After the deal, all players receive time to organize their cards. (Aspects of the game, described later in this document, hint at the methods by which you may want to organize your cards. The person on the dealer�s left goes first, continuing clockwise.)
1.A player may start his or her turn by drawing a card from the top of the pile/deck or picking up discards, going as far back into the discard pile as he or she wants. If a player goes back to a certain card, he must immediately use that card in a meld. (see �The Melds� below). Laying off this card does not count as a meld for this purpose. However, if you can lay off other cards you picked up from the discard pile simultaneously, feel free to do so.
2. The player may meld any or all of the cards in his or her had, as appropriate. You may play multiple unreleated melds in the same turn if you can. If you hold a meld, you don't necessarily have to lay it down, but you generally should (See the strategy section for further details on this decision.
3. A player must always end his turn by discarding a card (of his or her choice).
Calling �Rummy�: If a player discards a card that may be laid off on other cards, the first player to notice it calls �Rummy� and plays the card for his benefit. A card counts a discard once a player takes his hand off it. (This rule does not apply if no player notices it until the next player discards.) Also, the next player still takes his normal turn if this happens, even if he or she is the one who picked up the discard. A player who picks up from the discard pile can indeed use the card in a meld or lay it off along with the meld he is forming from the discard pile.
If a player has no cards in hand (that is, there's nothing he or she can discard), play continues as usual. On his next turn, he draws a card. If it is playable, he must play it. If it is not playable, he discards it face down and the hand is over. The hand is always over when a players discards his last card. A player cannot discard his last card if it is playable as a lay-off on any melds already on the table. Other players are allowed to check the final discard. (so you might as well discard it face up, although some players make a habit of discarding their final card face-down. The hand would also be over when the draw pile is exhausted and the next player does not wish to pick up from the discard pile.
Each card has a certain scoring value.
2�s through 9�s- 5 points
10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings- 10 points
Aces- 15 points
(As such, there are are a total of 380 points in the deck.)
Exception: An ace melded with the 2 and 3 of the same suit as part of a sequence meld (see �The Melds� below) scores 5 points instead of 15. An ace laid off on a two is also worth only five points.
To score a hand, after it is over, count up the value of all of the cards you have played to the table (your melds, layoff cards you�ve played on your melds and layoff cards you�ve played on other people�s melds) and subtract the point value of all of the cards you have left in your hand. (Aces left in your hand always count as 15 points against you.)
If you end up with a negative number after doing this, you receive a negative score- not 0 points. If a negative score in one hand would give you a negative score for the entire game, you would still have a negative score- not 0.
Remember, first player to 500 points wins. If two or more players reach 500 or over on the same round, the player who is the highest amount over 500 wins the game. If there are any ties for furthest over 500, an additional hand is played. (This could involve all players, or just the ones that were tied - this matters - if runners-up are involved in the bonus hand, they might be able to catch up. In all other respects, bonus hands are played according to normal rules. Decide who would make the bonus hand before play starts.)
Note: It would be very straightforward to play to a different amount of points; this may be useful, for among other things, making the game shorter or longer.
A meld is a combination of cards from your hand which you place face up on the table, where it stays until the end of a hand. There are two types of combination which can be melded:
As well as melding complete combinations, players are allowed to meld cards which extend combinations which are already on the table, even if they were not the person to play the original meld. This is called laying off. All melds and all previous layoff cards must be kept visible so other players can see layoff opportunities. The fourth card of the same rank can be added to a group of three. (Lay down the fourth Jack if 3 jacks are on the table, for example). Alternately, extra consecutive cards of the same suit can be added to a sequence at either end. For example, if 5-6-7 of Diamonds is already on the table, any player on their turn can add the 4 of Diamonds and/or the 8 of Diamonds. You may lay off of cards that are layoff cards. A player may lay off on his own meld.
Example:
6-7-8 Diamonds is on the table. The 9 of Diamonds has previously
been laid off on the 8. You may lay off the 10 on the 9.
Sometimes, when laying off a card, there is more than one meld it could be attached to. In this case the player laying off must choose which meld to extend. For example, if there is the sequence 7-8-9 of Diamonds and the group 10 of Clubs-10 of Hearts-10 of Spades on the board, and you have a 10 of Diamonds in your hand, you can choose whether to add your 10 to the sequence or the group, but once it is played, it cannot be moved. If something like this happens, you must state whether you are attaching the card to the sequence or the group. This matters. In our example, if the 10 was attached to the 9 of Diamonds, the Jack of DIamonds could be further attached to the 10. If attached to the other 3 tens, then the Jack could not be used in this manner.