Kalooki is sometimes termed Jamaican rummy as it is a very popular game in Jamaica. It is said to have originated in Israel and is very famous among the Jewish communities. There are quite many versions of the game Kalooki and the rules of these vary with the region being played and also the version that is being played. In different regions it is known with different names, like Kaluki and Kalookie. Europe, North America and South Africa have been the regions of origin for some of the popular versions of Kalooki.

The rules of play for the game Kalooki are similar to standard rummy but with a very few changes. The version for which the rules are written here is European and the variations this version has with the North American version are written along with and can be seen.

The Deck - The European Kalooki is played with two decks of cards and only two jokers making a total of 106 cards, where North American Kalooki is played with two standard decks of cards, including all the four jokers making a total of 108 cards. Kalooki can be played among two to five players.

Card Values - The card values vary with the versions of Kalooki and they can be seen below:

In European Kalooki, the joker when used to replace a natural card in the hand the value of that natural card is assumed for the joker. When a joker is remained in the hand of a player and any other player goes out then the joker would count 15 points against the player.

The main objective of a player in the game is to play all the cards in the hand on melding them or “calling up”. Once a player goes out to win the game then all the other players count the values of the cards remained and these are penalty points that score against the players. When a player reaches 150 penalty points on playing over a series of deals he is eliminated from the game. Thus the player who survives till the end goes out and wins the money from the pool.

The Stake - The players negotiate for the following stakes before the play:

The units suggested in the table above are in proportions and can be explained as, if a call up pays 1 unit it can be assumed as 10 cents and when a kalooki pays 2 units it can assumed as 20 cents and Initial stake and Buy in stake will be 50 cents each.

The Deal - The dealer and the seats to be assumed by the players is decided by a small process. The cards Ace, Two, Three, Four and Five are taken and shuffled together and one card is drawn by each of the players. The player holding an Ace is the dealer and he has the liberty to assume any of the seats, and the other players assume the seats in counter clockwise starting with the dealers left according to the cards they hold at the moment. An example with a figure can be seen below as how the players assume their seats with the dealer being A who has an Ace card and the players B, C, D, E having the cards 2,3,4,5 cards respectively.

The dealer now shuffles the cards and the player to the dealers right cut’s the deck. The dealer now deals 13 cards to each of the player’s one at a time. In North American kalooki the dealer deals 15 cards to the players if there two in the game and if there are 3 to 5 players they are dealt 13 cards each and 11 cards are dealt if there are six. The remaining cards after the deal are placed face down on the table as a stock pile and a card is turned face up and placed to the side of the stock pile to form a discard pile.

The player to the dealers left starts of the play, with the turn’s for the next players passing in clockwise direction around the table.

(1) Drawing (Compulsory) - The first player can draw a card from either the stock or the discard pile. But after the first round, players can not draw from the discard pile and have to go invariably for the stock until they reach an initial meld requirement of at least 40 points (and in the case of North American game it is 51 points and the cards built on the melds of other players are also counted for a player in a case if he has made at least one meld of his own). A player can pick a discard if he can use it for the initial meld requirement.

(2) Melding (Optional) - A card once drawn can be used to form a meld and these melds are placed face up on the table. The player then discards to pass the turn on to the next player. The player can place the melds on the table or can retain in his hand to lay them in subsequent turns. There are two types of combinations that can be formed in to melds and they are:

A Set (aka group) is a combination of three or four cards of the same rank and different suits:

A Run (aka sequence) is a combination of three or more cards of the same suit in sequence:

The Aces in Kalooki have a high rank value and hence a meld comprising the cards A 2 3 4 is not valid but the meld with the cards Q K A is a valid run. Even the meld K A 2 is not a valid meld since Aces uncompromisingly assume high rank. The Aces in the North American game can be counted as high or low and therefore both the melds shown above are valid but the third meld with the cards K A 2 is still invalid.

A meld with six or more consecutive cards can be put as a single run or can be placed differently in two runs. It is often preferred to put as a single run of six cards as this could deny a chance for the other players to build on these cards.

(3) Laying Off (Optional) - After having formed the initial meld, the player can in the same turn or in later turns lay off cards (add cards) on to the existing melds from the hand and these existing melds need not be of his own . This laying off can be done only in one’s turn and is referred to as Building in the game Kalloki.

Laying off is just adding a card to the already existing meld as in the case where, a meld of 6 6 6 if is on the table can be added with a fourth card of 6. As a set is a combination of cards of different suits there can be no fifth card that can be added to the meld of 4 sixes.

