If it's more than yours, you score the difference between the totals. Once this is done, your opponent puts down his or her melds, 'lays off' any cards they can on your melds, and then adds up their deadwood. At this point, you 'knock': lay down your melds and your deadwood, and discard your final card face down.
You need only make enough of them into melds so that your non-melded cards, also known as your deadwood, add up to no more than 10 (ace is one point, two to nine face value, 10s and royalty 10 points). You need not form all your cards into melds (explained above) in order to go out. If he also declines, the non-dealer takes the top of the stockpile, and play proceeds as above. The non-dealer may pick this up if they decline, the dealer may take it.
The exception is the first turn, when the dealer turns over the top of the stockpile to form the first card in the discard pile. In turn, each player draws a card either from the stockpile or the top of the discard pile, puts it in their hand, then discards a card. Not a bad fan club for a two-player game.īoth players get 10 cards. Even James Bond was at it (in Goldfinger and Live and Let Die).
Oliver Hardy's addiction to the game cost him thousands of dollars a week. So many classic films contain a scene where the male lead lays down his cards and casually declares 'Gin!'.
