Rummy is the foundation of a huge family of games, and one of the easiest good games to learn. On your turn you draw a card, try to collect matching groups, and throw one away. If you have ever played Gin Rummy or Canasta, this is the plain version underneath them both. A round takes about 10 minutes.

What You Need

Players: 2-6. Three or four is the sweet spot.
Deck: One standard 52-card deck. Aces are low.
Extras: Pen and paper for scoring.

Key Terms

Meld: Any valid group of cards you can lay face up on the table.
Set: Three or four cards of the same rank, like 7♣ 7♦ 7♥.
Run: Three or more cards in sequence in the same suit, like 4♠ 5♠ 6♠.
Stock: The face-down pile you draw from.
Discard pile: The face-up pile beside it, built one card at a time.
Deadwood: Cards still in your hand that are not part of any meld. They count against you.
Laying off: Adding a card to a meld already on the table, including someone else's.

Setup

Deal 10 cards each for 2 players, 7 each for 3-4 players, or 6 each for 5-6 players.
Put the rest face down as the stock.
Turn the top card face up beside it to start the discard pile.

How to Play

Take turns clockwise, starting to the dealer's left. Every turn has three steps in this order:

Draw. Take either the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile.
Meld (optional). Lay down any sets or runs face up, and lay off cards onto melds already on the table.
Discard. Put one card face up on the discard pile. Your turn ends. If you took the top discard, you may not put that same card straight back.

Rules worth knowing before the first hand:

Aces are low, so A-2-3 is a valid run but Q-K-A is not.
A card can only be in one meld at a time.
If the stock runs out, shuffle the discard pile except its top card and use it as a new stock.

Scoring & Winning

Going out ends the round immediately: meld everything and discard your last card.
Everyone else counts the deadwood left in their hand against themselves: face cards 10, aces 1, everything else its face value.
The player who went out scores nothing, which is what you want - low is good.
Play to an agreed number of rounds or until someone passes 100 points. Lowest total wins.

Example

You draw the 7♣ from the stock and lay down 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ as a set. Another player already has 8♠ 9♠ 10♠ on the table, so you lay off your J♠ onto their run, then discard the 2♥ to end your turn.

Variations

Points rummy: the winner scores the total deadwood collected from everyone else instead of everyone tracking their own.
Rummy 500: melds score as you lay them, play continues to 500, and you may take any card from the discard pile if you use it immediately.
Going rummy: melding your entire hand in one turn without having laid anything down earlier doubles your score.
High aces: some groups let aces be high or low, but not both in the same run.

Tips for New Players

Watch what the player to your left picks up from the discard pile. Feeding them the card they need is the most common beginner mistake.
Hold cards that could go either way - a 7♠ can grow into a set of 7s or a spade run.
Do not sit on high cards hoping for a perfect meld. If someone else goes out, those face cards cost you 10 each.