Rummy 5000: How to Play

I've focused on video games lately. So, as some commenters' requested, here is some tabletop fun. How to play my favorite card game: Rummy 5000. The next post will explain Rummies, some special situations, and my "house rules" to handle them.

You Need

• Basic 52 card deck
• 2 or more people
• pen and paper for scoring
  

Main Objective

Reach 5000 points

Before Playing

Cut the cards to see who deals first. Aces are high.

Dealing

The dealer, wild card, and amount of cards dealt changes each hand.

• Deal the first person to the left one card face up.
  
• Deal the amount of cards (face down) shown on the face up card. For cards 2-10 deal the number on the card. Deal 10 for face cards; 15 for Aces.
  
• Repeat for each person.
• After the dealer has his cards, the dealer gives himself one more card, face up.
• This face up card determines the wild card for this round.
• Set the remaining cards in a face down stack.
  
• Flip over the top card (face up) beside the stack. This begins the discard pile.
  

Each Turn

• The first person to dealer's left goes first.
• Each turn, you may either draw a card from the stack or pick up a card (or cards) from the discard pile. *You may pick up the top card from the discard pile and add it to your hand. If you pick up cards farther down the pile, you must play the first card you pick up immediately.
• Lay down your runs or sets. Runs have 3 or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order. Sets are 3 or more cards of the same number (or rank)
  
• Play on other player's runs or sets. *You play these in your area, and count them as your points.
• Discard one card to the discard pile.
  

Ending the Hand

• Play until a person is out of cards at the end of their turn. *This includes the discard phase. If a person runs out of cards, but has not discarded, the hand continues. This person is now floating.
• The first person to go out gets all the cards left in the other players' hands.
  

Scoring

Count all the cards you played during the hand. If you "went out," also count the cards given to you by other players.

• Wild card = 200pts
• Ace = 100pts
• 2-7 = 5pts
• 8-K = 10pts