GIN RUMMY

card game, member of the Rummy-games family; introduced in New York in 1909, it became a nationwide fad in the U.S. in the 1940s. Two play; each is dealt 10 cards face down, one at a time, beginning with nondealer. The remainder of the pack, placed face down, forms the stock, the top card of which is turned up beside it as the first up card. Nondealer may take the up card or refuse it; if he refuses, dealer has the same option. If both refuse, nondealer draws the top card of the stock. Thereafter, each player in turn takes either the up card or the top card of the stock, then discards one card face up on the up-card pile. Object of play is to form melds as in Rummyeither sequences of three or more cards of the same suit or sets of three or more cards of the same rank. After drawing, a player may knock (go down) if his unmatched cards (less one discard) total 10 or less. Face cards count 10, aces 1, other cards their number value. Upon knocking, a player faces his 10 cards arranged in sets and with unmatched cards to one side, then discards his 11th card. If all his cards are matched, he is gin. The opponent of the knocker may lay off any of his unmatched cards upon the knocker's sets, thereby reducing his count. If the knocker has the lower count of unmatched cards, he wins the difference. Should his opponent have an equal or lesser count, he has undercut the knocker and receives the difference (if any) plus a bonus of 25 points. The knocker cannot be undercut if he has gone ginhe receives, in addition to the total points of his opponent's unmatched cards, a bonus of 25 points. First to reach 100 points wins the game and receives a 100-point bonus. Each player then adds to his score 25 points for each hand he has won, called a box. If the loser has failed to score, the game is a shutout, or schneider, and the winner's total score is doubled. Gin Rummy is frequently played with several variations and as a gambling game, often for a small amount of money per point.