On top of their knock points, as described above, they also get bonus points. If the Defender has less deadwood than the Knocker, they have undercut or underknocked the hand. Note: Special things happen if the defender wins the points. This value is added to the player’s game score.įor example: The Knocker has 2 points, and the defender has 17 points.Īnother example: The Knocker has 8 points, and the Defender has 3 points. The smaller amount is subtracted from the larger amount for a knock-point value. So if a player had an Ace-2-4-Jack, they would have 16 points. The remaining unmatched deadwood cards are added up by their pip value (aces are 1, and face cards are 10). The defender lays down their cards, and now both players get the chance to lay off each other’s melds.

The player who didn’t knock is now called the defender. Knocking and deadwood points are the only 100% agreed on the part of scoring.Īt the end of the round, one player may knock when they have few enough unmatched cards to go down.Īt this point, the player becomes the knocker and shows their melds.

This is usually to 100 points, but some people raise the number to 200 or 250. Note: This is all pretty vocab heavy, so if you have a question on a term, head over to our Gin Rummy Terms article.Īll of this is in regard to a simple, single game. In this section, I’ll list the one I’ve seen most commonly, and it’s also the one my wife and I play with. One of the biggest struggles with Gin or Gin Rummy is how there are so many variations to the specific scoring methods.

Line Bonus / Hand Bonus Gin Rummy Scoring Table Name Description Points Deadwood Unmatched cards are added up by their pip value (Aces low) and subtracted with the opponent’s total Higher deadwood total minus the lower deadwood total is given to the lower deadwood player Undercut / Underknock If you don’t knock but have the lower deadwood total 25 points (10 in variants) Gin When all 10 of your cards match or meld 25 points (20 points in variants) Big Gin When all 10 cards + the drawn card meld 31 points (50 + 40 points in variants) Game Bonus When you are the player to get to 100 points You get an extra 100 points for determining your win balance Shut out When you get to your 100 points without letting the opponent win at all You get an extra 200 points for determining your win balance Line Bonus For each game won in a match 25 bonus points (20 in variants) to your win balance or match score Gin Rummy Scoring: Single Game.

Official gin rummy rules