Overview
Gin Rummy in Cardems is a two-player game against an opponent. Each round is a draw-and-discard race to make melds and reduce deadwood; the first player to reach 100 total points wins the match.
Objective
Make legal melds, leave as little deadwood as possible, and end a round by knocking with 10 or fewer deadwood points or by going Gin with zero. Accumulate 100 points before your opponent.
Setup
Cardems shuffles one 52-card deck and deals 10 cards to you and 10 to the opponent. One card starts face up in the discard pile; the remaining 31 cards form the stock. You take the first turn.
How to Play
- On your draw step, take the top card from the stock or the top discard.
- You now hold 11 cards. Discard one card to return to 10 cards.
- A card drawn from the discard pile cannot be discarded on that same turn.
- A meld is either a set of three or four cards of the same rank, or a same-suit run of three or more consecutive ranks.
- After a legal discard, knock with deadwood of 10 or fewer. Use Gin only when the remaining deadwood is exactly 0.
In Cardems, Ace is always low, so Q–K–A does not form a run. A card cannot belong to more than one meld; the app chooses the non-overlapping meld combination with the lowest deadwood total.
Knocking, Gin, and Layoffs
When a player knocks, the defender's best melds are determined. Unless the knocker went Gin, the defender may lay off deadwood cards onto the knocker's melds: onto either end of a run or into a set that has fewer than four cards.
If the knocker's final deadwood is lower, the knocker scores the difference. If the defender's final deadwood is equal to or lower, it is an undercut: the defender scores the difference plus a 25-point bonus. A Gin scores the opponent's deadwood plus a 25-point bonus, and the defender does not lay off cards.
Scoring and Winning
| Result | Points awarded |
|---|---|
| Successful knock | Defender’s final deadwood minus knocker’s deadwood |
| Gin | Defender’s deadwood plus 25 |
| Undercut | Knocker’s deadwood minus defender’s final deadwood, plus 25 |
| Stock exhausted draw | 0 |
For example, if you knock with 7 deadwood and the opponent has 18 after layoffs, you score 11. If both finish on 7, the opponent undercuts and scores 25. The match ends when either total reaches 100 or more.
Cardems declares a zero-point drawn round when the stock is empty after a normal discard. It does not recycle the discard pile into a new stock.
Strategy
Watch what the opponent takes from the discard pile, but do not assume every pickup reveals a complete meld. When your deadwood reaches 10 or less, compare the safety of an immediate knock with the risk that the opponent can undercut after layoffs.
Variations
Cardems uses a two-player Gin Rummy ruleset with a 10-point knock limit, Gin, defender layoffs after an ordinary knock, and a 25-point Gin or undercut bonus. It does not offer Oklahoma Gin, Big Gin, a different knock threshold, or difficulty selection.
FAQ
Can I discard the card I just picked up from the discard pile?
No. That exact card is blocked from being discarded that turn. A card drawn from stock is not subject to that restriction.
What counts as a meld?
A set is three or four of one rank. A run is three or more consecutive cards in one suit. Melds cannot overlap.
Can the defender lay off after Gin?
No. Cardems permits layoffs only after an ordinary knock, not after Gin.
What happens when the stock runs out?
After the next normal discard, Cardems ends the round as a draw for zero points; the discard pile is not recycled.
