Open Rummy
Introduction
This Indian partnership rummy game played with multiple decks of standard cards is popular in Rajasthan and among Marwari families (especially in Jhunjhunu District). It is also known as Jolly Joker or Pinochle (sometimes pronounced 'Pinnacle'). The open discard pile from which more than one card can be drawn is reminiscent of 500 Rummy, which used sometimes to be known in America as 'Pinochle Rummy'.
The objective as in all Rummy games is to collect and lay down combinations made up of consecutive cards in a suit or groups of equal cards, but in this game only Aces and Threes can form equal card groups. Twos and printed jokers are wild but their powers are limited. There are bonuses for complete sets of 12 cards from 3 up to Ace in a suit and for suited groups of at least three identical Threes or Aces. A player who can placed all their cards in valid combinations on the table and whose team has laid down the required number of complete sets can declare a show to end the play for an extra bonus. The team that first reaches the target score, accumulated over a series of deals, wins the game.
This page is based on information from Abhinav Gadia, who writes that it is a game of strategy and intellect, which can keep players busy for hours together.
Players and Cards
This is a game for 4 or 6 players divided into two equal teams, sitting alternately so that each player is between two opponents. The direction of play is clockwise.
As in most partnership games, members of a team are not allowed to see each other's cards or communicate with each other by speaking or gestures during the play of a hand.
The game is played with three or four standard international decks shuffled together. Each deck contains 52 cards plus three 'printed jokers' (known as peeniya or khabuchiya). In some decks there are only two cards labelled 'Joker' with a jester figure, but these decks usually contain a spare card which is used as the third printed joker with the same powers as the other peeniya. In addition to the printed jokers all the Twos in the decks are wild cards with more limited powers, known as 'sliding jokers' (duggi). The use of and differences between the printed and sliding jokers will be described below.
The cards that are not jokers rank in the usual order 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A. These will sometimes be referred to below as real or natural cards.
This page will first describe the standard four-player game which used 4 decks (220 cards in total) with a target score of 1500 points to win. Other options will be described in the variations section below.
Objective, Combinations and Terminology
In the standard 4-player game the objective is to be the first team to achieve a score of 1500 or more points over a series of deals. At the end of the play of each deal, points are scored for cards placed in valid combinations on the table, for unplayed cards remaining in the opponents' hands, plus bonuses for complete sets and for the team that ends the play by successfully declaring a show.
There are essentially two types of valid combinations: sequences of consecutive cards in a suit, and groups of Threes or Aces. In local terminology all these combinations are known as 'sequences'.
Sequences of consecutive cards
A sequence of this type consists of at least three consecutive cards in a suit. Printed and sliding jokers can be used to represent any card needed to make a valid sequence, with the restriction that each sequence must contain at least one natural card and not more than three jokers. A sliding joker can be a Two of any suit. Examples (* represents a printed joker):
8-9-10
3-
2-5- 2-
8-*-10-J
Note that the order in which the cards are arranged on the table defines which card the joker represents. For example the sliding 2 in the last example represents the 7 and not the Q.
A sequence of 12 consecutive cards of a suit from 3 up to Ace is a complete set. If all its cards are real (not jokers) it is a pure set; if one or more of them are represented by jokers of any kind it is a mixed set.
Groups of Threes or Aces
Any group of three or more Threes or of three or more Aces is a valid combination.
A group of identical Threes or identical Aces such as 3-3-3-3 or A-A-A scores a suited group bonus, provided that the whole group was laid down together in one turn.
Any other group of 3 or more Threes or of 3 or more Aces, which includes more than one suit or was not put down in a single turn in known as a value group. It does not score any bonus, only the values of the individual cards that are in it.
No jokers of any kind (sliding or printed) can be used in groups of Threes or Aces.
Deal
The first dealer is chosen by any convenient random method, and the turn to deal passes to the left, clockwise around the table after each hand.
The dealer shuffles thoroughly, the opponent to dealer's right cuts the cards, and the dealer deals the cards to the players one at a time, 45 cards to each. The remaining 40 cards are stacked face down on the table to form the closed pile (draw deck) from which cards are drawn during the game. The top card of this pile is turned face up and placed alongside it to begin the open discard pile.
Play
The player to dealer's left plays first, and the players take turns to play in clockwise order around the table. This continues until the closed pile runs out of cards or a player 'declares a show' - see End of Play below.
Each turn has three parts.
- Draw a card or cards (compulsory). Draw either one card from the top of the closed pile or any number of cards from the top of the open discard pile to add to your hand.
- Play a card or cards (optional). Open one or more new sequences and/or add cards to sequences that you or your partner opened previously.
- