Solitaire Arcade
Learn how to play Gin Rummy on Solitaire Arcade. Draw, discard, knock at 10 deadwood or less, and race to 100 with gin, undercut, and box scoring.
You and one opponent each hold ten cards. Every turn you draw one and discard one. The hand ends when someone knocks with 10 or less in unmatched cards, or goes gin with every card in a meld. Stop after a single hand, or keep score until someone reaches 100. Once you know when a knock is legal, play Gin Rummy against the computer and take that call yourself.
Two players, one 52-card deck. Melds stay in your hand until someone knocks. That is the usual split from basic Rummy, where combinations go face up as you make them. If the names blur together, Gin Rummy vs Rummy is the short comparison.
You are not trying to empty every card onto the table. You are trying to get your deadwood (the cards that do not fit a meld) down to 10 or less so you can knock, or down to zero for gin. The shared discard will feel familiar if you know How to Play Crazy Eights, but that game is won by emptying the hand, not by knocking with low deadwood.
Ace is low. Each player is dealt 10 cards. The next card is turned face up as the upcard. The rest of the deck is the stock.
On the first hand the opponent deals, so you act first. You may take that upcard or pass. If you pass, they get the same choice. If you both pass, you draw from the stock to start. After a scored hand, the winner deals the next one.
A set is three or four cards of the same rank, like three 9s. A run is three or more consecutive cards of the same suit, like the 4-5-6 of clubs. Ace-2-3 counts as a run. Queen-King-Ace does not, because Ace is low only. Any given card can sit in only one meld.
Deadwood is the point value of every card left outside a meld. Ace is 1. Two through nine are face value. Ten, jack, queen, and king are each 10. On Solitaire Arcade the hand view groups your best melds so you can see that total while you decide whether to keep drawing or end the hand.
Draw one card from the stock, or take the face-up card from the discard pile. Then discard one card face up. You cannot throw back the upcard you just took on that same turn.
That draw-and-discard rhythm is ordinary play. You arrange melds in your hand as you go. Nothing is laid out on the table until someone knocks or goes gin.
After you draw, you may knock if the 10 cards you keep total 10 or less. The card you knock with goes face down. Knocking is optional; you can keep playing for a lower count or for gin.
Gin means all ten cards are in melds. The opponent cannot lay off against gin. On an ordinary knock they arrange their own melds and may add unmatched cards onto yours. Those layoffs cut their deadwood before the hand is scored.
If your deadwood is strictly lower, you score the difference. If you are equal or higher, they undercut you and score the difference plus 10. Gin scores their full deadwood plus 25.
Worked examples for those three results, plus boxes and the game bonus, are in How Gin Rummy Scoring Works.
Hand points count toward 100. Each hand you win also earns a box of 20, but boxes do not count toward 100. When someone reaches 100, the boxes are added, and the winner takes a game bonus of 100, or 200 if the opponent is still on 0.
You can also play a single hand. That scores only the hand: no boxes, no game bonus.
Many published tables use 25 for the undercut and 25 per box. Solitaire Arcade uses 10 for the undercut and 20 per box, with gin still at 25. If you sit down elsewhere, agree which numbers you are using before the first deal.
If only two stock cards remain and the player to act cannot knock with the upcard, the hand is a draw. The same dealer deals again. Nobody scores.
You are dealt ten cards. The upcard is the 7 of hearts. You pass. The opponent also passes, so you draw from the stock.
A few turns later you hold three 9s, the 4-5-6 of clubs, and unmatched cards that total 8. After the draw you knock, discarding face down. The opponent lays off a 7 of clubs onto your run. Their remaining deadwood is 14. You score 14 − 8 = 6.
If instead all ten of your cards were in melds, that would be gin: their full deadwood plus 25, and no layoffs allowed.
Choose Easy, Medium, or Hard, then one hand or a race to 100. The rules do not change with difficulty. The opponent just gets more careful about which discards are safe and when to knock.
Hint suggests a useful play, not merely a legal one. The hand view keeps your best melds grouped so the deadwood total stays in view while you decide.
A loose king is 10 deadwood if the hand ends now, so early discards often shed face cards before they sit in the score. Take the upcard when it finishes a meld or drops you into knock range. Taking it only to hold a vague pair tells the opponent what you are building.
