Crummy Rummy

Crummy rummy is a variant of rummy for three or more players.

Overview Crummy rummy is a variant of rummy for three or more players. There are five rounds of play. For each round, there is a fixed configuration of cards that each player must try to obtain. The round ends when one player has no cards left, and points are assigned to the players that have cards remaining. The objective of the game is to have the least number of total points after all five rounds. Required Equipment Two decks (including four jokers) are needed for between three and six players. Jokers are wild; aces are high or low. One player must be designated the scorekeeper. A pencil and paper are required. Runs & Sets A run is a sequence of 4 or more consecutive cards from the same suit (example: 9-10-J-Q of diamonds). A set is 3 or more cards of the same rank (example: three 5's from any suits). Since the game is played with two decks of cards, the cards of a set do not need to belong to different suits (example: 3 of spades, 3 of spades, 3 of hearts). As expected, a Joker may take the place of any card in a run or a set. The Contracts In each round, the players are dealt 10 cards, and try to fill a different contract: • Round 1 Run of 4 & set of 3 • Round 2 3 sets of 3 • Round 3 2 runs of 4 • Round 4 2 sets of 4 • Round 5 Run of 4 & 2 sets of 3 (NO Discards) The last round has slightly different gameplay than the other rounds -- see below. The Final Round In the 7th round, the player's contract of ‘Run of 4 and 2 sets of 3’ must use all his/her cards, including the card just picked up at the beginning of the turn. In other words, there is no discard step in the final player's turn. Thus, the first player to lay down his/her contract in this round is the winner of the round, and there is no additional playing to the table. The other players are always stuck with at least thirteen cards to score. Gameplay To begin each round, shuffle the cards thoroughly, get the person to the dealers right to cut the cards leaving behind a guess of the exact number of cards required for the round (for no reason whatsoever). The dealer deals out 10 cards to each player. The deck is placed face down on the table. The top card of the deck is placed face-up to start the discard pile. The players each take turns in clockwise order, starting with the player following the dealer. Each turn has the following structure: The player chooses whether to take the top card from the discard pile (which is face-up), or the top card from the deck (which is face-down). If the player does not want the face-up card, another player may take the face-up card out of turn, they must also take one of the top ‘facedown’ cards as an extra. The decision to pick up out of turn must be the player the right of the current player, and then each person in clockwise direction. The player discards (face-up) onto the discard pile, unless he/she has no cards left. If the face-down deck is exhausted, then the discard pile is shuffled and reused as the new face-down deck. The round ends when a player has no more cards left after his/her turn (i.e., after possibly discarding his/her final card). At this time, the other players score their remaining cards (see below on scoring). The person to the left of the dealer becomes the new dealer, and the next round begins. After the final round, the player with the least total points overall is declared the winner. Taking Out Of Turn If the active player does not take the face-up card on his/her turn, other players are allowed to take it out of turn. But as a penalty, the out-of-turn player must also pick up the top card of the deck (before the active player has taken his/her card). The out-of-turn player must not discard or play cards to the table at this time, as it is not his/her turn. Thus, the player who takes out of turn is left with two more cards in his/her hand. Only one player is allowed to take out of turn during each turn (and once a card in the discard pile is no longer the top card, it is permanently "dead" -- it cannot be taken out of turn if it becomes visible again). If several out-of-turn players all want the face-up card, the one closest in line after the active player takes it. After the card (and penalty card) is taken out of turn, the active player continues his/her turn as usual, by optionally laying down and then discarding. Laying Down & Playing Cards To The Table A player may not play any cards to the table until he/she has met the entire contract for that round. At that point, he/she lays down the cards that fill the contract on the table (face up). After a player has already laid down the round's contract (possibly earlier during the same turn), then during his/her turns, he/she may play any additional cards from his/her hand to the table which extend any other runs and sets on the table (including those of other players), just as in other forms of rummy. If the card played replaces a Joker, the Joker may be transferred to another run or set on the table, if desired. However, a player may not lay down a completely new run or set apart from the initial contract. All cards played to the table must extend existing runs and sets from some player's contract. So, it is possible that you may have laid down, but are still stuck with (for example) three aces in your hand that you cannot play! Jokers can only be used in ‘one of the sets’ at the initial ‘lay-down’. For example, if you have two Jokers, they cannot be used in ‘a run of 4, and one in a set of 3’ until the contract has been laid down. Scoring After each round is over, the losing players score are assigned points for each remaining card in their hand, as follows: • 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 The number on each card is the value • 10, J, Q, K 10 points each • Ace, Joker 15 points each Background Music It is advised to play Jazz in the background