Rummy 500 is one of the most popular Rummy card games. If you are interested in knowing more about the game, keep reading further to see how to deal, how to play rummy 500 and rummy 500 variations.
- Rummy 500 Objective – To be the first player to earn a total of 500 points.
- Number of Players – 2-8 Players
- Number of Cards – Standard 52 card deck (Joker is optional)
- Rank of Cards – (15 points), K-Q-J (10 pts),10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2
- Game Type – Rummy
- Game Audience – Adults
How to Deal
Rummy 500 is played with 52 deck of playing cards along with 2 jokers that make a total of 54 cards. If there are more than 5 players, you will have to use 2 decks.
The dealer distributes 7 cards to each player for a game with more than 2 players, starting from his left.
For a game of 2 players, the dealer distributes 13 cards to each player. The rest of the cards in both cases form the stock pile which is faced down.
The top most card from this pile is flipped and the discard pile is formed beside it. The cards in the discard pile are visible so that players can look at them.
How to Play
The player to the left of the dealer starts the game, which then moves clockwise. At their turn, every player has the below 3 steps –
- Draw Card from the top of Stock Pile – Players can draw the top card from the Stock Pile but has to keep it hidden from other players and then add to the hand. Or else, you can also draw one or more cards from the discard pile. If you take a certain card from the discard pile and meld it, you will also have to take all the cards above that card you just melded.
- Meld card combinations in hand – Players have to meld card combinations in their hand and place them faced up on the table. There is also an option to the players to ‘lay off’ their cards on pre-existing melds, these can be of their own or other players’ too. Such melded cards are scored for the players who melded them.
- Discard cards – Players get the chance to discard cards unless every card in their hand was used to meld. In case you have drawn just one card from the discard pile, you cannot discard that same card again. However, if you have draw more than one cards from the discard pile, then you can put any one of those cards again into the discard pile.
Meld
- Set – A meld can be a set which is a combination of 3 or 4 cards of the same value. The melds cannot have 2 cards from the same suit. For instance, a set can be a combination of the cards – Queen of Hearts, Queen of Clubs and Queen of Spades. But you cannot have 2 Queens of Clubs.
- Sequence – A combination of 3 or more cards that have the same suit and are in sequences. For instance, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of diamonds is a meld sequence.
Players can add melds if it can extend the sequence. This is often called as laying off. In 500 Rummy, the Jokers are wild cards and these can be used to replace any other cards in a meld. So basically, if you have a 3 and 5 of any suit and a joker card, then you can add this Joker wild card in between the two to form a meld.
The game is played until a player runs out of their cards in the hand. Or this can also happen when the stock pile is exhausted and the player having their turn does not want to draw a card from the discard.
At such a point, the game ends and the scores are calculated.
Calling Rummy
When playing 500 rummy card game, if a player discards a car that could have been melded or if the player leaves the discard such that it has cards that can be melded without having to require any extra cards, then that player who discarded the card, calls ‘Rummy!’.
Such a player can then take a part of the discard pile using the relevant cards. However, this has to be done before the next player draws. The player who called rummy finishes their turn and then the game passes to their left.
Note that, no players can call rummy when the game is over. In case more than one players call rummy for the same card, then the player who is the closest in turn order to the discarding player will take the card.
Scoring
The 500 Rummy can end in 2 situations –
- One player does not have any cards in their hand.
- Or when the stock pile is exhausted and the player does not want to draw from the discard pile.
Once the game ends, the players then calculate the scores by totaling the sum of their cards melded and subtracting the value of cards left in hand.
The scores are then added to the cumulative scores of each player. Once the game finishes, no player is allowed to meld anymore. A player can have a negative score.
Given below are the points and scoring of cards in Rummy 500 card game –
- K, Q, Jack = 10 points
- Ace, Joker = 15 Points
- Numbered Cards from 2-10 = Face Values (2 points for a 2 of any suit)
There is an exception in the scoring here. When an ace card is melded in a run with 2 and 3, the ace has the value of only 1 points. For the rest of the situations, ace is equal to 15 points.
Variations
5/10/15 – In a rummy 500 version, the scores are somewhat like these –
- Numbered cards from 2 to 9 = 5 Points
- 10, J, Q, K = 10 Points
- Joker = 15 Points
500 Rummy without Joker – You can play rummy 500 without jokers, like how it was originally played.
Floating – This happens when a full hand is used to meld. As a player cannot discard, this does not end the game but the player floats until their next turn. And on their turn, a player can do any of the below –
- Draw and Discard a card to end the game
- Meld a single card from the stock pile and again float
- Draw multiple cards from the discard pile and meld them and discard the remaining card to end the game
- Draw multiple cards from the discard pile, meld a few and then discard one and have at least 1 in hand so that the game continues like usual.
That was it all about Rummy 500. I hope you have all found the article of use and could easily understand how to play Rummy 500.
In case you have any questions to ask, feel free to do so in the comment section below. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