Knock when your count is low enough and they have not been scooping every discard. Sitting on 2 or 3 deadwood while you wait for gin can lose the hand if they knock first. Gin Rummy Strategy: When to Knock covers that timing call in more detail.
Treating Queen-King-Ace as a run spends three cards that are not a meld. Ace is low only.
Knocking at 9 or 10 after they have picked up several discards invites a layoff that undercuts you. Your count is fixed when you knock. Theirs can still fall.
Holding out for gin when the stock is nearly empty risks a drawn hand and no score for either of you. A legal knock beats a cancel.
Do I have to knock when I can?
No. Knocking is optional. You may play on for gin, or for a lower count, knowing they may knock first.
Can the opponent lay off after gin?
No. Gin blocks layoffs. You score their full deadwood plus 25.
What if both players have the same deadwood after a knock?
That is an undercut. The opponent scores the difference (0) plus 10.
Does a box count toward 100?
No. Boxes are added after someone reaches 100. Only hand scores, including gin and undercut points, count on the way there.
What happens when two stock cards are left?
The player to act may take the upcard only in order to knock. Otherwise the hand is a draw and is dealt again.
The knock rule is easy to recite and harder to trust in a live hand. You will sit on 8 or 9 deadwood, wonder whether to end it, and then watch the other seat pick up the discard you needed. A few real hands beat another pass through the FAQ.
Play Gin Rummy against the computer when you want that call under your fingers. Start with one hand if you only want the rhythm, or play to 100 when you want boxes and the game bonus in the mix. For the timing behind early knocks versus waiting on gin, Gin Rummy Strategy: When to Knock is the next read.
Deadwood, knock, gin, undercut, boxes, and the race to 100 the way Solitaire Arcade counts Gin Rummy.
When to knock in Gin Rummy: read the deadwood count, watch what they pick up, and know when waiting for gin costs the hand.
Basic Rummy lays melds face up and empties the hand. Gin Rummy keeps them private until a knock. Same sets and runs, different finish.
Solitaire Arcade
Learn how to play Gin Rummy on Solitaire Arcade. Draw, discard, knock at 10 deadwood or less, and race to 100 with gin, undercut, and box scoring.
You and one opponent each hold ten cards. Every turn you draw one and discard one. The hand ends when someone knocks with 10 or less in unmatched cards, or goes gin with every card in a meld. Stop after a single hand, or keep score until someone reaches 100. Once you know when a knock is legal, play Gin Rummy against the computer and take that call yourself.
Two players, one 52-card deck. Melds stay in your hand until someone knocks. That is the usual split from basic Rummy, where combinations go face up as you make them. If the names blur together, Gin Rummy vs Rummy is the short comparison.
You are not trying to empty every card onto the table. You are trying to get your deadwood (the cards that do not fit a meld) down to 10 or less so you can knock, or down to zero for gin. The shared discard will feel familiar if you know How to Play Crazy Eights, but that game is won by emptying the hand, not by knocking with low deadwood.
Ace is low. Each player is dealt 10 cards. The next card is turned face up as the upcard. The rest of the deck is the stock.
On the first hand the opponent deals, so you act first. You may take that upcard or pass. If you pass, they get the same choice. If you both pass, you draw from the stock to start. After a scored hand, the winner deals the next one.
A set is three or four cards of the same rank, like three 9s. A run is three or more consecutive cards of the same suit, like the 4-5-6 of clubs. Ace-2-3 counts as a run. Queen-King-Ace does not, because Ace is low only. Any given card can sit in only one meld.
Deadwood is the point value of every card left outside a meld. Ace is 1. Two through nine are face value. Ten, jack, queen, and king are each 10. On Solitaire Arcade the hand view groups your best melds so you can see that total while you decide whether to keep drawing or end the hand.
Draw one card from the stock, or take the face-up card from the discard pile. Then discard one card face up. You cannot throw back the upcard you just took on that same turn.
That draw-and-discard rhythm is ordinary play. You arrange melds in your hand as you go. Nothing is laid out on the table until someone knocks or goes gin.
