Welcome to Grenoble Knock Rummy!

Knock Rami is a fun card game that can be played by 2 to 5 players. The goal of the game is simple – be the last player standing to win the pot!

In Knock Rami, you can bet on your hand, so it’s important to decide on the stake value before starting the game.

Let’s Get Set Up!

Before we begin, everyone will contribute an equal amount to the pot.

First, we need to choose a dealer. The dealer will be responsible for shuffling the deck and making sure everything runs smoothly. The dealer position will pass to the left after each round.

Once we have a dealer, they will shuffle the deck and let the player on their right cut it. Then, the dealer will deal each player a hand, one card at a time. If there are only two players, each player will receive 10 cards. For games with three or more players, each player will receive 7 cards.

When I play this card game, I start by placing the rest of the deck in the middle as the drawing pile. Then, I reveal the top card and put it next to the draw pile to begin the discard pile.

Card Ranking, Point Values, and Combinations

Let me tell you about the ranking of the cards. The ace is the lowest card, followed by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King. Jokers are wild cards and can be any rank or suit.

Now, onto the point values of the cards. Aces are worth 1 point each, while 2s through 10s are worth their respective numeric values. Jacks, Queens, and Kings are all worth 10 points each. And if there’s an unmatched joker, it’s worth a whopping 25 points!

The goal of the game is to gather valid combinations of cards in my hand. There are two types of combinations I can make: sets and runs. Sets consist of three or four cards of the same rank, while runs are three or more cards in sequence of the same suit.

A set is when you have 3 or 4 cards with the same rank. For example, if I have three 7s, that’s a set. A run is when you have 3 or more cards with the same suit and in order. So, if I have the 3, 4, and 5 of hearts, that’s a run. But remember, the Ace can only be used as low, so it can’t connect a King and a 2. Also, you can only use one joker in a set or run.

How to Play

The game starts with the player to the left of the dealer, and then it goes in a clockwise direction. On your turn, you can either draw the top card from the draw pile or take the top card from the discard pile. This card is added to your hand. After that, you have to either put one card from your hand face up on the discard pile or knock.

If you choose to knock, you have to put one card from your hand face down on the discard pile. This means the game is over.

If you draw a card from the discard pile, you can’t discard the same card again. You have to wait until your second turn to knock. Everyone needs to have at least one turn before anyone can knock.

If the stockpile is empty and the next player doesn’t want to draw from the discard pile, the round ends and we start scoring. But this doesn’t count as a knock for scoring.

Scoring

When the round is over, we reveal our hands. We sort our cards into valid sets and runs, and any unmatched cards are counted as deadwood. That’s what we call them.

We each have a cumulative score that we keep track of. After every round, we add the score of our deadwood to our cumulative score. If we ever have no deadwood at all, we subtract 10 points from our cumulative score.

When I have a score of 100 or more deadwood, I am eliminated from the game. But don’t worry, I can buy back into the round once. I just have to pay half of the pot’s current worth, and then I’m back in the game with a score equal to the highest score of the remaining players.

The End of the Game

When there’s only one player left standing, that player is the winner and gets to collect the entire pot.

When there’s only one player left standing, that player is the winner and gets to collect the entire pot.