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--Games
unique
to this site!-
Skarney-- John Scarne’s scoring rummy
Skarney Gin-- Scarne’s gin rummy
Sequence Gin-- gin rummy variant
The Big Game-- 42 with 11 tricks
42 variations-- we’ve got them all
Yukon-- unique trick-taking game from the 1898 gold rush.
Quinto-- unusual fun game from 1900
Marjolet-- one-deck Bezique from France
Jo-Jotte-- complex Bridge-like game for two
Domino Euchre-- Euchre with dominoes
Call-Ace Domino Euchre-- variant
Iceberg-- unique scoring rummy
Arlington Hts-- our own invention
Fortune Rummy-- lost since the 1940s
Teeko-- “lost” board game
Ringo - unusual board game
--42 family
Dominoes--
42 -- the parent game
The Big Game -- 42 with 11 tricks instead of 7
42 Variations -- including 80, 88, 84, 79, Nello, Plunge, and Sevens
Moon -- 3 player relative to 42
Partnership Moon -- 4 player Moon
---Cuban
Games---
Cubilete -- Great Cuban dice game
Domino Cubano --
Dominoes, Cuban-
style
---Dice
Games--
Farkle-- Among the best dice games, it dates back hundreds of years
Cubilete -- Great Cuban dice game
More dice games
--Games by
John Scarne-
Skarney Gin-- Takes Gin Rummy to a whole new level
Skarney-- The most sophisticated scoring rummy.
Scarney Dice games
Teeko-- board game
Scarne’s Bio
---Download
FREE game
books!---
A to Z of Dice Games -- rules for many great dice games (55 pages)
American Hoyle by Trumps 1894 (540 pages)
Foster’s Hoyle 1897 (625 pages)
Pirate Bridge -- great 3-person Bridge variant from 1917 (190 pages)
Conquian -- ancestor to modern rummy 1913 (90 pages)
---Scoring
Rummies---
500 Rummy
500 Partnership
Persian Rummy
Fortune Rummy
Arlington
Arlington Hghts
Skarney
---Gins---
Oklahoma Gin
Sequence Gin
Skarney Gin
--Bezique
Family--
Marjolet -- 2 players with 32 cards
Bezique -- 64 cards
Polish Bezique -- 64 card variant
Rubicon Bezique -- 128 cards
Chinese Bezique --
192 cards for Bezique-mania!
Zetema -- a long lost related game
BBC rules for all
forms of Bezique
--Rare Card
Games--
Bridgette -- Best two-handed Bridge variant. Compare it to Jo-Jotte
Bid Whist -- Unique whist variant popular among African Americans.
Eleusis Express -- famous unique inductive logic game.
--Historic
Card
Games--
Historic British Card Games-- rules for 12 once-popular games no longer played.
Medieval and Renaissance card and dice games.
--Fascinating
Profiles---
Ely Culbertson--
He made Contract Bridge famous.
Al Sobel on the invention of Jo-Jotte
John Scarne--
Houdini’s friend, card magician, author, games inventor.
The rather odd and interesting story of the United States Playing Card company.
Joseph Wergin--
Skat should have been it, not Contract Bridge!
R.F. Foster--
Biggest game book author from the 1880s to the 1930s
Stewart Culin--
Invented the modern science of ethnography - based on games!
-- Original
card,
dice &
domino
games--
Parlett’s games
Pips web site
Pagat web site
--Hundreds
more
games!--
The Card Games Web Site
Domino Game Rules
A - Z of Dice Games
BoardGameGeek - all board games
---Computer
Games--
Products to which we have no commercial ties but recommend:
Ringo (free)
Teeko (free)
Curtis Cameron offers fine 42 and Moon programs.
Cardmaster offers 25 games including Zetema, Bezique, Klabberjass, and Bid Whist.
Here’s Bid Whist online or on your PC.
--Domino
Games--
Domino Euchre--the card game played with dominoes!
Call-Ace Euchre-- domino Euchre variant
42 -- the parent game
The Big Game -- 42 with 11 tricks instead of 7
42 Variations -- including 80, 88, 84, 79, Nello, Plunge, and Sevens
Moon -- 3 player relative to 42
Partnership Moon -- 4 player Moon
---Favorite
Sites---
The Card Games site has the most card games rules anywhere
Playing Cards site has playing card history and pictorial examples.
House of Cards has a nice mix of rules, PC games, handheld games, and books.
