It’s hard to attribute general rules for Rummy games, we can’t forget that Rummy game is very general card game for huge family of Rummy games in different versions and different rules.
If we will try to define the Rummy rules anyway, we will find out that there are many basic rules that also accrue to the rest of Rummy game versions.

It’s possible to play Rummy from 2 players and up to 6 players when the most affective is up to 4 players. We play the game with 2 decks of cards (52 cards each) + 2 jokers. We have to remember that in many other Rummy versions the game played with 1 deck of cards only, but we are talking now about Rummy in general and it’s fit to the traditional Rummy version with 2 decks of cards.

The goal of Rummy game is very clear in all Rummy versions, and Rummy rules define exactly that the first player who get rid of all the cards in his hand he’s the winner, by lay them down with melds, adding cards to existing melds and be the first player to finish the cards, that’s the one who will be the winner, also available for other Rummy versions according Rummy rules.
The game started with shuffle all the cards, every player gets 10 cards (If 2 players) or 7 cards (If 3-4 players) or 6 cards (If 5-6 players). All the rest of the cards become to stock pile with face down when 1 card with face up and be the first card in the discarding stock pile.

Game process –

Rummy rules is very clear to all different Rummy versions, there are 3 moves that have to make in every turn:

1. Drawing card – in the beginning of every turn, player must draw a card from stock pile or from discarding pile before doing any other move.
2. Building melds – after drawing a card the player can lay down melds in the table, sets or runs, and get rid of penalty points. He can also add cards to existing melds, in this move the player can choose if to do it in the same turn or later on during the game.
3. Discarding card – in the end of every turn, the player have to discard 1 card to the discarding pile, that’s the move that finish his turn.

It’s important to remember that those moves made in every Rummy versions, and it doesn’t matter what is the rules of Rummy version.

Melds –

Melds can be made from 2 kinds: runs or sets.

Set – 3 or 4 cards from same value but with different shapes like: 7 Heart, 7 Diamond and 7 Spades.
Run – 3 or more cards from same shape for like: 3-4-5-6-7 in shape of spades.

Adding cards –

In Rummy rules, another way to get rid of cards is to add cards that don’t match to any meld in your hand, but do match to melds that already exist on the tables that was made by other players. Example for it: if you have the card 5 Diamond and on the table there’s a meld of 6-7-8 Diamonds so you have the chance to add your card to this meld in your turn and when the minimum requirements were made (Melding 51 points in Kalooki 51 for example).

The end of the game –

So as we mentioned earlier, the game ends when the first player gets rid from all the cards in his hand, to the rest of the players we count the penalty points that left in their hands. For every card different value and it’s also changed from version to version. Rummy rules regarding this issue are the same for all versions, we must count penalty points to the losers.

Hunt –

The hunt move is a move when the player lay down all the cards in his hand in one time and in the same turn. This move gives the player more points and more penalty points to the losers.

* very important to mention that Rummy rules change from version to version, there are basic rules that generally fit to all different Rummy versions with some small different that highlight the goal of the same Rummy version. The rules of Rummy we mentioned in this article are for the traditional Rummy game in general and we recommend reading the rules of every Rummy version before start playing.