How to play Gin Rummy

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Bicycle suggests two decks so one player can shuffle while the other deals.
• Exactly two players.
• A score pad with two columns and a spot to tick each hand won; those ticks become bonus points at the end.
• Roughly 30 minutes for a game to 100.

Cards rank king high down to ace low. For counting deadwood, face cards are 10, aces 1, and number cards their face value. The ace sits below the 2, so A-2-3 is a run and Q-K-A is not.

Set up the game

1. Draw for the deal. Spread the deck and each take a card. Under Bicycle, high card chooses seats and deals first. After that, the winner of each hand deals the next.
2. Deal ten cards each, one at a time.
3. Start the piles. Put the rest face down as the stock and turn the top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.
4. Sort your hand into possible melds. Most players fan cards with runs together and pairs side by side.

Playing Gin Rummy

1. The opening upcard. The non-dealer may take the face-up card (and discard another). If they pass, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock and play continues normally.
2. Each turn after that: draw one card from the top of the stock or the top of the discard pile, then discard one card face up. You always end your turn holding ten. You may not discard the card you just took from the discard pile.
3. Build melds. A meld is a set of three or four cards of the same rank, or a run of three or more in one suit. Each card can belong to only one meld at a time.
4. Knock. When the unmatched cards in your hand (your deadwood) total 10 or less, you may knock on your turn: discard face down, then spread your hand as melds and deadwood. Knocking is never compulsory.
5. Gin. If all ten cards are in melds after your discard, you have gin, the best possible finish.
6. The opponent lays off. The other player spreads their own melds. If the knocker did not go gin, the opponent may also add unmatched cards onto the knocker's melds, reducing their own deadwood. Nothing can be laid off against gin, and the knocker never lays off.
7. Compare and score (see the worked example below). The game continues with new hands until someone reaches 100.

Beginner strategy that actually helps

• Knock early when you can. In the first few turns, a knock with 6 to 10 points usually wins, because your opponent hasn't organised their hand yet. Waiting for gin gives them time to catch up.
• Get rid of high deadwood first. Kings and queens that aren't part of a meld cost 10 each if your opponent knocks. Throw them before middling cards.
• Read the discard pile. Every card your opponent picks up from the discards tells you what they want. Avoid feeding them that rank or suit. Every card they throw tells you what they don't need.
• Keep combinations that can grow two ways. 7♥ 8♥ with 8♣ can become a run or a set. A pair of kings can only become a set of kings.
• Be careful about knocking with high deadwood late. By mid-hand your opponent may have low deadwood and cards that lay off on your melds. Knocking with 9 against a well-built hand is how undercuts happen.
• Hold safe discards. A card of a rank your opponent has already discarded is unlikely to help them. Keep one or two such cards for tight moments.

Common mistakes and rule disputes

• Using one card in two melds. With 7♦ 7♠ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥, the 7♥ goes in the set or the run, not both.
• Laying off against gin. Not allowed. Gin means the opponent counts all their unmatched cards.
• Laying off onto deadwood. You can only extend the knocker's melds, never their unmatched cards.
• The knocker laying off. Only the opponent lays off; the knocker's hand is final once spread.
• "A knock wins the hand." Not automatically. If the opponent's deadwood after layoffs is equal or lower, they undercut and score.
• Taking the discard and throwing it back. Bicycle forbids discarding the same card on that turn. (Gin Rummy Association tournament rules allow it in limited cases, per Pagat; home games usually follow Bicycle.)
• Stock running low. Bicycle doesn't cover it. Pagat's standard: if only two stock cards remain and the player who drew the third-last card discards without knocking, the hand is cancelled and the same dealer deals again.

Popular variants and house rules

• Bigger bonuses: many players and apps use 25 for gin and 25 (or 20) for an undercut, sometimes with a 25-point box bonus. Pagat lists these alongside the 20/10 version.
• Oklahoma Gin: the first upcard sets the knock limit (a 7 means you need 7 or less), and a spade upcard doubles that hand's score. Usually played to 150.
• Hollywood Gin: three games scored at once on one pad, a way to make a session longer.
• Shutout doubles everything: some groups double the winner's whole score, rather than adding 100, if the loser scored nothing.
• Loser deals: some books have the loser of each hand deal the next.

Teaching it in 5 minutes

1. "You each get ten cards. Every turn, draw one, from the deck or the discard pile, and throw one away."
2. "You're trying to sort your cards into groups: three or four of the same number, or three or more in a row in one suit."
3. "Cards that don't fit any group are deadwood. Pictures count 10, aces 1."
4. "When your deadwood adds up to 10 or less, you can knock and end the hand. Everything in groups and no deadwood is gin."
5. "When someone knocks, the other player can stick loose cards onto the knocker's groups to lower their own count."
6. "Lower deadwood wins the difference. But if the knocker isn't lower, the other player gets a 10-point bonus."
7. "Gin is worth 20 plus whatever the other person is stuck with. First to 100."

Ages and group size

Gin is strictly two players. With three, Pagat describes the dealer sitting out each hand while the other two play, with the loser of each hand dealing next. Four can play as two partnerships of two separate games. Bicycle lists 8+; in practice children who are comfortable adding up a handful of numbers quickly can play by 9 or 10, and it is a good game for one adult and one child because the luck keeps it close.

Frequently asked questions

Check yourself

Sources and edition notes

Bicycle two-player Gin Rummy: ten-card deal, opening upcard procedure, no immediate re-discard, ace low, knock at 10 or less, opponent's layoffs except against gin, knocker wins the difference, undercut scores 10 plus the difference (including on a tie), gin scores 20 plus opponent's deadwood, game to 100 with a 100-point game bonus, 20 per hand won and a 100-point shutout bonus. The laying-off details (not onto deadwood, knocker never lays off), the stock-exhaustion rule and the variants come from Pagat and are labelled.

Sources checked October 2026. This records a document check, not a claim of hands-on testing.

• Bicycle: Gin Rummy
• Pagat: Gin Rummy, layoffs, variations and Oklahoma Gin

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