drawing a card, either the upcard (the top of the discard pile, or the top card of the stock.Įach player's turn ends by discarding one card (placed face-up on the discard pile). If the non-dealer does not want the card, he must say as much, and the dealer then has the opportunity to take the upcard. Gameplay: On the first upcard, the non-dealer must decide whether or not to take the exposed card. Object of the Game: The object of the game is to form melds (or matched sets), which are three or four cards of a single rank (5-5-5, for example), or a run of three or more cards of consecutive rank in the same suit (4-5-6 of clubs, for example). The remainder of the deck if placed face-down next to the upcard, and forms the stock. The next card, called the upcard, is placed face-up in the center of the table. Dealing: The dealer distributes the cards, one at a time, face down, first to his opponent and then to himself, until each player has ten cards.

Gin rummy rules knocking