Home / Guides
Rummy Guides
These pages explain Indian Rummy in writing. Open a practice table when you want to sort a hand. Come back here when you want the words for a turn, a legal group, or a Points, Pool, or Deals match.
Start with the shared guides
Read these before you try to memorise a variant. They describe the 13-card family used on this site.
- How to Play Rummy — the deal, the draw, the discard, and a valid declare.
- Rummy Rules — sequences, sets, jokers, and how a hand is scored in words.
- Rummy Strategy — habits for choosing a card. They do not promise a win.
- Indian Rummy — how this family is talked about, and how it splits into Points, Pool, and Deals.
Then open one variant
Each variant page explains that match. The practice button on the page opens the local table: you and two computer players, penalty points only, not cash and not online multiplayer.
- Points Rummy — one deal is scored on its own. Practise at Points Rummy practice.
- Pool Rummy — scores add up toward 101 or 201. The chooser is Pool practice. The fixed tables are Pool 101 and Pool 201.
- 101 Pool Rummy and 201 Pool Rummy — the same Pool rules with one elimination line each.
- Deals Rummy — a short set of deals, then the totals are compared. Practise at Deals Rummy practice.
The game list is on Rummy Games. The family overview is on Online Rummy.
The table in one look
A practice hand on this site seats you with two computer players. Nobody else joins. Each player is dealt 13 cards. Two piles sit in the middle: a closed deck, face down, and an open discard pile, face up.
A turn is short. Draw one card, either from the closed deck or from the top of the open pile. Fit it into the hand if it helps. Then discard one card onto the open pile. The hand should be back to 13 cards before the next player draws.
The aim is to declare. On these tables a declaration needs at least two sequences, and one of them must be pure. Every card has to sit in a valid group. The full checklist is on How to Play Rummy.
Three groups you will keep meeting
Pure sequence
Three or more cards of the same suit, in order, with no joker. 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ is a pure sequence. A pure sequence is the group to finish first. Without it, the rest of the hand usually does not count.
Impure sequence
The same idea, with a printed joker standing in for one missing rank. 4♠, a printed joker, and 6♠ can form an impure sequence when the joker fills the 5. It does not replace the pure sequence. It is the second sequence, or a later one.
Set
Three or more cards of the same rank and different suits, with no suit repeated. 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ is a set. A set is not a sequence, so it does not satisfy the pure-sequence requirement.
Card points on the practice tables follow one scale: ace, 10, jack, queen and king count 10 each; 2 through 9 count their face value; a printed joker counts 0. Cards already inside a counted group also count 0. Rummy Rules states the same scale in the shared rulebook.
How the three matches use those groups
The groups do not change. The match frame does.
Points
One deal is settled when someone declares. A legal declarer scores 0 for that deal. The other seats add the points of cards left outside valid groups, with an 80-point cap on the Points practice table. The next deal starts clean. Read Points Rummy, then try the Points table.
Pool
The same kind of deal score is added to a running total. On this site the line is 101 or 201. Reach the line and that seat leaves the later hands. A total just under the line is still in. The chooser at Pool practice lets you pick 101 or 201 when a new pool starts. Pool 101 and Pool 201 stay locked on one line. The written versions are Pool Rummy, 101 Pool and 201 Pool.
Deals
A match is a fixed number of deals. This practice table plays 2 deals unless you confirm 3 before a new match. Every seat plays every deal. There is no 80-point cap and no elimination. After the last deal, the lowest total wins. Ties win together. Read Deals Rummy and open Deals practice.
A first session
- Open one table from Rummy Games. Points is the shortest loop if you only want to see a declare.
- Draw, arrange, discard. Finish one pure sequence before you chase a set.
- If a word is unclear, leave the table and open Rummy Rules or How to Play Rummy.
- After a few hands, read Rummy Strategy and keep one habit, such as not holding unmatched high cards.
None of these pages is a cash game, a wallet, or a live match against other people.
Questions
Which guide should I open first?
Open a Points, Pool, or Deals table if you want to try a hand. Open How to Play Rummy for the turn loop, Rummy Rules for shared legality, and Rummy Strategy for decision habits.
Do these guides replace the practice table?
No. The guides explain the words and the choices. Points, Pool, and Deals each have a local practice table with you and two computer players. They are not cash games and not online multiplayer.
What is a pure sequence?
A pure sequence is three or more cards of the same suit in order, with no joker. 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ is one. On the practice tables here, a hand needs a pure sequence before the other groups can count.
How do Points, Pool and Deals differ?
Points scores one deal on its own. Pool adds penalty points until a seat reaches 101 or 201. Deals plays two deals, or three if you confirm that before a new match, and compares the totals. The sequences and sets stay shared.