Rummy is played with a pack of tiles you can buy at a game store, or two decks of playing cards.

The game is played with 106 tiles numbered from 1 to 13 in four different colours, each tile appearing twice, and two joker ☺︎ tiles.

The game can be played counter or clockwise. The document will assume it's played counterclockwise.

All tiles are placed on the table, face down, shuffled and then arranged in stacks of seven. It will result in 15 stacks of 7 plus one extra tile. Arrange the 15 stacks in a row.

The dealer, a player chosen randomly, uses the number on the extra tile to count from either end of the row of stacks. The top tile from the landing stack gets moved to the next stack and the counting tile is placed on the landing stack face up. The tile used for counting is called "trump" tile and has a special role explained later on. If the trump tile is 1, the game has double value (positive or negative).
If the extra tile happens to be a ☺︎, the dealer takes 2-3 stacks and mixes it back in the game and tries again.
The dealer then gives the stack with 8 tiles to the player on his right, and continues distributing one stack to each player until everyone has 2 stacks.
The player on the right of the dealer has 15 tiles, while everyone else has 14.
One last stack is placed on top of the row and it will be used later in the game.

Each player arranges the tiles on his board. The scope of the game is to form groups of 3 or more tiles in sequences and/or sets.

Sequences are groups of 3 or more tiles of the same colour and sequential numbers. Like the 🃁 in card games, tile 1 can be used before 2 or after 13.

Sets are groups of 3 or 4 of the same number but different colour.

If a player has the trump tile he will show it to the other players and then place it back on his board. At the end of the game he will receive 50 points, regardless if he wins the game or not. Once the game starts, having the trump tile is irrelevant. Make a note on the scoring sheet to remember which player had the trump tile.

Tiles that are EXACTLY the same (same colour AND same number) are called "doubles" and can be exchanged between players. Both parties MUST have double tiles. A player would announce that he has a "small" (1 - 5), "medium" (6 - 9), or a "big" (10 - 13) double and wait for other players to announce as well. (Tip: rarely 1 will be exchanged as these are more valuable.)

The players can choose to exchange one or more doubles, with one or more players, "big" for "big", "big" for "small" or any combination. The exchange of doubles is optional and can be done only before the game has actually started. Once the doubles have been exchanged, the game can start. The player with 15 tiles discards one tile and places it on the table. This is the "locomotive".
The next player, on the right side of the first player, takes a tile from the top stack, places it on his board and discards one by placing it after the locomotive to start the "train". The game continues with players taking turns.
No other actions are allowed in the first round.
After one round (each player has picked and discarded one tile) the game enters a new phase.
A player MUST take a tile before doing anything else and ends it's turn by discarding one tile.
After the first round, instead of taking a tile from the stack, a player is allowed to take the last tile discarded by the player on his left.
Once he has taken a tile from the player on his left, he needs to display or announce he will be playing on the board (explained later). The tile taken from the previous player must be used in forming the display groups.

To display, the player needs to have enough groups to get 45 points.
Tiles are valued as such:

• 1 before 2 = 5 points
• 2 … 9 = 5 points
• 10 … 13 = 10 points
• 1 after 13 = 10 points
• 1 in a set = 10 points each (1-1- 1 = 30 points)
• ☺︎ takes the value of the replaced tile

If the player displays only sets, he needs at least 3 sets. If the points are enough, he could, for example, have as little as a single sequence (9-10-11-12-13 - 45 points), but for sets a minimum of 3 sets is required even if 2 sets would give enough points. Both sets and sequences can contain ☺︎.

After a player has first displayed, he has to wait his next round before performing other actions.
One way to increase the number of points is to stitch tiles to the existing displayed groups.

A set can have a max of 4 tiles, so at max, a player can stitch one extra tile if 3 tiles are displayed. If 4 tiles are displayed in a set, then that set is considered closed and no stitching can be done to it anymore.

For sequences, tiles can be added until the sequence reaches either end, with 1 being the last tile to be stitched before a 2 or after a 13.