Kadon Enterprises sells beautiful quality board games
Find hundreds of chess variants here
The Life of Games is an online games magazine
DominoLinks site links to many domino sites
David Parlett invents great card & board games!
BoardGameGeek covers all board games
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Rummies where players score for melds to the table are among the most sophisticated. Here
we present rules for three closely-related games that represent the best of the genre.
Fortune Rummy is a fast moving game with a large luck element that was popular in the Midwest
back in the 1940’s. Almost unheard of today, the only published source for the game is Scarne
on Cards.
Arlington is much more popular. Also known as Oklahoma Rummy, its rules differ from those of
Fortune Rummy in several minor ways. But the small rules changes alter play significantly.
We detail the complete rules for Fortune Rummy first, then describe Arlington in terms of its
differences.
Finally we present our favorite form of these games, which we’ve named Arlington Heights. This
game is of our own invention and modifies rules into the formulae we’ve found most exciting.
Fortune Rummy—
This is a game for anywhere from two to eight players. While Scarne on Cards says it works
best with four or five, we’ve really enjoyed it with just two of us.
The game uses two standard decks of 52 cards. Each player is dealt 11 cards, and one card is
left face-up on the table to start the discard pile. The remaining cards become the drawing
stock.
The object of a hand is to score points by melding cards to the table. Any cards left in one’s
hand at the conclusion of a hand count against the player holding them. The first player to win at
least 500 points across as many hands (deals) as it takes wins the game.
Deuces are wild and can used to represent any other card. Card point values when played in
melds to the table are—
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K down to 8
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10 points each
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7 down to 3
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5 points each
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Ace
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10 points when played high in a meld (A-K-Q)
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5 points when played low in a meld (A-2-3)
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2
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10 points when representing K through 8
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5 points when representing 7 through 3
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10 points when representing the Queen of Spades
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Queen of Spades
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50 points each
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Cards left in a player’s hand at the end of the deal counts points against that player--
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K down to 8
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-10 points each
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7 down to 3
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-5 points each
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Ace
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-10 points each
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2
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-10 points each
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Queen of Spades
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-50 points each
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The valid melds are the same as Gin Rummy—
1. 3 or 4 cards of the same rank
2. A sequence of 3 or more cards in the same suit
You can not meld 5 or more cards in one meld ; 4 cards together constitute the maximum meld.
Aces may be played either high or low, but not “around the corner” (K-A-2-3). Deuces can not
be melded together in a 2’s meld, they can only act as substitutes for cards of other values in
melds.
In his turn —
1. The player takes one or more cards into his hand. He has a choice: he can take either the
single top card of the drawing stock, or he can take all the cards in the discard pile.
If the player takes up the discard deck, he must immediately put down a meld in which the
topmost discard is embodied. This meld must include at least two cards from the player’s
hand. The player will do this first, prior to taking up all remaining cards in the discard
pile as required. This prevents reneging (error) in an attempt to pick up the discard pile.
2. The player places face-up on the table any meld(s) he wishes to play. A player may add
cards to his own melds on the table but may not play on opponent’s melds.
3. The player ends his turn by playing one card face-up to the top of the discard pile. Cards in
the discard pile are squared such that only the single topmost card is visible at any time.
Players may not look at any cards in the discard deck hidden by the topmost card.
A hand ends when one player rummies all his cards to the table. A player can optionally discard a one
card when going out.
At the conclusion of the hand, each player scores the difference (positive or negative) between
the totals of the cards he has scored to the table versus those cards still in his hand. The player
who rummies does not get a bonus for going out. However, he does not score any negative
points for cards in his hand (since he doesn’t have any).
In the rare event that the discard pile goes empty while play is in progress, all cards in the
discard pile are immediately turned over (with the exception of the upcard) and the hand
continues with those cards as the new stock. The cards are not shuffled, just turned over.
Strategy—
Similar to most scoring rummies, play your cards to the table. Don’t get caught with
them in hand (especially heavy cards). Track when your opponent might rummy and dump high
cards to the discard deck just prior to this. Score Queens of Spades as quickly as possible if
you draw them, but if you draw them late in the game, you may have little chance to meld them.
Optimize the use of your deuces to maximize your score. Consider keeping one in hand to
prevent from being caught with the Queen of Spades for penalty.
Rules Variations--
Some play that you can not discard the Queen of Spades unless you have
no other card, and that sequence melds (only) may be extended beyond the four-card maximum.
More Information—
See Scarne on Cards, the only known published source. Also see the highly similar game Queens
(basically the same game with different card-points)..
