Gin Rummy Variations

The non-dealer receives 11 cards and the dealer 10, and no card is turned up; some players begin the game differently. The player who has not dealt starts out by simply discarding one card, then the dealer takes a turn, either picking up the discard or drawing from the stock pile, and play proceeds in the regular way.

It is hard to think of a situation where it would be advantageous to do this if it were allowed, although the traditional rules prohibit a player from taking the previous player's discard and discarding the same card. This play is expressly allowed by the Gin Rummy Association Rules. "Action on the 50th card" is where The Game Colony Rules allow it . The other player has one final chance to take the discard and knock when a player takes the third last game card of the stock and discards without knocking, leaving two cards in the stock. If it does not improve his hand, the player simply turns it over on the pile to knock; in this position, this same card can be discarded.

The bonus for an undercut is 20 (rather than 10) and some people play that the bonus for going gin is 25 (rather than 20). Some people play where they score a 25 point bonus for completing an undercut, for going gin, and for the box bonus for every game won.

In some variations, he winner's entire score is doubled (rather than just doubling the 100 game bonus to 200) if the loser failed to score during the whole game.

On the Gin Rummy Variations page, a collection of variations submitted by readers can be found.

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