For four players, play two separate games. Or form teams, and after the two simultaneous games, add up your and your teammate’s scores to see if together you beat your opponents’ total.
An example of a set is 10 of diamonds, 10 of spades, and 10 of clubs. An example of a run is jack of diamonds, queen of diamonds, and king of diamonds. Since aces are low, they can’t be in a run with a king. You can have ace-2-3, but not queen-king-ace.
If you both decline it, the non-dealer picks up the card from the top of the stock pile.
If you’re picking up a card from the stock pile, don’t let your opponent see what it is unless you’re immediately placing it into the discard pile.
You can’t discard a card you just picked up from the discard pile in that turn. You can discard it during your next turn if you want, but you must keep it for at least one turn. [8] X Research source At the end of every turn you should still have ten cards.
As you form melds, do not place them on the table. You don’t want your opponent to see your progress. [9] X Research source
Reaching gin earns you 25 bonus points in addition to all your opponent’s deadwood points. You can physically knock on the table if you want to, but the face-down discard is generally accepted as the knocking symbol. [11] X Research source
For example, if you have a run of 3-4-5-6, a set of 9-9-9-9, and an ace and a king, you can’t knock because your deadwood totals 11 points.
Deadwood can not be laid off onto other deadwood. If you have two 3’s that are deadwood, and your opponent has an extra 3, they can not create a new meld. [16] X Research source
For example, after laying off, your opponent might have two Queens left, which totals 20 points. If you have two 2’s, that’s 4 points. The difference between the two is 16 points. If you reached gin, there’s no subtraction needed. All of your opponent’s deadwood points become yours (plus the 25-point bonus).
For example, if you knock and have 9 points of deadwood, and your opponent lays off their cards and ends up with 2 points of deadwood, then they’ve undercut you. They’re awarded the 7-point difference, plus 25 bonus points, for a total of 32 points.
If one player doesn’t win any rounds, this is a shutout, and the winner earns an additional 100 bonus points. The player with the most points after all the tallying is the winner.
