Rummy, in plain words.
If you have played at a family table, you already know most of this. The rest takes five minutes.
The deal
Two packs plus printed jokers. Each player gets 13 cards. One card is turned face up as the wild joker; every card of that rank is a joker for the hand. The rest is the closed deck, with an open pile beside it.
Sequences and sets
A sequence is three or more cards of one suit in order (5♠ 6♠ 7♠). A pure sequence has no joker. A set is three or four cards of one rank in different suits (9♣ 9♦ 9♥). Jokers can stand in anywhere except in the pure sequence.
Your turn
Draw one card from the closed deck or take the top of the open pile, then discard one card face up. That is a turn. The timer gives you 30 seconds; the table waits for nobody.
Declaring
To win you need at least two sequences, one of them pure, and every other card in a sequence or set. Finish by placing your last discard in the finish slot and showing your groups. A wrong declaration costs the full 80 points.
Points
Unmatched cards count against you: face cards and aces 10 each, number cards their value, jokers zero. Without a pure sequence, every card counts. A hand is capped at 80.
Dropping
Bad hand? Drop before your first draw for 20 points, or later for 40. In Pool rummy a drop is often the smart play; in Points it costs you the stake times the drop.
Same hand, different race.
Points
One hand. The winner collects every loser's points times the stake. ₹5 a point with 40 points on the table is ₹200.
Pool
Lowest score survives. Cross 101 or 201 and you are out. The last player standing takes the pool. A player who drops repeatedly can hang around a long time, so watch the table.
Deals
A fixed number of hands with chips on the table. Each hand's points move chips from losers to the winner; most chips at the end wins the prize.
Five habits of players who win.
- Pure sequence first. Nothing else counts until you have it.
- Discard high cards early. Kings and queens you cannot use cost ten each.
- Watch the open pile. What others pick tells you what they are building.
- Know when to drop. A 20-point drop beats an 80-point loss every time.
- Use the joker late. Fill the gap you cannot close naturally, not the first one you see.
- Practice first. The practice table costs nothing and the helper never rushes.