Rummy 500 Rules

RUMMY 500 RULES

HOW TO PLAY RUMMY 500


PLAY RUMMY ONLINE

Click below to download the software and play 100% Free Rummy games including Rummy, Gin Rummy, Rummy 500 and more. Play with players from across the world in real time and in exciting live tournaments online. Once downloaded to your desktop, double click the Rummy icon whilst still connected to the internet and start playing Rummy games within seconds. See you in the game....

CLICK HERE & PLAY FOR FREE!

The Rules of Rummy 500 and How To Play Rummy 500

Rummy 500 (also known as Persian Rummy, Pinochle Rummy, 500 Rum, 500 Rummy) is a popular card game played across the globe. Rummy 500 is played similar to the Basic Rummy but just differ in terms of drawing a card from the discard pile where more than one card can be lifted from the discard pile. This considerably raises the complexity level and thus involves a strategy on the part of the player in the play.

In the most commonly played Rummy 500 when a player goes out to win the game, the other player’s score the points for melded cards and loose the points for unmeld cards (i.e. deadwood) remained in the hand. The rules written here are standard and most authoritative which can very well be used for real life card game (not only online, can also be used for offline game). The standard rules were kept in mind during the design of the online version of the game and the game can be played right here at Rummy.net.

The Deck - Rummy 500 is played with a standard deck of 54 cards (52 cards and two jokers). The game can be played by 2 to 8 players. If there are 5 or more players, two decks that is a total of 108 cards are used.

The Deal - The dealer deals the cards to each of the players starting with the person on the left and going on in clockwise direction. Each player is dealt with one card at a time until every player has 7 cards or 13 cards in the hand. The figure of the cards to be dealt to the players is shown in the table below:

Number of players

Deck of Cards

Number of cards dealt to each player

2 Players

1 Deck

13 cards each

3 or 4 Players	1 Deck	7 cards each
5+ Players	2 Deck	7 cards each

After the dealing is done the remaining cards are placed face down on the table to form a stock pile. The first card of the stock pile is placed face up beside the stock pile to start the discard pile.

How to Play Turn by Turn

Draw (Compulsory) - On a player’s turn he/she can draw a card from the stock pile or the discard pile. After drawing a card the player checks out his hand and makes out the card he requires the least and discards it, this is the case when the card is picked from the stock pile. In Rummy 500 the player is not only allowed to pick the card on the top of the discard pile but also from the middle of the discard pile. But when the player goes for the middle card of the discard pile he is obligated to lift all the cards above the chosen one. A card is drawn in this way only when it can be meld with the cards of the hand to form new combination or when can be added to the existing melds. The remaining cards lifted too can be melded or can be added to the existing melds. This phenomenon can be better understood looking at the corresponding section of "Drawing from the Discard Pile".

The scores of the players is calculated when one of them goes out to win the game. The different ways to complete the hand is discussed blow:

(1) Melding (Optional) - The melded cards from the hand are placed face up on an area chosen on the table. This is not compulsory but placing the melds as soon as they are formed can fetch, as in a case where you have not placed the melds on the table and other player goes out then the cards (meld or unmeld) in the hand can count against your score. There are two kinds of combinations that can be formed: they are Runs and Sets.

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

Example of a Valid Run

Example of an Invalid Run

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

Example of a Valid Set

Example of an Invalid Set

(2) Laying off (Optional) - Laying off is just adding the cards to the already existing melds. These existing melds need not be the ones made by the same player and can be the melds formed by any of the players. The player laying off should be cautious to see that his cards make a valid meld. An example to explain valid laying off is shown below

Example - Consider a Run of 7 8 9 on the table, then a 6 or 5 and 6 or even 5 6 and 10 can be added to the Run as these in turn make a valid meld.

In another case if there is a set of 3 3 3 on the table, only a 3 can be added to this set and there is no fifth card that can be added. This applies even when played with two decks and in such a situation if the player encounters with threes even after having a set of 4 threes on the table, the player can altogether make another meld of threes. The cards can never be moved between the melds.

There is no limit on the cards that can be laid off in a single turn. When laying off a card, situations may arise where the card can be added to more than one meld. It lies with the player as which meld he chooses to add his card. For example consider a run 5 6 7 and a set 8 8 8 on the table and if the player has a 8 in his hand he has the complete discretion as for which meld he wants to add the card, but once placed the card cannot be moved.

Jokers () are wild cards in the game and can stand for any card in order of forming a meld. The player melding a joker has to declare the rank of the card he wants the joker to replace as this cannot be changed later by any of the players.

