Rummy 500 – Play Rummy Online
January 24, 2010
Rummy 500
There are so many interesting versions of Rummy that are being played around the world today. These variations of Rummy are all the more exciting as many of them are being offered online by various gaming sites.
The best place for playing online rummy is Rummyroyal.com
One popular variation is Rummy 500, which is also known as 500 Rum, Pinochle Rummy, Persian Rummy or 500 Rummy.
The game has apparently been named after the fact that a player must reach a total of 500 points to win.
Although the rules of the game are similar to the basic rummy game, there is a distinction in that the player can draw more than one face-up card from the discard pile.
This feature makes the game a little more complex, requiring a certain strategy to play it well.
According to the general rules to play online rummy, points are scored for melds and points are lost for cards that remain in the player’s hand when one of the players goes out.
These rules are considered the standard and they have been used to design the online rummy games which you can play at your favorite Rummy Online sites.
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If you decide to play rummy online, information about the basic rules shuld be good enough for you to get going.
For a game of Rummy 500, you would need a standard deck of 52 cards with the 2 Jokers.
The game can be played with a minimum of two players and a maximum of 8.
If you have a group of 5 or more players, you need to use two card decks totaling to 108 cards.
In Rummy 500, if only two persons are playing, one deck is used and each player gets 13 cards.
If there are 3 or 4 players, one deck is used and each player gets 7 cards.
Two card decks are used if there are more than 5 players and each player will receive 7 cards.
The dealer will deal the cards one at a time, clockwise starting from his left.
When your turn to play comes, you must either draw from the stock pile or the discard pile.
When you draw from the stock pile, you must hold the card in your hand without disclosing it to anyone.
Drawing from the discard pile is different in Rummy 500 as compared to other rummy games.
The discard pile is spread out and you can pick out a card from the entire pile.
However, if you take a card from the lower portion of the pile, you must take all the cards above it. The card drawn from the discard pile must be melded right away.
Either you can form a new combination and place it on the table or add the card to an existing meld on the table.
The other cards that you picked up can be added to your hand or used in a meld during the same turn.
There are three methods to get rid of your cards when you play rummy online and these are Melding, Laying Off and Discarding.
Let us understand each of these terms and how to go about it.
When you place a combination of cards on the table, it is known as Melding.
You can either place sets or runs – a set is a group of 3 or more cards of the same rank, while a run is a sequence of three or more cards of the same suit. Melding is optional – you may choose to hold the melds in your hand.
Laying off means adding cards to existing melds placed in the melding area.
These could be melds that you or the other players have placed on the table.
For example, if there is a run of 4, 5 and 6 of spades on the table, you can add 2 and 3 of spades, just 3 of spades or a 7 of spades to continue the meld.
However, you are not allowed to move already melded cards to form new melds.
Laying off cards is optional, hence, as a matter of strategy, you may choose not to lay off cards even if you are in a position to do so.
Often, the card you wish to lay off could be attached to more than one meld.
You might have to make a choice as to which meld to expand.
Jokers are wild cards and can take the place of any card in a meld.
However, the player must declare which card the Joker stands for at the initial stage, since this cannot be changed later.
Discarding a single card face up on the discard pile completes the player’s turn of play.
This is compulsory unless you have melded all the cards in your hand.
You will continue to play rummy till either of the following situations arises: A player runs out of cards, or if a player wants to draw from the stock, but no cards are left.
When either of these two things happens, play ends and no more cards can be melded.
The scores for each player will be calculated at this stage.
As mentioned earlier, there is positive and negative scoring in this variation of Rummy 500.
The value of all the cards left over with the player will be subtracted from the points he has earned for the melds.
So if your count for the leftover cards is more than that of your melded cards, you have a negative score.
The game usually continues till someone scores 500 points.
In Rummy 500, the face cards, i.e. King, Queen and Jack are valued at 10 points each.
The Ace and Joker will fetch you 15 points each.
However, there is an exception to this rule.
If you meld an Ace with the 2 and 3 of the same suit in a sequence, you get only one point instead of 15.
Cards from 2 to 10 are equal to the face value.
For example, a 2 of hearts will equal 2 points and a 9 of hearts will equal 9 points.
The person scoring 500 points will be the winner of the game. However, if there is a tie among two players, then the play will continue until a clear winner emerges.
When you play rummy online, you must be alert and observant of the cards being discarded and melded.
As a matter of strategy, take stock of the situation by guessing which cards your opponents would need by keeping note of the cards in the discard pile.
If you have been holding on to high value cards, and you observe that your opponent has few cards left, you must get rid of the high value cards as soon as possible.
Rummy Online is a relatively new concept which is constantly improving.
Several websites offer online versions where you can play online rummy for fun or for money.
The rules are basically the same as the online games are a take off from the physical card games that people would play sitting around a card table.
Rummy online tournaments allow you to compete against thousands of players, at any time of the day besides, if one of your usual buddies can’t make it, there are thousands of other players always available.
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