The non-dealer goes first, and on the initial play, they can’t take a card from the face-down draw pile—only the first face-up card in the discard pile. If they don’t want that card, they say “pass,” giving the dealer the chance to take the face-up card instead. If the dealer also passes, then the non-dealer may take the top face-down draw pile card. Now the game alternates turns.

 

Your turn will look like this:​

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1. Draw a card: Either take the top card from the draw pile or the discard pile.

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2. Arrange matches in your hand: Your goal is to create sets (three or four cards of the same rank) or runs (three or more consecutive cards of the same suit). An example of a set is three fives or four eights. An example of a run is seven, eight, and nine in a row, all in spades, or ten, Jack, Queen, and King, all in diamonds. The Ace is always low, so it can only be part of a run like Ace, two, three—not Queen, King, Ace.

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3. Discard one card: Until you’re ready to go out, place one card from your hand into the discard pile and end your turn with ten cards in your hand. No, you can’t discard a card you just picked up from the face-up discard pile.

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This back-and-forth continues until one of the players makes their big move, ending the round.

 

Ending the Round

The round ends when a player knocks, goes Gin, or the draw pile is nearly depleted.

 

Knocking:

You can knock if your Deadwood totals ten points or less—meaning the sum of your unmatched cards is ten points or fewer. You could knock with unmatched cards that total five points, but you couldn’t do it if your unmatched cards total 21 points.

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If you decide to knock, after drawing, discard your 11th card face down onto the discard pile, knock on the table, and lay down your melds and remaining cards. The round is over. Your opponent now lays down their melds and Deadwood. Your opponent will also get a chance to reduce their penalty by laying off cards (more on that in a bit).

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Going Gin:

If all ten of your cards form melds, with no Deadwood, you declare Gin and lay your hand down. This is ideal because you’ll receive a Gin bonus. If you call Gin, your opponent cannot lay off cards to reduce their Deadwood.

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Draw Pile Exhaustion:

If only two cards remain in the draw pile and no one has knocked, the round ends in a draw—no points are awarded.

 

Scoring

Knocker’s Score:

The knocker scores the difference between their opponent’s Deadwood and their own.

• Example: The knocker has seven Deadwood points, and the opponent has 20.

• The knocker scores 13 points (20 - 7 = 13).

• The opponent neither gains nor loses points.

 

For another example:

• My only unmelded card is a 3, giving me a Deadwood total of 3 points.

• My opponent has four Deadwood cards adding up to 25 points.

• Normally, I’d score 22 points (25 - 3 = 22), but my opponent can lay off two of their cards onto my melds.

• They place their 9 with my 9s and their Ace with my Aces, reducing their Deadwood to 15 points.

• My score drops from 22 to 12 points after the layoff.

 

Since the loser can lay off cards, if I was the knocker, they would check if any of their Deadwood could be placed into my sets or runs. Any successfully laid-off cards no longer count as penalty points, reducing my score.

 

Example:

• I knock with seven Deadwood points.

• My opponent has 30, but they can lay off their Queen and Jack onto my Hearts run, leaving them with only 10 Deadwood points.

• Instead of scoring 23 points, I now only score 3 points.

 

Gin Bonus:

Going Gin earns a 25-point bonus plus the opponent’s total Deadwood.

• Example: I go Gin, scoring 25 points, plus my opponent’s 56 Deadwood points.

• Since I went Gin, my opponent cannot lay off cards.

 

Undercut Bonus:

If the opponent’s Deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker’s, they score a 25-point undercut bonus, plus the difference in Deadwood.

• Example: I knock with 9 Deadwood points, but my opponent has 7.

• Since their Deadwood is lower than mine, they get:

• 2 points for the difference (9 - 7 = 2).

• 25 points for the undercut bonus.

• Total: 27 points.

• I score nothing because I knocked with too much Deadwood.

 

Note: Deadwood is calculated after laying off, so even if the knocker had less Deadwood initially, they can still be undercut after the layoff.

 

Winning the Game

​The first player to reach 100 points (or more if that's what you agreed on) wins.

 

Additional Scoring Rules (Optional):

Some people play with additional scoring after one player reaches 100 points to reward overall performance.

• Game bonus: The player who reaches 100 points first scores an additional 100 points.

• Box bonus: Each player gains 20 points per round they won.

• Line bonus: 50 points for winning by 50+ points.

• Big Gin bonus: Some play with a 25-point bonus for a Big Gin (going Gin with 11 cards, no discard). Others skip the bonus—decide before playing.

 

Gin Rummy has mostly universal rules, but house rules vary on scoring and bonuses. Make sure everyone agrees on the rules before starting.

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Variation: Oklahoma Gin

In Oklahoma Gin, the first face-up card determines the maximum Deadwood for knocking.​

• Example: If the first face-up card is a 5 of Hearts, players can only knock with five or fewer Deadwood points.​

• If the first face-up card is a Spade, points are doubled for that round.