(3) Discarding (Compulsory) - After drawing a card the player moves down along his hand to decide which card is least needed and discards it. This discard is put face up on the table thus completing his turn the player passes the turn on to player on his left. Once the player discards, his turn ends and he can not play until his next turn.

Drawing from the Discard Pile

Drawing a card from the discard pile is explained here in detail with an example:

Consider the discard pile with the cards J 5 7 4 8 and the upcard being 5 and the player needs 4 in order to make a Set of three fours. Now he would take 4 8 and 5. The 4 completes his set and he places it in the meld area on the table. The 8 and 5 remain in the hand and then if the player discards 8 to complete the turn, the new discard pile becomes J 5 7 and the upcard now being 8.

Ending the Hand

The game ends as soon as the player melds to his last card or discards his last. In another case when the stock pile runs out and the player on his turn wants to draw a card from the stock, there is no stock and the game ends. As the game ends no cards can be melded. The cards remained in the players hand score against them even if they could have formed a set or a sequence. If the deadwood count is more than the total score of the melded cards, the score runs in to the negative. The hands are played until one of the players reaches the target score of 500 points, the play continues till there is a firm winner who crosses or equals the points.

Scoring

The point values of the cards are assigned according to the authoritative Rummy 500 rules.

Cards

Value

Example 1

Example 2

Jokers

15 points

is worth 15 points

Aces

15 points

is worth 15 points

Faces

10 points

is worth 10 points

Others

Pip value

is worth 3 points

is worth 7 points

The Jack, Queen and King, has the value of 10 points each. For the Ace and Joker, it is15 points each. As with an ace the player scores 1 point if he melds the ace with a 2 or a 3 and scores 15 points if melds with K and Q. The rest of the cards have their own rank value (called pip value) i.e. 3

has the value of 3 points, and the 4

card has the value of 4 points, and so on.

Other House Rules

The rules discussed till are a part of the standard Rummy 500 rules and are sufficient for the online play of the game which can be played here at Rummy.net. The following sections can be helpful if any of the players is willing to go for an offline play and even then it relies on the players interests whether to introduce these rules or not:

(1) Some of the house rules say that a player cannot draw from the discard pile untill he can meld the card The card the player wants to meld has to be taken along with the cards above it. This rule applies even when he wants to pick the top card from the discard pile (the upcard). If he can not meld the card on the discard pile, he must go for the stock. In the standard rules (before this section) this is not case where the player can pick the top card of the discard pile whether he melds it or not.

(2) A player to go out has to discard. A player without a card for discard must remain a floater until his turn arrives and this continues till a card comes up that can be meld and there is a discard to end the game. It is illegal to simply draw the upcard and discard it in the same turn to end the game.

(3) According to some house rules the player need not specify the suit in a condition arising as where two jokers melded with another card, for example: 5 . Every time joker has to represent a specific card; and thus in a case cannot be meld against a four card set.

(4) According to some house rules, a player cannot discard the same card he picked from the discard pile on the same turn. This is not an issue if he draws more than just the upcard from the discard pile.

(5) Some house rules offer that if the stock pile exhausts, the top card of the discard pile is set aside and the remainder of the discard pile is shuffled and turned face down to become the new stock pile. The top card again starts a new discard pile.

(6) A version of the Rummy 500 game is played which has a feature known as "Rummy in the Pile". This feature is not a part of standard Rummy 500 included in most of the authoritative card game books.

The feature can be explained on considering a situation, think that a player discards a card to end his turn and the discard pile has the cards which can melded without requiring any additional card from the player’s hand. In such a case any player other the one who has discarded can proclaim "Rummy" and lift the discard pile from the card the meld can be formed. This player then completes his turn on discarding a card. The next turn to play is of the one to the player’s left who has called "Rummy!" and the turn moves clockwise from there. This cannot happen, that is a player cannot call "Rummy!" when the game ends. When a player discards or melds his last card, the game ends and he is not concerned with what is left in the pile. Two examples as how "Rummy In The Pile" works is shown below:

(a) If there is sequence of 4 5 6 on the meld area and someone discards a 3 or a 7 then any player other than the one discarded may call "Rummy!" to take the card and meld it.

(b) On a players turn, if he has 6 and 7 in the hand, and draws 5 from stock and there is already a 4 buried in the pile then if he melds 5 6 7 in his turn, then anyone can call "Rummy!", and take the 4 from the pile (and all cards above it) to add it to the meld. But the player who has placed the meld of 5, 6 and 7 cannot immediately proclaim "Rummy". The player can do this once the player to his left has taken his turn without spotting the card.

CLICK HERE & PLAY FOR FREE!