Deal and melds
- Deal ten cards each. Turn one card up beside the stock. Non-dealer has first chance to take it, then dealer; if both decline, non-dealer draws from stock.
- A set is three or four cards of one rank. A run is three or more consecutive cards in one suit. A card cannot belong to two melds.
- Aces are low only. Deadwood values are ace=1, number cards face value, face cards=10.
Turn and knock
- Draw the top stock card or the top discard, then discard one. A drawn discard cannot be immediately returned.
- A player may knock after discarding when their deadwood is 10 or less. Going gin means all ten cards are melded with zero deadwood.
- After a normal knock, the opponent lays out melds and may lay deadwood onto the knocker’s melds. No layoff is allowed against gin.
- If the stock falls to two cards without a knock, the hand is normally canceled and the same dealer redeals.
Scoring
- Normal knock: knocker scores the difference between deadwood totals when theirs is lower.
- Gin: player scores opponent deadwood plus a 25-point gin bonus.
- Undercut: if defender’s deadwood is equal to or below the knocker’s, defender scores the difference plus 25.
- Continue dealing until a player reaches 100 or the agreed target. Traditional match bonuses vary and should be agreed separately.
Common house rules
- Gin/undercut bonus of 20 or 25
- Oklahoma Gin
- Hollywood scoring
- Line/box/game bonuses
- Straight gin with no knocking