An existing meld of a run can be added with cards on either ends but not more than 2 cards can be added to the same side of a meld and even after laying off the run has to be a valid meld. This is explained with an example, consider a run of cards 4 5 6 on the table, then a player can add 3 or can add 2 and 3 or even can add 2 3 and 7 but can never add 7 8 9 to that existing meld. This meld of 7 8 9 can be added as a separate meld to the table.

The player can lay off (build) the cards on the same turn he has put down the initial meld, but the cards laid off can not be counted towards the initial meld requirement of 40 points and has to form a valid initial meld.

(4) Discarding (Compulsory) - The player discards a card he needs the least after having observed his complete hand. The discard is placed face up on the discard pile. The turn of the player ends once he discards and cannot play until his next turn.

The Jokers ( ) are wild cards in the game and can replace any of the natural cards and also stand for the duplicate of any natural card in a meld. The card the joker represents should be declared once a run is meld as this cannot be changed later. In a case where two jokers are meld with a natural card as in the meld of 2 the player has to be specific to say what exactly the meld is, whether it is a set or a run and if it is a run the player has to specify the two cards.

In certain conditions a joker can be reused, this is when a joker is used to form a meld and then if any of the players gets a card that the joker has represented till then, they can take the joker and place the card. The player can do this only if he has reached 40 point initial meld requirement. The joker lifted here from the meld has to be immediately placed in a new meld. Hence we can conclude that the joker cannot be taken into the hand.

Look at the examples below:

(1) Consider a set of 2 2 , now a player who has 2 2 can add both of these cards to the set to form a "closed set" and lift the joker to use elsewhere in the same turn. However, if he adds just a single 2 to that set to form                    2 2 2 it becomes a four card "closed set" and the joker cannot be lifted. If the same situation arises in the North American version of the game the joker can be lifted with just one natural card in hand.

In a different case, consider a set contained with two jokers as 2 then the player can add any of the three missing cards to obtain just one joker. Thus forming a final meld with 2 and 2 as 2 2 2 .

The play ends once a player, on  melding all the cards in hand and discarding his last card goes out to win the game. The player can end the game only on discarding the last card and going out without a discard is considered illegal. Once a player goes out to win the game, the other players are not allowed to lay off cards or put down melds. The play ends and all players are stuck with the points in the hands and these points are computed and summed up with their cumulative scores.

The 'win' in which all the 13 cards are meld on the same turn is known as "Kalooki" and this can fetch the player a larger bonus than when compared to "calling up". After discarding on a turn, the player has to declare the number of cards he is left with, if the player avoids this he can be barred from going out on his next turn.

When the stock pile runs out, the cards of the discard pile are shuffled and placed face down on the table forming a new stock pile. The discard made by the player who picked the last card of the stock, is made the upcard for the new discard pile. If the stock pile runs out again for the second time there is no replacement of the cards from the discard pile and the game is termed void. In such a case there is no score counted for the players and the same dealer starts a new deal.

Player Payments - At the start of the game, every player makes a payment or stake to the pool. The winner of a hand is paid with a stake by the other players and this payment is different for a call up and a Kalooki (these are two different ways a player goes out). The player eliminated doesn’t pay.

Penalty Points - The total point value of the cards remained in hand after a player has gone out is termed as penalty points. These points determine the player eliminated from the game and also the one who will eventually win the prize pool. A cumulative total of penalty points is got on summing up the points of all the hands and is kept on a regular score sheet.

The player, who first reaches 150 points, is eliminated from the game and if wishes to return back to the game can do on a payment agreed upon at the start of the play. Once he buys back, his score is reduced to the score of the highest scoring player who is still below 150 points. Buying is done on considering two rules:

The pool finally goes to the player remained in the game till the end. All the scores are managed on a score sheet and payments are settled at the end. In the North American game, there is no possibility for pool or buying in and only cards remained in the hand of player are counted at the end of each deal for computing the score. There is no bonus for going Kalooki as that in European version. A score sheet for 4 players, played on 5 hands can be seen below:

In the hand 1, player 3 wins on calling up and each of the players pay him 1 unit.

In the hand 3, player 3 wins on a Kalooki and each of the players pay him 2 units.

In the hand 4, player 2 is eliminated as he crossed 150 points, he is in again on paying 5 units to the pool.

In hand 5 as three of the players have a score of over 150 the game ends making the Player 3 winner of game and he takes the pool.