OBJECTIVE OF 5000 RUMMY: The objective of 5000 Rummy is to score a total of 5000 points to win the game.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 or 8 players
MATERIALS: One to Two 52-card decks, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.
TYPE OF GAME: Draw and Discard Card Game
AUDIENCE: 13+
OVERVIEW OF 5000 RUMMY
5000 Rummy is a Rummy style card gamer where the goal is to score 5000 points to win. Players do this by melding cards from their hands and potentially scoring points for cards left in other player’s hands as well.
This game differs in two key ways from other Rummy style games. These differences are in hand size and wild card determination and score values.
SETUP
To set up the dealer is chosen randomly. The dealer will then shuffle the deck(s), there should be one deck for 3 to 4 players or two decks for 5 to 8 players, and dealer out hands. The dealing process differs from most games because the players will receive their full hands in one deal.
To deal hands the dealer will give the first card face up to the player and determined by that card deal them a hand equal to its value. Numeric cards result in a hand equal to its value, face cards are equal to 10 cards, and Aces result in 11 more cards being dealt o the player. For example, if the first card a player receives is a 5 of spades then that player is dealt 5 additional cards face down in front of them.
All players will receive their hands in this manner including the dealer. The dealer’s revealed card however also indicates the wild card for the round. If the card revealed is a king, then all kings are wild for this round of the game.
The remaining cards are placed in a facedown stockpile in the center of the table and the top card should be flipped to begin a discard pile.
All cards then are taken into players’ hands including the revealed card for each player and the game can begin.
Card Rankings
The ranking for 5000 Rummy is a traditional one. Aces are high or low meaning they can be used as the top-ranking card or bottom ranking card. They are then followed by Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, 7s, 6s, 5s, 4s, 3s, and 2s.
GAMEPLAY
The play is very similar to other Rummy games. The player on the left of the dealer will start the game following around is a clockwise order. Each player will have three sections to their turn to complete. The first being drawing cards, the second playing melds, and the third discarding a card.
Drawing Cards
The first thing a player will do on their turn is draw cards. Players have two options for this, they may either draw one card from the top of the stockpile or they may draw one or multiple cards from the discard pile.
If drawing from the stockpile there are no restrictions. You simply draw your card, add it to your hand, and continue playing.
If, however you draw cards from the discard pile there are some restrictions to follow. If you only take the top card from the discard pile then there is no restriction to drawing the card, however, this same card cannot be then discarded at the end of the same turn. If you wish to draw more than one card from the discard pile the lowest card drawn must be used that turn in a meld otherwise it is an invalid turn. All other cards on top of the lowest card must also be drawn and taken into your hand. Any of these cards, except of course the lowest drawn, may then be discarded at the end of turn.
Melds
Melds are the way to play out cards from your hand to score points. Melds can be one of two things, sets or runs.
Sets are when there are three or more of the same rank as the card being played. For example, a player may play out a 6 of hearts, diamonds, and spades. This is a set.
Runs are a series of cards in order of rank in the same suit. A valid example of a run would be Jack, 10 and 9 of diamonds.
All melds are placed in front of the player playing them for scoring later.
Wild Cards
In every round, there are wild cards, which can change depending on what card is revealed by the dealer at the start of the round. These wild cards can be played in place of a card in any circumstance. Say in the above scenario you are missing the 10 of diamonds, a wild card could be played in place of it to complete the meld.
If you have the card that is representing a wild card in a meld you may also place that card in front of you for scoring, this does not void the wild card though, which stays in play.
Playing on Melds
You may also play cards from your hand onto other players melds, just as you can play onto your own. To do this, you must announce to the table what card you are playing and to what meld, then this card will be placed in front of you for scoring.
This cannot be done however, till you as a player, have played a meld in front of yourself.
Discarding Cards
After cards have been played a player will end their turn by discarding one card to the discard pile. A stated above if a player draws only one card from the discard then this card cannot be discarded built there are no other restrictions on discarding cards.
Rummy Call
If a card that could have been used in a meld is discarded, other players who have played melds in front of themselves may call rummy. If they do, they may take the card, announce where it is being played and play it in front of them for scoring.
End of the Round
There are two ways for a round to end, either a player discards their last card (called going out), or once the stockpile is exhausted a player cannot or wishes not to draw from the discard pile. If either occurs, then the round ends immediately, and scoring begins.
If a player plays and does not discard their last card in hand this does not end the round. This is called floating and means the player must continue playing drawing cards from the stockpile till they can properly discard a card to go out.
SCORING
After the round is concluded players will score their melds. There are points attributed to cards for their purpose.
Aces and wild cards are worth 100 points, but if aces are wild then they are worth 200. Kings, Queens, Jacks, and 10s are worth 10 points and all other numeric cards that are not wilds are worth 5 points.
If a player ended the game by going out, then that player scores all the points of the cards in other players’ unused hands.
END OF GAME
The game ends when a player successfully reaches 5000 points. If multiple players reach it during the same round the player with the higher total wins.
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