Arlington (or Oklahoma Rummy) --
While Fortune Rummy is little known today, its sister game Arlington is widely popular. The
rules of the game are highly similar to those of Fortune Rummy (described above). Here we just
summarize the differences between the two games.
Use two standard card decks, as in Fortune Rummy. Deuces are still wild. However, deal each
player 13 cards (instead of 11), and play to 1,000 points across hands to win the game (instead
of 500).
Rules for the discard deck, taking it up into one’s hand, and melding are all the same as in
Fortune Rummy. As before, players can only add to their own melds on the table. Once again,
players can not meld more than 4 cards in any single meld.
Card values differ slightly—
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K down to 8
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10 points each
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7 down to 3
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5 points each
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Ace
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20 points (whether played high or low in a meld)
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2
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10 points when representing K through 8
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5 points when representing 7 through 3
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25 points in a meld of Deuces only (Scarne rules only)
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50 points when representing the Queen of Spades (Scarne)
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Queen of Spades
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50 points each
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You may meld a set of deuces only, in which case each 2 in the meld scores 25 points. Deuces
can not represent the Queen of Spades unless they replace that card in a meld that is otherwise
fully natural (eg: King of Spades, Deuce, Jack of Spades).
The Queen of Spades can not be discarded, unless you have no other card in your hand.
Negative points are the same as above, with the exception that Queens of Spades in hand count
–100 points each. Deuces in hand count –20 points each.
A player who rummies scores an extra 100 points for the feat (versus Fortune Rummy, which
has no going-out bonus.)
Rules Variations--
Some add one Joker as a special wild card. The Joker counts 100 points
when melded or –200 if caught in hand at deal’s end. Whoever melds the Joker may later take it
back in hand by replacing it with the natural card it represents. They may then use the Joker
again later. Some play that only the person who first melded the Joker may take it back; others
play that anyone may take the Joker in hand by replacing it with its natural card in the meld
More Information--
These rules are from Oxford: A-Z of Card Games by David Parlett.
Scarne on Cards presents similar rules, except that you can discard the Queen of Spades, and
it counts –50 points if held at hand’s end, instead of –100 points. Card point values also vary
slightly for Scarne, as noted in the scoring chart above.
Arlington Heights--
Fortune Rummy and Arlington (above) are among our favorite games. Over time, we’ve evolved our
own set of rules. These modifications reduce the luck element (which we believe too large), and
enliven the game. They also simplify scoring.
Here is our own favorite formulation of Fortune Rummy and Arlington rules, which we call
Arlington Heights. We describe its rules in terms of how they differ from those of Fortune
Rummy, described above.
To form the playing deck, take two standard 52-card packs. Remove all 2’s and replace them
with four Jokers. The four Jokers are wild cards. So now you have only four wild cards in the
deck rather than eight, and a total of 100 playing cards. Fewer wild cards increase the
importance of skill and reduces the luck factor.
As in Fortune Rummy, deal each player 11 cards. A game across hands is 500 points.
Rules for discarding and picking up the discard pile remain the same. Rules for melding also
remain the same. Players take their turns in the same manner as before.
Card point values are as follows:
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K down to 10
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10 points each
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9 down to 3
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5 points each
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Ace
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20 points when played high in a meld (A-K-Q)
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5 points when played low in a meld (A-2-3)
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Queen of Spades
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50 points each
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Joker
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Scores the number of points equal to the card it represents (which may be any of the above)
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Card values when caught with them in hand at the end of the game are:
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K down to 10
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-10 points each
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9 down to 3
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-5 points each
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Ace
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-20 points each
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Joker
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-20 points each
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Queen of Spades
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-50 points each
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You can not discard the Queen of Spades. You must either meld it or be stuck with it in hand at
end of the deal. You may not form an all-Jokers melds (Joker-Joker-Joker). Jokers may only
be used to represent other cards in the deck. Jokers may only represent the Queen of Spades
when played to an otherwise all-natural meld (eg: King of Spades, Joker, Jack of Spades).
The rummy (going out) bonus is 50 points.
Analysis--
The Queen of Spades presents a quandary. Since you can not discard it, you really
must meld it. Meld it quickly if you can. Keeping a Joker around for the purpose is sometimes
useful. On occasion you’ll draw the Queen of Spades late in the hand and have no real chance
to meld it. Oops! This game has a dash of bad luck, as well as the good luck of drawing Jokers
or easily melding the Queen of Spades.
