| Wiener Rummy | |
 A pack of 110 Rummy cards | |
| Origin | Germany |
|---|---|
| Type | Matching |
| Players | 2-6 |
| Age range | All |
| Cards | 2 x 52 + 2 Jokers |
| Deck | French |
| Rank (high→low) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 (A) |
| Play | Clockwise |
| Playing time | 6-8 minutes/hand |
| Chance | Medium |
| Related games | |
| Rommé • Gin Rummy | |
Viennese Rummy (German : Wiener Rummy) is a matching card game of the Rummy family for 2-6 people played in continental Europe.
Unlike German Rummy, sets and runs of cards are not melded but collected in one's hand until one is able either to declare "Rummy" and lay the hand on the table or to "knock" (klopfen) and meld all cards except for low-scoring 'deadwood'. Hence it is sometimes called Rummy without Melding (Rommé ohne Auslegen), although that is strictly a variant of German Rummy where players receive 13, not 10, cards and may knock if they have fewer than 10, not 5, points. There is also no provision for players having one more go at improving their hand in the event of a knock.
Viennese Rummy is played with two packs of French playing cards of 52 cards and one joker each, making a total of 106 cards. It is suitable for two to six players. Each player is dealt ten cards, except for the dealer who receives eleven. [1]
Like German Rummy, there are no standardised rules for Viennese Rummy. In fact a raft of almost identical games go under very different names including 101 Rummy and Elimination Rummy. Knock Rummy is a generic name for rummy games where players only reveal their hand at the end of the game. A related, two player, game is the popular Gin Rummy. [2] The following rules are therefore not to be regarded as binding in the sense of chess rules. Unless otherwise stated, the rules of the game are the same as those for German Rummy. [2]
The card values are as follows: [1]
Each player is dealt ten cards and the remainder placed face down in the middle of the table as the stock. The dealer turns the top card of the stock face up and places beside it to start the discard pile. In turn and beginning with forehand (left of dealer), players now draw either the upcard or the top card of the stock, reviewing their hand before discarding a card face up to the discard pile.
The aim is to collect combinations of at least 3 cards, either as a set or as a run. However, unlike Rommé, players do not meld their cards to the table but keep them in their hands. A player who has ten cards in melds may go out by laying the melds on the table, placing the eleventh card face down across the discard pile and declaring "Rummy!" (Rommé!). A player may also go out by knocking on the table if his unmelded card or cards are worth fewer than 5 points after discarding. In this case, the others have one more chance to improve their hand by drawing and discarding before the game ends.
A game continues until one player calls "Rummy" (Rommé), melds ten cards and discards the eleventh. The other players then lay out their cards and count them up as in Gin Rummy, by summing their deadwood, i.e. those that cannot be placed into sets or runs. [2]
The game can also be ended by "knocking" (klopfen): a player who has fewer than five card points in deadwood (cards left unmelded in the hand [3] ) can knock, reveal the hand as in a rummy call and announce the deadwood score. In this case, if a player has knocked, the others can try to improve their hand by drawing and discarding a card. They may not lay cards off on other players' melds. Then they declare their deadwood scores as normal. [2]
Viennese Rummy is usually played in 'rubbers'. One rubber consists of several individual games. Before a game begins, each player contributes five chips to the pot (Pot or Pulle). After each game, the knocker or rummy caller wins the so-called knock money, i.e. a chip from all other participants still in play. Furthermore, for each player the negative points (Schlechtpunkte) received in this game are noted and added cumulatively. [2]
Once a player has accumulated 101 or more points, they are eliminated; if all but one player is eliminated, the remaining player wins the pot and the game is over. [2]
Players who have already accumulated over 81 but not yet 101 negative points, may 'buy themselves back' into the pot by contributing an additional five chips and reducing their bad point scores to that of the second worst player still in play. However, a player may only buy back once during the game. [2]
Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game variant of rummy. It has enjoyed widespread popularity as both a social and a gambling game, especially during the mid twentieth century, and remains today one of the most widely-played two-player card games.
Canasta is a card game of the rummy family of games believed to be a variant of 500 Rum. Although many variations exist for two, three, five or six players, it is most commonly played by four in two partnerships with two standard decks of cards. Players attempt to make melds of seven cards of the same rank and "go out" by playing all cards in their hands. It is "the most recent card game to have achieved worldwide status as a classic".
Robbers' rummy is a card game for two or more players. It is a variant of German Rummy dating to the early 20th century. Being derived from normal rummy, it emphasises arrangement of cards based on card matching rules, while abandoning the notions of card discards and scoring entirely.
500 rum, also called pinochle rummy, Michigan rummy, Persian rummy, rummy 500 or 500 rummy, is a popular variant of rummy. The game of canasta and several other games are believed to have developed from this popular form of rummy. The distinctive feature of 500 rum is that each player scores the value of the sets or cards they meld. It may be played by 2 to 8 players, but it is best for 3 to 5.
Rummy is a group of games notable for similar gameplay based on matching cards of the same rank or sequence and same suit. The basic goal in any form of rummy is to build melds which can be either sets or runs and either be first to go out or to amass more points than the opposition.
