How to Play Rummy 500

Rummy 500 is a popular rummy variant. Many other rummy variants have been spawned from rummy 500.

Rummy 500 Rules

| Players: 2-8 | Type: Rummy | Supplies: 1+ Deck(s), Pen and Paper |

You will need one deck for 2-4 players and two decks for 5-8 players.

Objective

The objective of rummy 500 is to be the first player to play all their cards from their hand each round, by laying off or melding cards.

Deal

2 players: 13 cards each, one at a time. 3-8 players: 7 cards each, one at a time.

The deck is placed face down in the middle and the top card is flipped over to start the discard pile.

Card Rank

King is high, ace is low

Game Play

A player starts their turn by either drawing the top card of the deck or drawing from the discard pile. After drawing, a player can meld or lay off if they want to. A player's turn ends with discarding one card. Play moves clockwise.

Players discard cards in a fanned out way where all cards in the discard pile are visible to all players, and it is easily recognizable which order the cards were discarded in. Any card can be drawn from the discard pile with two conditions. If you draw a card from the discard pile, it must be melded or laid off the turn it is picked up, either onto one of your melds or another players meld. All cards on top of the card you pick up from the discard pile must also be picked up, these cards can either be used in a meld, laid off, or added to the players hand.

A meld is a set of three or four cards with the same rank, or a run of three or more cards in the same suit. Players are also allowed to to lay off cards onto other player's melds. When a player adds a card to another player's meld that is not in front of them, that player still puts the laid off card in front of them, but declares which meld it is being added to.

Once a player has no more cards in their hand the round is over. If the draw deck is out of cards, and the next player does not want to pick up from the discard pile, the round is over.

Card Value

Jack/Queen/King: 10 points
2-10: 5 points
Ace: 15 points if ace used in a set of 3 or more aces
Ace: 5 points if used in a run
Ace: -15 points if in your hand when the round is over

Scoring

Players score points for the cards they melded, whether onto their own meld or onto another players meld, and players lose points for each card still in their hand at the end of a round.

Player 1 0
Player 2 0
Player 3 0
Player 4 0
Player 5 0
Player 6 0
Player 7 0
Player 8 0

Additional Rules

-The ace is always ranked low when used in a run

-Once a meld is laid on the table and declared, it can not be moved, and the cards within it can not be used in a different meld. Cards can only be added to a meld, not taken away from one.

-You must specify which meld you are adding a card too when you lay off.

-You are not required to play melds in your hand if you do not want to. However, they are still worth negative points if they are in your hand when the round ends.

-If a player discards a card that could have been laid off onto a meld, any player can announce “rummy” and add that card to the meld, putting it in front of the player who announced rummy. This does not effect turns or turn order.

-If two decks are being used, a set meld may not contain two of the same suit.

Winner

The winner of the game is the first player to reach or go above 500 points.

Variants

Alternative Scoring:
2-10: face value (instead of 5 points each)