The rummy bonus makes going out significant (unlike Fortune Rummy which has no such bonus).
But it is less dominant than in Arlington. Arlington scores it so high at 100 points that it becomes
the dominant scoring feature.
More Information--
Do you have your own modified form of Oklahoma Rummy? Send it in! We’d love to hear from you.
Tell us what you think of the variant we prefer, Arlington Heights. Email us at webmasterA at the
domain name, CardsAndDominoes.com. Thank you for your interest.
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500 Rummy is one of the best scoring rummy games. We’ve included it on this web site
because, although it is widely played in the United States, it is little known elsewhere. The
great English compendiums of card games, for example, never mention it. We share this
wonderful game with the world here.
Persian Rummy is simply a four-handed partnership version of 500 Rummy. There are very
few partnership rummies -- this is a great one.
If you like 500 Rummy, you also enjoy Iceberg.
500 Rummy--
This is a game for two to four players (playing as individuals). Use one standard 52-card deck,
dealing each player 7 cards. Place one card face-up to begin the discard pile, while remaining
cards become the drawing stock.
The game is won by the first player to score 500 or more points across as many hands (deals)
as it takes.
As in most scoring rummy games, cards played in table melds score points for a player, while
cards left in hand score against that player.
Melds consist of three or more cards as a set of the same rank, or in same suit and sequence.
Sequences may be longer than four cards (unlike many rummies where all melds stop at four).
Players may lay down one or more cards to melds on the table during their turn. Players may
play off their own melds or their opponent’s melds. When laying off card(s) on opponent’s
melds, players place them on their own side of the table (for clear scoring later).
Card values are--
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Ace
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15 points when played high in a meld (A-K-Q)
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5 points when played low in a meld (A-2-3)
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K down to 10
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10 points
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9 down to 2
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5 points
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Aces can be played either in high sequence or low, but not around the corner (K-A-2-3).
There are no wild cards in 500 Rummy.
In his turn--
1. The player takes one card from the top of the drawing stock. Or, he may take one or
more cards from the discard pile. All cards in the discard pile are fanned out such that
all are visible. The player must immediately meld the bottom-most card he selects
from the discard pile. He then must take all the cards above it into his hand. He may
then meld or keep these cards in hand, through the rest of his turn, as able.
2. The player makes any and all meld(s) he cares to. He may play card(s) to his opponent’s
melds. In doing so, he lays those cards on his side of the table, stating what melds they
are part of.
3. The player discards one card, face-up, on top of the discard pile. This should be fanned
such that all cards in the discard pile remain visible.
The hand (deal) ends when any player goes out (rummies). A player may or may not discard
when going out, as he desires. There is no bonus for rummying.
Strategy--
Concentrate on scoring higher cards early in the game. Dump them to the discard
pile if you sense an opponent is about to rummy. Taking up the discard pile is a calculated
risk -- it enables you to score but can be devastating if you are caught with many cards in
hand at the end of the deal. 500 Rummy is therefore, above all, a game about calculating
how close opponents are to rummying. A fine sense of when the hand might end greatly
advantages a player.
Rules Variations--
We use the so-called simplified scoring. In traditional scoring, cards
ranking below 10 score their individual face values. Some variants of the game use one or
two Jokers as wild cards.
For Further Information--
The authoritative source on this game is usually considered
The Official Rules of Card Games, published continuously since 1898 by the United States
Playing Card Company of Cincinnati, Ohio.
500 Partnership Rummy--
The rules are the same as in regular 500 Rummy (above), except that partners sit across the table
from one another. When any one player rummies, the hand stops. Partners compute a
single joint score, based on their positive and negative points.
Persian Rummy--
This is another form of 500 Partnership Rummy. This variant adds four Jokers to the deck
for a total of 56 cards. Jokers may only be melded in groups of Jokers (they are not wild cards
and can not be melded in any other manner). Jokers are worth 20 points when melded, or
-20 points each if held in hand at the end of the deal.
Any meld of four cards laid down at once count double. For example, four Jokers laid down
in one meld at one time score (4 X 20) X 2 = 160 points. However, three Jokers melded
together only score 3 X 20 = 60 points. The fourth Joker, if later added, also scores another
20 points, for a total of 80 points for the entire meld.
This doubling also applies to other melds. Three 2’s played at once score 15 points, but
four 2’s played at once score 40 points.
For Further Information--
Consult the The Official Rules of Card Games, published by the United States Playing Card Company.
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