Welcome to Carousel Rummy!

Carousel Rummy is a fun card game that can be played by 2-5 players. When playing with 2 players, you’ll need a standard deck of 52 cards and 1 Joker. If you have 3-5 players, you’ll need 2 decks of cards and 2 Jokers. In Carousel Rummy, Aces can be either High or Low, but they can’t connect a King and 2. The main goal of the game is to play all of your cards by melding them together.

If you enjoy Rummy type games, be sure to check out our guides for Canasta and Gin as well!

Getting Started: How to Deal

Before we can begin the game, we need to select a dealer. Each player will draw a card from the shuffled deck, and the player with the lowest card will become the dealer. In case of a tie, we’ll have a redraw to determine the dealer.

Once we have our dealer, they will shuffle the deck and deal ten cards, one at a time, to each player. The remaining cards will form the stock pile.

Playing Carousel Rummy

Let’s talk about playing a card game called Meld. It’s all about trying to get rid of as many cards as possible. Here’s how it works:

To start, the dealer gives out cards to each player. The player to the left of the dealer goes first. On their turn, they have to try and meld off their cards. What does that mean? Well, a meld is when you have three or more cards that are the same or go in order. For example, three cards that are all the same number or three cards in a row like 1, 2, 3. When you make a meld, you put the cards face up on the table for everyone to see.

So, on your turn, you start by drawing a card from the stock. If you can’t make any melds with the cards you have, you draw another card. Still no melds? Then you draw one more card, and that’s it for your turn. Even if the last card you draw could make a meld, you have to stop. It’s important to keep in mind that you can rearrange all of your melded cards as long as they’re in valid melds by the end of your turn.

Now, let’s talk about the different types of melds. As I mentioned earlier, you can make a meld by having three or more of a kind. That means three or more cards with the same number. Alternatively, you can also make a meld by having three or more cards in a run. A run is when the cards are all in the same suit and go in order, like 1, 2, 3 or 7, 8, 9. Once you have a meld, you lay it face up on the table.

Alright, now you’re ready to play Meld! Remember, on your turn, you draw a card, try to make melds with your cards, and lay them face up on the table. It’s a game of strategy and luck, so have fun and enjoy!

I want to tell you all about how melds work in the game of Carousel. Melds are a cool feature because they’re communal, which means that once a meld is made, another player can continue the sequence or set with their own cards. It’s like a big collaboration!

Joker

Oh, and guess what? There are these special cards called Jokers in the game. Jokers are like wildcards, which means they can be any card you want them to be. If you have a Joker and it can replace another card you have, you can swap the two cards. Then you can use the Joker to make your own melds. How cool is that?

Knocking

Now let’s talk about “knocking.” When you have a hand of 5 or less points, you have the option to knock and end the round. It’s like saying, “Hey, I’ve got this! I’m ready to wrap things up!”

Scoring

Okay, let’s dive into scoring. In Carousel, we have some point values for different cards:

• Jokers are worth 25 points. They’re like the superheroes of the game!
• Face cards, like Kings, Queens, and Jacks, are worth 10 points each. They’re pretty valuable!
• Cards numbered 2 to 10 have point values equal to their face value. For example, a 2 is worth 2 points, a 3 is worth 3 points, and so on.
• Aces are worth just 1 point. They may be small, but every point counts!

Now, when someone decides to knock, here’s what happens. The player with the fewest points in their hand wins the difference between their opponents’ hand and their own. It’s all about being strategic and having the lowest score, so keep an eye on those points!

If you play all of your cards and then Knock, you get a 25-point bonus. But if you Knock and someone else has a lower hand than you, that person wins the round and gets a 10-point bonus.

My name is John Taylor, and I’m a content writer from Texas. I specialize in technical writing and am currently pursuing a Masters degree in English at the University of Glasgow. If you’re interested, you can read more of my articles about card games here and check out my LinkedIn profile here.