The player will need to take back the equal amount of points that he has added and set them face down next to his board. These will be counted at the end of the game.
If the tile stitched is 1, the 13 or 2 that is before or after, will be flipped face down and the player takes back his 1 ( 25 points)
Another method of adding points is to "break" the train, which means taking discarded tiles to form new groups. These will be displayed and will contribute to the players total points.
To do so, a player needs to contribute a minimum of 2 tiles from the board and use one (or more) from the train. The player will need to collect all the tiles discarded after the first tile he needs, and use them to create more groups, stitch them or place them on his board for later use. There are no restrictions on how the extra tiles are used.
If a sequence contains a ☺︎, this can be borrowed by any player that has the tile being replaced by the ☺︎.

If a set contains a ☺︎, this can be borrowed by any player that has the tiles needed to complete the set (4 tiles). Either one or two tiles may be needed to complete the set.
If 2 tiles are needed, a player can still stitch a single tile, but only the player that stitches the second tile will take the ☺︎.

The borrowed ☺︎ needs to be used immediately in displaying a new group and can't be used for stitching.
A player MUST let the other players know everytime he ends up with 3 or less tiles on his board.

If a player has 3 or less tiles, he's no longer allowed to take tiles from the train, unless he takes the entire train (leave the locomotive), but he must immediately display a new set or sequence by contributing at least one tile (instead of the usual 2).
When a player wins the game (all his tiles have been used) the last discard tile is the winning tile and it's worth 50 points.
Once a player wins the game, all players count their own points by adding the displayed tiles, including those stitched, (positive value) and subtracting those left on the board (negative value).
The winner gets an extra 50 points. The value of the tile used to end the game is not counted.
If a player has announced the trump tile at the beginning of the game gets extra 50 points.
Tiles are valued as follows:

• 2 … 9 = 5 points
• 10 … 13 = 10 points
• 1 = 25 points (regardless of how it was used)
• ☺︎ = 50 points
  

10+10+10 + 25+5+5+5 + 5+10+10+10 + 10+10+50 = 175 points

If a player has not displayed anything (he still has 14 tiles on the board) he gets -100 points.

If the winner ends the game with a ☺︎ (the only time the ending tile face value matters) his own points double.

If the trump tile is 1, the points double for all the players, including minus points. (135 points become 270 points, -40 points, become -80 points)
Alternatively, a player can play "on the board", without displaying any tiles during the game. The player does not need to announce that he's playing on the board unless he takes the last tile from the player in front of him. When playing on the board, he can only take the last tile from the player before him but has the option of using the trump tile as the last tile if he needs it.
The purpose of playing on the board is to form special combinations in order to win more points.

The possible combinations are:

• minors (200 points): all tiles form groups below 10 (exclusive)
• bicolor (400 points) : all tiles form sequences of only 2 colours.
• majors (500 points): all tiles form groups above 10 (inclusive)
• monocolor (650 points): all tiles form sequences of a single colour.

There are 2 special combinations that are not formed of groups.

• mozaic (300 points): the 14 tiles form a single sequence of tiles from 1 to 1 with each tile being of a different colour than the neighbours, the first 4 and last 4 tiles being of the 4 available colours and the 2 ends (the 1 tiles) of 2 different colours. No ☺︎ is allowed in the first and last 4.

• doubles (800 points): 7 pairs of doubles

A "normal" hand with groups can be done on board, but the points are low, just 100 points (regardless of the face value of the tiles) or 75 points if a ☺︎ is used.

The tile used to win can be anything regardless of the type of game.
Same rules as per display games: the ☺︎ would double the points, so would the 1 as trump and if a player has announced trump tile at the beginning of the game, gets the extra 50 points.
No extra 50 points for winning is awarded when playing on the board.

If the player announces that he's playing on the board, and does not win, his score is -200 points.

In the first round, a player cannot display or take a tile from other players but he could, theoretically, end the game in the first round if he is "served" a perfect hand.

When tiles run out, the tiles from the train, except the locomotive, are mixed and placed back in the game. If the game stretches too long, there's a chance tiles completely run out - none left to draw and none in the train. In this case the game ends without a winner and all players count their points, but nobody adds the extra 50 points.

❇︎ ❇︎ ❇︎ Have fun! ❇︎ ❇︎ ❇︎