Rules for Rummy 500
Number of players: Rummy 500 is played by two to four players at a time.
The deck: one full deck of cards including 2 jokers.
The Objective: The winner of a game is the first player to reach or exceed the predetermined target score (single tourney) or whoever has the highest score at the end of the game (ring game). You do that by melding cards on the table in sets, runs and builders - at any time (unlike other rummy games such as Kalooki 40 and Kalooki 51 in which you need to reach a certain amount of points before you can go down or build for the first time).
Card Value: The value of each card in a meld is its face number. Face cards (Jack, Queen, King) are each worth 10 points, the Ace is worth 1/ 11 points respectively and Jokers get the value of the cards they represent. Please note, if an Ace appears in a run before 2 and 3, its value will be 1 and not 11.
| The four suits |
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| The cards and their values |
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2 points 3 points 4 points 5 points 6 points
7 points 8 points 9 points 10 points 10 points
10 points 10 points 1/11/15 points 15 points
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| A set consists of 3 or more cards of the same rank |
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OR
| A run consists of 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit |
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OR
The play
According to the rules of Rummy 500 every player starts the game with 7 cards while the rest of the cards form the deck from which players draw cards during the game. One card is placed facing up in the beginning of the game to form the discard pile.
A turn of Rummy 500 is divided into three:
*Drawing - Players start their turn by drawing a card. They can choose between taking a card from the deck or by taking the first card from the discard pile.
It is possible to draw any card from the discard pile under two conditions:
1. A player choosing to pick up a card from the middle of the discard pile must also pick up all the cards that were placed on top of the card.
2. In case a player picks up more than one card from the discard pile at once, the card that was chosen (the bottom most card) must be used in a meld or as a builder or to switch a joker in the same turn that it was picked up in. However, if a player draws just the top card from the discard pile, they can use it to build on a meld, switch a joker or keep it in their hand without melding it right away, but can not discard it in the same turn.
*Building - This is adding cards onto existing melds. Players can build onto melds at any time even if they have yet to make a proper meld. During a turn, after a player draws a card, they can lay down cards on to the meld area. Players can either lay down valid melds or add single cards to existing melds (building). The player that adds the builder receives the points for the card that they added.
*Discarding - Every turn must be completed by discarding a card onto the discard pile. A card that was picked up from the discard pile cannot be thrown again on the same turn. If several cards were picked up the player is allowed to discard any one of the cards they picked up except for the card they originally clicked on.
Victory and Scoring
A game can consist of several rounds.
A round ends when:
*No more cards are left in the deck.
*One of the players has no more cards
in his or her hand (after discarding the last card).
Round
score: The formula for calculating round score is simple: The
sum of the cards you melded on the table (in sets, runs and builders)
minus the sum of cards remianing in your hand (penalty points) at the
end of a round. When calculating the round score for remaining cards in
your hand, the Ace and the Joker are both worth 15 penalty points each.
It is also important that you keep in mind that when a rounds ends you
could have a negative score in the event that the value of the remaining
cards in your hand is higher than the value of the melds that you put
down.
Winning the game: In Single Tourneys, the game is won when a player collects the games target points. If more than one player reaches or exceedes the target points, the player with the highest score wins. In Quick Games, the winner is the players who accumulated the highest score when the game is over (1-3 rounds). In Multi Tourneys, the winner is the last player to stay at the final table.
In the event of a tie:
Ring
games - In a tie game the prize is distributed equally between the tied
players.
Single Tourneys - In a tie game,
players who did not reach the highest score will be removed from the
table and the players who tied will play tie breaker rounds until there
is a winner.
Multi Table Tourney - In the event
of a tie, the player with the highest score from their melds and
builders is the winner. If there is still a tie the player holding the
lowest amount of card value in their hand is the winner.
Chip
division in Multi Table Tourney
The chips are divided only
after all of the scores have been tallied. The winner of the round is
the player with the highest number of target points. Once the scores
have been tallied the winner receives chips from their opponent. The
chips division is calculated according to the difference between the
losing players scores and the winners scores multiplied by the PCR
(point chip ratio).
For example: John
won the round (in this specific round PCR = 3) and has 100 points. David
has 70 points and Bob has 60 points. David gives John 90 chips (30
point difference multiplied by the PCR). Bob gives John 120 chips.
Example
2: Rachel won the round with 60 points (PCR = 2). Marvin has 0
points and George has -10 points. Marvin gives Rachel 120 chips. George
gives Rachel 140 chips.
