RUMINO: A Unique Twist on Italian Rummy

Let me tell you about Rumino, a captivating Italian card game that bears a striking resemblance to Gin Rummy. However, there’s a fascinating twist to it – the way we keep score. Instead of striving to rack up points, the goal is to minimize deadwood in order to keep your score low. As soon as a player’s score reaches or exceeds 100 points, they’re out of the game. The ultimate victor is the last player standing with a score less than 100.

But wait, there’s more! Rumino features a special winning condition. If a hand consists of either seven cards of the same rank or a sequence of seven cards in the same suit, it’s called a Rumino. When a player manages to achieve this feat, the game is instantly over. And guess what? The player responsible for creating the Rumino emerges as the triumphant winner!

The Cards and The Deal: Unveiling the Basics

To play this game, you’ll need two sets of playing cards, consisting of 52 cards each, along with four jokers. Mix the decks thoroughly, and then deal seven cards to each player. The remaining cards will form the draw pile, which goes in the center of the table. Turn over the top card from the draw pile to create the discard pile.

During the game, the objective is to create sets of cards called melds. A meld can be made up of three or four cards of the same rank, or a sequence of three or more cards in the same suit.

Each player takes turns, following two steps. First, they draw one card either from the draw pile or from the discard pile. Then, they choose a card from their hand to discard onto the discard pile. The turn then passes to the next player, and this cycle continues until the end of the round.

To end a round, players can either agree upon a specific number of rounds to play in advance or keep playing until a certain player reaches a predetermined score.

When it comes to the card game, there’s something called deadwood – these are any cards that don’t belong to a meld. If I have 7 or less deadwood cards in my hand, I can knock, and that means the game is over. After knocking, we all show our cards, revealing our melds and deadwood. We earn points based on the value of our deadwood cards.

Now, there’s an interesting move called going gin. If I want, I can aim for zero points of deadwood. If I manage to go gin, I subtract 10 points from my score. The other players earn points based on the value of their deadwood cards.

After each round, the player to the left of the previous dealer collects all the cards, shuffles them, and deals them for the next round.

JOKERS

In the game of Rumino, you have four joker cards that can be used to complete sets by replacing missing cards. These jokers are like wild cards.

SCORING

Number cards from 2 to 10 have their face value as their score.

Jacks, Queens, and Kings are worth ten points each.

Joker cards are also worth ten points.

WINNING

As we play, if a player reaches or goes over 100 points, they are eliminated from the game. The last player remaining with less than 100 points is the winner.

WINNING WITH A RUMINO

A Rumino occurs when a player collects seven cards of the same rank or seven cards in a sequence of the same suit. When someone forms a Rumino, the game ends immediately, and that player is declared the winner. The score at that moment doesn’t matter.