Gin Rummy is the classic two-player card game of melds and deadwood. You draw and discard, quietly building sets and runs, until your leftover cards are worth little enough to knock — or nothing at all, which is gin. Play it free here against a genuine computer opponent: no download, no signup, with hints, hand-sort and full-screen.
How to play Gin Rummy
Each player gets ten cards. On your turn you draw one card — from the stock or the top of the discard pile — then discard one, keeping your hand at ten. You are trying to form melds: a set of three or four cards of the same rank, or a run of three or more consecutive cards in one suit. Cards left over are your deadwood. When your deadwood totals ten points or fewer you may knock to end the hand; if every card is melded you go gin for a bonus. Aces are low and worth one, face cards are worth ten.
Gin Rummy strategy & tips
Keep cards that can go more than one way — a 7♥ that could join 6♥-8♥ or a set of sevens keeps your options open. Watch the discards closely: the rank your opponent takes tells you what they are building, and a card refused twice is safe to throw. Against an unknown opponent it is often right to knock early with low deadwood rather than chase gin — but if your deadwood is already tiny and an undercut looks unlikely, holding for gin pays a bigger bonus. Prefer a twist? Try Oklahoma Gin or the knock-free Straight Gin.
Knocking, going gin and the undercut
Knocking is a gamble. After you knock, your opponent lays off any of their deadwood onto your melds and the difference in deadwood is scored to you. But if they end up with equal or less deadwood than you, they score an undercut bonus instead — so a hasty knock can hand the hand to the other player. Going gin removes that risk entirely: with zero deadwood your opponent cannot lay off, and you take the gin bonus. Games run to 100 points across several hands.