How can I play the 13 card Rummy game?

Author: Ritika Bhardwaj

If you live in India and have an affinity towards card games, then you should definitely learn how to play rummy. This game is so deeply rooted in Indian culture that people of all ages play some variation of it. And ever since the advancement of online rummy, it has become easy to play with players all over the country. So, if you’re planning to download rummy app, give this article a read to get familiar with the rummy rules.

Get Acquainted with the Rules

Before you start to play the 13 card rummy game, you should know the basic rules of the game. Go through these rummy rules after you download rummy to get a feel of what rummy is all about:

  1. Each player is dealt 13 cards. The objective of the game is to make sequences and sets of all 13 cards and declare the game.
  2. Jokers: Other than the 52 playing cards, often a joker is added to the game. It can either be the printed joker that comes with every deck, or a card can be chosen at the beginning of the game and all cards of that rank become jokers.
  3. Sequences: A group of 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit is known as a sequence. There are two types of sequences in rummy: Pure and Impure sequences.

Pure Sequence: These are a group of 3 or more consecutive cards without the use of any joker. For a valid declaration, at least one pure sequence is required.

For example: JQKA is a pure sequence

Impure Sequence: These are a group of 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit that also use a joker in-lieu of a card in the sequence. For example:

3 4 PJ 6: An impure sequence with printed joker replacing 5

3 4 Q 6: An impure sequence where the wild joker Q replacing 5

4. Set: A group of 3 or 4 cards of the same rank but different suits is called a set.

For Example: 3333, 333PJ, and 333Q are all valid sets where PJ represents printed joker and Q represents wild joker.

  1. You can pick a card from the closed deck or from the discard pile and then discard one card from your hand to the discard pile. Once you have a pure sequence and all other cards are also part of a set or a sequence, you can make a valid declaration by throwing your last card upside down in the discard pile.
  2. If you’re playing points rummy, if a player makes a valid declaration, then points are calculated based on all the cards of all other players that are not part of a set or a sequence.

Play More, Learn More!

The more you play the 13 card rummy game, the better you’ll understand the subtle rummy rules and way of playing the game. Start with the free-to-play rummy games and build your skills before you move on to more serious versions of the game like cash rummy and tournaments. So, download rummy on your device, keep getting better, and enjoy India’s favourite card game!