Rummy rules and scoring

• Melds
• A turn
• Scoring
• Rummy 500
• Score sheet

Draw and discard, building melds — runs and sets — and laying them on the table. The first player to get rid of every card goes out, and scores the cards everyone else is still holding. Basic Rummy is below; what changes for Rummy 500 is at the end.

Melds

• A run is three or more cards in sequence, all one suit: 5♥ 6♥ 7♥
• A set is three or four cards of the same rank: 8♠ 8♦ 8♣
• Aces are low in standard play: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A isn't. Some tables play aces high instead.

Dealing and taking a turn

• Deal 10 cards each with two players, 7 each with three or four, 6 each with five or six. Turn the next card up to start the discard pile; the rest is the stock.
• Draw one card — from the stock or the top of the discard pile.
• Meld if you like. Standard rules allow one meld per turn; many tables allow as many as you want.
• Lay off any number of cards onto melds already on the table, yours or anyone else's.
• Discard one card to end your turn. You can't discard the card you just took from the discard pile.
• If the stock runs out, turn the discard pile over without shuffling to make a new stock.

Scoring a hand

Card left in a loser's hand	Points
Face cards	10
Number cards	face value
Aces15 at tables that play aces high.	1

The player who goes out scores the total of every card left in the other players' hands — melded or not. Play to an agreed target, or a set number of deals.

• Going rummy: going out in a single turn, having melded or laid off nothing before, doubles the hand's score (or earns a 10-point bonus at some tables).
• Penalty scoring: some tables flip it — each loser scores their own leftovers as penalty points, and the lowest total wins when someone reaches 100.
• Block Rummy: the discard pile is never reused. If the stock runs out, the hand ends and everyone counts their cards.

Rummy 500 — what changes

• Use 52 cards plus two jokers; five or more players shuffle two decks together. Deal 13 each with two players, 7 each otherwise.
• You may take a card from deeper in the discard pile — but you must meld it immediately and take every card above it too.
• Everyone scores their own melds. A card you lay off on someone else's meld goes in front of you and counts for you.
• Card values: 2–10 face value, face cards 10, aces and jokers 15 — except an ace used low in A-2-3, which is 1. Jokers are wild; say which card a joker stands for when you meld it.
• If a discard could have been melded, any other player may call “Rummy!”, take the pile down to that card, and meld it.
• At the end of a hand, score your melded cards minus the cards still in your hand — a bad hand can go negative. First to 500 wins.