A complete guide: the deal, sets and runs, drawing and discarding, knock and gin, scoring to 100. Controls on muta.pro and tactics for beginners.
Gin Rummy is a two-player card duel. The goal is to arrange your hand into melds (sets and runs) and close before your opponent, leaving as few "extra" cards as possible. The unmelded cards are called deadwood and count as points against you. A game runs over several hands; the first player to reach 100 points in total wins.
Each player is dealt 10 cards. The remainder forms the stock, and its top card is placed face up to start the discard pile. A set is three or four cards of the same rank in different suits; a run is three or more consecutive cards of the same suit. On the left you see the players and the "you / bot" score; on the right — the turn phase, your deadwood with its bar (green up to 10, red above) and the "set"/"run" markers on cards that have gone into melds.
At the start of your turn take a card: click "Stock" to draw blind, or "Discard" to take the face-up top card. After that comes the discard phase.
Click a card in your hand to select it and press "🗑 Discard" — it goes to the discard pile. This is how your hand gradually turns into melds.
Build sets (same rank) and runs (consecutive in one suit). Cards in melds are marked "set" or "run", and the deadwood bar shows the total of your leftover cards.
When your deadwood after discarding is no more than 10, instead of discarding you can declare "✊ Knock" — close the hand and compare hands with your opponent.
If no deadwood is left at all (all 10 cards in melds), declare "★ Gin" — this earns a large bonus.
On a knock the closing player scores the deadwood difference: the opponent may "lay off" their extra cards onto your melds, reducing their own remainder. Gin (zero deadwood) scores all of the opponent's deadwood plus a 25-point bonus. But if, on a knock, the opponent's deadwood turns out to be no more than yours — that is an undercut: the points and the 25 bonus go to them, not you. If the stock is exhausted and nobody has knocked, the hand is replayed with no points. A game runs to 100 points.
King and queen are worth 10 points each. If they are outside melds, discard them early.
Watch what your opponent takes and discards — do not hand over a card they clearly need.
Do not wait for a perfect hand: an early knock on small deadwood is often better than chasing "gin".
Knocking on deadwood of 8–10 is risky: the opponent may be cleaner and take your points.
All Gin Rummy tactics are built on two bricks. A set is three or four cards of the same rank in different suits; a run (sequence) is three or more consecutive cards of the same suit. Everything that did not go into a meld is deadwood, and its point total counts against you at closing (face cards — 10 each, ace — 1, the rest at face value).
On the left — a set of three nines (same rank, different suits); on the right — a run 6–7–8 in clubs.
There are only four suits per rank, so a set is at most 4 cards, and you can wait for the third from just two remaining in play. A pair aiming at a set is a narrow draft.
A run can be extended in both directions: 6–7–8 completes with a five as well as a nine, and then with a four too. One suit — more live outs.
Every unmelded face card is 10 points of risk. Judge your hand not by the "beauty of the pairs" but by the deadwood total if the hand were to end right now.
The strongest device in a hand is to keep a card that works in two drafts at once. The classic example: you have 7♣ and the 6♥–8♥ combo. The seven of hearts completes both the set of sevens (7♥+7♣) and the run of hearts 6–7–8. While that card is in hand, you have two independent hooks onto one meld — the chance of completing at least one nearly doubles.
One 7♥ (in the gold ring) draws both a set with 7♣ and a heart run 6–7–8 — that is a flexible card.
From this follows an iron discard order: first the rigid singles (especially high ones), then dead drafts, and only at the very end — the flexible cards. Parting with a double hook for the sake of an "ugly" single means throwing away a card that was working for two.
A card with two meld options is discarded last. As long as it can become both a set and a run, it does the work of two cards.
Cards 5–8 fit into more runs and form forks more often. Jack and queen are good almost only for a set.
6♣–7♣ waits for both 5♣ and 8♣ — two outs at each end; 2♣–3♣ waits only for an ace or a four on one side.
There are two ways to close a hand. A knock is available when your deadwood after discarding is no more than 10: you declare the close and hands are compared. Gin — when there is no deadwood at all, all 10 cards in melds; it carries a 25-point bonus and the opponent cannot lay off. A game runs to 100 points in total.
Two melds and a lone 4♠ — deadwood of just 4 points: you can knock boldly without chasing gin.
The main danger of a late knock is the undercut. On muta.pro, if after laying off their extra cards the opponent's deadwood is no more than yours, they — not you — score the difference plus the 25 bonus. So the value of a knock is inversely proportional to your deadwood.
The chance of an undercut is minimal, and every extra turn gives the opponent a draw. An early knock on 3–4 points, while they are still sorting their hand, is a classic.
Clearly building (taking from the discard, hoarding a suit) — close; drawing blind and tossing junk — you can risk a turn for gin.
A knock is justified only when you can see a large remainder in the opponent. Against a "clean" opponent it most often ends in an undercut.
On muta.pro the classic two-player gin is played to 100 points, with a knock at deadwood ≤10 and a 25 bonus for gin. But the rummy family has many related rules — knowing them helps you avoid confusing the mechanics and gauge risk.
Mixed-suit face cards with no run — straight to the discard: up to 30 points of deadwood if you keep them "for later".
The top card of the discard sets the knock ceiling for the hand: an ace showing — you may knock only with deadwood 1; a seven showing — up to 7. It disciplines play and makes gin more valuable.
If the initial turned card is a spade, the points for the hand are doubled. It raises the variance: one hand can decide the whole game.
Knocking is forbidden entirely — you can close only with pure gin. Runs and sets have to be brought to perfection; tempo matters more than caution.
Melds are laid on the table as you go and added to others'. A different game: there an open meld is the norm, whereas in gin it gives your hand away to the opponent.
In the Oklahoma variant always check against the face-up card: the habit of knocking on 10 will lead to an unavailable move and lost tempo.
Doublings and "spades" favour the weaker player: the higher the spread, the more often chance decides. The favourite should play them more carefully.