Tonk, or tunk, is a matching card game, which combines features of knock rummy and conquian. Tonk is a relatively fast-paced game that can be played by 2-4 players. It can be played for just points or for money wagered.
Liverpool rummy is a multi-player, multi-round card game similar to other variants of rummy that adds features like buying and going out. It is played the same as Contract rummy, except that if a player manages to cut the exact number of cards required to deal the hand and leave a face-up card, then the cutting player's score is reduced by 50 points.
Conquian, Coon Can or Colonel is a rummy-style card game. David Parlett describes it as an ancestor to all modern rummy games, and a kind of proto-gin rummy. Before the appearance of gin rummy, it was described as "an excellent game for two players, quite different from any other in its principles and requiring very close attention and a good memory to play it well".
Rumino is a knock rummy card game of Italian origin for up to six people, in which players try to form sets or sequences of cards. It may possibly have been devised in America during the 1940s by Italian immigrants by adapting the game Scala Quaranta to Gin rummy. It is usually played for small stakes Two 52-card decks are used plus four Jokers comprising 108 cards.
Three thirteen is a variation of the card game Rummy. It is an eleven-round game played with two or more players. It requires two decks of cards with the jokers removed. Like other Rummy games, once the hands are dealt, the remainder of the cards are placed face down on the table. The top card from the deck is flipped face up and put beside the deck to start the discard pile.
Chinchón is a matching card game played in Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Cape Verde and other places. It is a close variant of gin rummy, with which it shares the same objective: making sets, groups or runs, of matching cards.
Indian Cherokee Rummy is a card game in India with little variation from original rummy. It may be considered a cross between Rummy 500 and gin rummy. Indian Rummy is a variant of the rummy game popular in India that involves making valid sets out of 13 cards that are distributed among every player on the table. Each player is dealt 13 cards initially; if the number of players is 2, then a 52 cards deck is chosen for the game and if there are 6 players, two decks of 52 cards each is combined for the game. Each player has to draw and discard cards by turns till one player melds their cards with valid sets that meet the Rummy validation rules. It could be that Indian Rummy evolved from a version of Rummy in South Asia, Celebes Rummy, also called Rhuk.
Buraco is a Rummy-type card game in the Canasta family for four players in fixed partnerships in which the aim is to lay down combinations in groups of cards of equal rank and suit sequences, there being a bonus for combinations of seven cards or more. Buraco is a variation of Canasta which allows both standard melds as well as sequences. It originated from Uruguay and Argentina in the mid-1940s, with apparent characteristics of simplicity and implications that are often unforeseeable and absolutely involving. Its name derives from the Portuguese word "buraco" which means “hole”, applied to the minus score of any of the two partnerships. The game is also popular in the Arab world, specifically in the Persian Gulf; where it is known as 'Baraziliya' (Brazilian). Another popular variation of Buraco is Italian.
Penang rummy or si rummy is a variant of the rummy card game. The word si in Penang Hokkien language means 'dead'. It reflects the nature of the card game, where the hand is dead, with no drawing of new cards or exchanging of cards, throughout the whole game.
Schnapsen, Schnapser or Schnapsa is a trick-taking card game of the Bézique (Ace-Ten) family that is very popular in Bavaria and in the territories of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and has become the national card game of Austria and Hungary. Schnapsen is both of the point-trick and trick-and-draw subtypes.
The following is a glossary of terms used in card games. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon slang terms. Terms in this glossary should not be game-specific, but apply to a wide range of card games played with non-proprietary packs. It should not include terms solely related to casino or banking games. For glossaries that relate primarily to one game or family of similar games, see Game-specific glossaries.
Préférence, frequently spelt Preference, is a Central and Eastern European 10-card plain-trick game with bidding, played by three players with a 32-card Piquet deck, and probably originating in early 19th century Austria, becoming the second most popular game in Vienna by 1980. It also took off in Russia where it was played by the higher echelons of society, the regional variant known as Preferans being still very popular in that country, while other variants are played from Lithuania to Greece.
German Rummy or Rommé is the most popular form of the worldwide game, Rummy, played in Austria and Germany. It is a game for 2 to 6 players and is played with two packs of French playing cards, each comprising 52 cards and 3 jokers. There are no partnerships. In Germany, the Germany Rummy Association is the umbrella organisation for local rummy clubs and organises national competitions. The game is often just known as Rommé in Germany and Rummy in Austria.
Illustrated Tarock or Illustrated Dreiertarock is an Austrian card game that has been described as the "queen" of all three-handed Tarock games played with the 54-card pack. It was thought by Mayr and Sedlaczek to be extinct but, in 2009 when the two Tarock authors were guests on an ORF radio programme, players from Vienna called in who confirmed they still played the game. It is sometimes called Point Tarock which, however, is a different, probably extinct, game, albeit a close cousin. Although it has "a reputation for being a little more convoluted than the others", Furr maintains that this is not so, but recommends that players become familiar with Tapp Tarock before attempting this game.
Treppenrommé is a card game for two to four players, which is a variant of Rummy played in Germany and Austria. The name means "Staircase Rummy" and comes from the fact that the discard pile must be arranged such that every card is partly covered and partly visible, forming a so-called 'staircase' (Treppe). The game appears to be closely related to 500 Rum, but there are several differences.
