Before the first deal
Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers. This beginner format is two-player Gin Rummy, not thirteen-card Indian Rummy. Keep a pencil or the round scorebook nearby. Agree the scoring profile before starting: our ledger uses Gin 20, Undercut 10 and a 100-point target, without final-game bonuses.
Build combinations in your hand
A set contains three or four cards of one rank. A run contains at least three consecutive cards of one suit. Aces are low; A-2-3 works, Q-K-A does not. A chosen arrangement cannot use one physical card twice. Cards outside its melds are deadwood: aces count one, numeral cards their value, and faces ten.
Deal and begin
Deal ten cards to each player and turn the next card face up beside the stock. The non-dealer has the first option on that upcard. If declined, the dealer may take it. If both pass, the non-dealer draws from the stock. A player who takes a card then discards to finish the turn. Keep the full procedure reference nearby while learning.
Draw, arrange, discard
On an ordinary turn take the stock’s top card or the visible top discard, then discard one card. In the baseline procedure followed here, a card just picked up from the discard pile cannot be immediately returned as that turn’s discard. Keep ten cards after the discard. The deadwood calculator analyzes that ten-card snapshot; it does not choose a discard from eleven cards.
Decide whether to end
After drawing, a player may end by making a legal discard and exposing a hand with ten or fewer deadwood. This is a knock. Zero deadwood is Gin. Being able to knock is optional rather than an obligation, and the calculator’s threshold message is conditional on the actual turn being legal.
Give the defender the correct step
After a non-Gin knock, the defender exposes melds and may lay off eligible unmatched cards onto the knocker’s melds. They may not add to deadwood to create a new meld. The knocker cannot lay off in return. Against Gin there is no defender layoff. Our tool does not automate this step: agree the resulting counts at the table.
Compare the counts
A non-Gin knocker with the lower count receives the difference. If the defender has an equal or lower final count, the defender undercuts and receives the difference plus the agreed undercut bonus. Gin receives its bonus plus the defender’s unmatched count. Read worked examples before entering a disputed result.
Know when a deal is void
In the baseline described by the full Gin reference, if the third-last stock card is drawn and the player discards without knocking, the two-card stock limit cancels the hand. No points are scored. Variations exist, so read the complete rule source for the actual session and dealer procedure. The ledger can record a void deal with zero points.
Learn one check at a time
Begin with sets and overlaps, try one calculator preset, and explain the remaining deadwood aloud. Use the short practice session for feedback. Neither a low count nor a good quiz score predicts a win against another person.