Rummy

Rummy is a group of games related by the feature of matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit.

The first is that it originated in Mexico around the 1890s in a game described as Conquian in R.F. Foster's book Foster's Complete Hoyle.

The second is that Rummy originated in Asia, and that Rummy was the result of a Mahjong variant named Kun P'ai that was Westernized as Khanhoo by W.H. Wilkinson in 1891.

Games scholar David Parlett combines these two theories, and proposes that the Mexican game of Conquian, first attested in 1852, is ancestral to all rummy games.

There are a large number of games derived from rummy.

Although in North America the word rummy is often used interchangeably for gin rummy, the term is applicable to a large family of games, including canasta, mahjong and Rummikub.

The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets (three or four of a kind of the same rank) or runs (three or more sequential cards of the same suit) and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.

Although in North America the word rummy is often used interchangeably for gin rummy, the term is applicable to a large family of games, including canasta, mahjong and Rummikub.

Although in North America the word rummy is often used interchangeably for gin rummy, the term is applicable to a large family of games, including canasta, mahjong and Rummikub.

Rummy games first appeared in the early twentieth century, and are probably derived from the Mexican game Conquian.

There are three ways to get rid of cards: melding, laying off, and discarding. Melding is taking a combination of cards from your hand, and placing it face up in front of you on the table, where it stays. There are two kinds of combination which can be melded: sequences (also known as runs) and groups (also known as sets or books). a sequence or run consists of three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order, such as 4, 5, 6 or 8, 9, 10, J . a group , set or book is three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7, 7, 7.

Rummy games seem to be ultimately of Chinese origin.

The game is best played with two to four players, but up to six can take part.

The object of the game is to dispose of all the cards in your hand.

Examples of this type are Gin Rummy and Tonk.

Most people allow a player who has not previously melded or laid off any cards to earn a special bonus if they can go out in a single turn by melding or laying off their entire hand. This is called going rummy , and the score for the hand is doubled, or in some versions the winner gets a bonus of 10 points. Laying off Some play that you may not lay off any cards on other players' melds until you have laid down at least one meld of your own.