After you draw, you may knock if the 10 cards you keep total 10 or less. The card you knock with goes face down. Knocking is optional; you can keep playing for a lower count or for gin.
Gin means all ten cards are in melds. The opponent cannot lay off against gin. On an ordinary knock they arrange their own melds and may add unmatched cards onto yours. Those layoffs cut their deadwood before the hand is scored.
If your deadwood is strictly lower, you score the difference. If you are equal or higher, they undercut you and score the difference plus 10. Gin scores their full deadwood plus 25.
Worked examples for those three results, plus boxes and the game bonus, are in How Gin Rummy Scoring Works.
Hand points count toward 100. Each hand you win also earns a box of 20, but boxes do not count toward 100. When someone reaches 100, the boxes are added, and the winner takes a game bonus of 100, or 200 if the opponent is still on 0.
You can also play a single hand. That scores only the hand: no boxes, no game bonus.
Many published tables use 25 for the undercut and 25 per box. Solitaire Arcade uses 10 for the undercut and 20 per box, with gin still at 25. If you sit down elsewhere, agree which numbers you are using before the first deal.
If only two stock cards remain and the player to act cannot knock with the upcard, the hand is a draw. The same dealer deals again. Nobody scores.
You are dealt ten cards. The upcard is the 7 of hearts. You pass. The opponent also passes, so you draw from the stock.
A few turns later you hold three 9s, the 4-5-6 of clubs, and unmatched cards that total 8. After the draw you knock, discarding face down. The opponent lays off a 7 of clubs onto your run. Their remaining deadwood is 14. You score 14 − 8 = 6.
If instead all ten of your cards were in melds, that would be gin: their full deadwood plus 25, and no layoffs allowed.
Choose Easy, Medium, or Hard, then one hand or a race to 100. The rules do not change with difficulty. The opponent just gets more careful about which discards are safe and when to knock.
Hint suggests a useful play, not merely a legal one. The hand view keeps your best melds grouped so the deadwood total stays in view while you decide.
A loose king is 10 deadwood if the hand ends now, so early discards often shed face cards before they sit in the score. Take the upcard when it finishes a meld or drops you into knock range. Taking it only to hold a vague pair tells the opponent what you are building.
Knock when your count is low enough and they have not been scooping every discard. Sitting on 2 or 3 deadwood while you wait for gin can lose the hand if they knock first. Gin Rummy Strategy: When to Knock covers that timing call in more detail.
Treating Queen-King-Ace as a run spends three cards that are not a meld. Ace is low only.
Knocking at 9 or 10 after they have picked up several discards invites a layoff that undercuts you. Your count is fixed when you knock. Theirs can still fall.
Holding out for gin when the stock is nearly empty risks a drawn hand and no score for either of you. A legal knock beats a cancel.
Do I have to knock when I can?
No. Knocking is optional. You may play on for gin, or for a lower count, knowing they may knock first.
Can the opponent lay off after gin?
No. Gin blocks layoffs. You score their full deadwood plus 25.
What if both players have the same deadwood after a knock?
That is an undercut. The opponent scores the difference (0) plus 10.
Does a box count toward 100?
No. Boxes are added after someone reaches 100. Only hand scores, including gin and undercut points, count on the way there.
What happens when two stock cards are left?
The player to act may take the upcard only in order to knock. Otherwise the hand is a draw and is dealt again.
The knock rule is easy to recite and harder to trust in a live hand. You will sit on 8 or 9 deadwood, wonder whether to end it, and then watch the other seat pick up the discard you needed. A few real hands beat another pass through the FAQ.
Play Gin Rummy against the computer when you want that call under your fingers. Start with one hand if you only want the rhythm, or play to 100 when you want boxes and the game bonus in the mix. For the timing behind early knocks versus waiting on gin, Gin Rummy Strategy: When to Knock is the next read.
Deadwood, knock, gin, undercut, boxes, and the race to 100 the way Solitaire Arcade counts Gin Rummy.
When to knock in Gin Rummy: read the deadwood count, watch what they pick up, and know when waiting for gin costs the hand.
Basic Rummy lays melds face up and empties the hand. Gin Rummy keeps them private until a knock. Same sets and runs, different finish.
