How to play Rummy

Rummy is the root of a whole family of card games — Gin, Canasta, Rummikub and dozens more all grew from it. The basic game is wonderfully simple to learn and still rewards sharp play: collect cards into melds, get them onto the table, and be the first to empty your hand. Here you play head-to-head against a bot.

Goal

Be the first to reach 100 points over as many hands as it takes. You score by going out — emptying your hand — and collecting the value of the cards your opponent is still holding.

Melds

• Sets — three or four cards of the same rank (three Sevens).
• Runs — three or more cards in sequence in one suit (5-6-7 of hearts). Aces are low: A-2-3 is a run, Q-K-A is not.
• Cards left in your hand at the end count against you: face cards and tens are 10, aces 1, the rest their face value.

Playing a turn

First draw — take the face-up discard if it helps, or the top of the stock. Then you may lay down: press the button to put every complete meld you hold onto the shared table and to lay off any loose cards onto melds already there (your own or your opponent's) — but you can only lay off once you've laid down a meld of your own. Finally, discard one card by tapping it, which ends your turn. Melded cards in your hand are outlined in green to guide you.

Going out & scoring

The moment your hand is empty you have gone out, and the hand ends. You score the total pip value of every card still in your opponent's hand, so going out while they're holding heavy cards is worth the most. The deal then passes and a new hand begins; the first player to 100 points wins the game. The skill is in tempo: lay down early to bank progress and deny lay-offs, or hold a little longer to catch your opponent with a fat hand — but not so long that they go out first. L lays down, N starts a new game.