However, if a card is discarded which can be used to extend a set or run on the table, any player who has already melded can call rummy, take the discard and meld it, announcing the set or run it is added to, and discard a card (if possible).

It is therefore important to meld these high-value cards, or at least to dispose of them before the end of the play.

One wild card is determined by an exposed card in the dealers hand, and therefore varies from deal to deal.

The variants affect every part of the game: the number of cards used, the deal, the card values, the wild cards, the melds that are allowed, the rules of play and the scoring.

Other names include Backwards Rummy, Bitchin Rummy, Circle Rummy, Crazy Rummy (though this name is more commonly used for a different variant with fixed hand sizes), Dumbbell Rummy, Dummy Rummy, George, Hillbilly Rummy, Polish Rummy and Wild One.

I would like to thank the many contributors who over several years have sent me descriptions of these different versions of this game.

Before the deal, the dealer shuffles and the player to dealers right cuts the cards.

The rank of this card determines the number of additional cards that player will be dealt.

For example if a players first card is a 7, the dealer gives the player 7 more cards face down before moving on to the next player.

A player whose first card is a picture (jack, queen, king) receives 10 more cards: if the first card is an ace, the player receives 11 more cards.

The dealers first (face up) card is wild for the current deal.

For example if the dealer gets a 4 face up, the dealer takes four more cards face down, and fours are wild.

When this game is played with more than one deck, a set may contain identical cards, so for example 5- 5- 5 is a valid set.

For this purpose, the cards rank in order A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A.

The ace can therefore be at the low end of a run, next to the 2, or at the high end next to the king, but not in the middle of a run.

A player is always allowed to draw the top card from the stock or the discard pile.

A player can draw more than one card from the discard pile provided that.

Melded cards are always kept face up in front of the player who melded them, for scoring purposes.

When adding to a set or run put down by another player, you must state which set or run you are adding it to, and the other players need to take notice of this.

For example if player A has melded 6- 7- 8 and player B had added 9 to it, other players need to be aware that a 5 or a 10 can now be added (but not another 9), even though the 9 on the table is lying in front of player B and not next to player As run.

If a player takes just one card from the top of the discard pile, it is not legal to discard that same card, leaving the discard pile exactly as it was before the players turn.

The cards of the discard pile are overlapped, so that all can be seen.

Rules 500 Rummy According Hoyle