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How To Play Contract Rummy
Contract Rummy: Winning In 7 Rounds
Similar to Shanghai Rummy, Contract Rummy is played with 3 to 5 players and uses 2 standard decks. The game includes Jokers as wild cards (the number of Jokers used is based upon the number of players). Each game consists of 7 hands and each hand requires the players to meet a particular “contract.” Players receive 10 cards for the first 3 hands and 12 cards for the final 4 hands. The goal is to get rid of the cards before other players. Below, I’ll describe each hand’s contract and the rules of the game.
Contract Details
Contracts are comprised of melds. Valid melds can consist of 3 cards that have the same rank (for example, sets such as 5-5-5) or 4 cards that are numbered sequentially in the same suit (for example, sequences such as 4-5-6-7 of clubs). Here are the contracts that players must fulfill in each hand before going out:
1st Hand: 2 sets of 3 same-rank cards
2nd Hand: 1 set of 3 and 1 sequence of 4
3rd Hand: 2 sequences of 4
4th Hand: 3 sets of 3
5th Hand: 1 set of 3 and 1 sequence of 7
6th Hand: 2 sets of 3 and 1 sequence of 5
7th Hand: 3 sequences of 4 without discarding
Each turn begins with a player drawing a card either from the stock or discard pile. If his cards form a meld, he has the opportunity to play them (though he’s not forced to do so). Alternatively, he can choose to lay off cards on existing melds. Finally, he ends his turn by discarding. The hand is over when a player gets rid of all of his cards.
How To Buy
In Contract Rummy, players can “buy” the discard out of turn if the player in turn declines it. But, that player must also take the top stock card (the “cost” of buying the discard). The only limitation is that a player cannot “buy” 2 consecutive discards.
Scoring And Winning
Once a hand ends, cards that remain in players’ hands are totaled and are counted as a penalty. Face cards are 10 points, Aces and Jokers are 15 points, and all other card reflect their spot value. The lowest score at the end of the seventh hand wins the game. Like other Rummy games, Contract Rummy may be played with any number of house rules as long as all players agree to them.
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To learn how to play more Rummy games, check out the following pages:
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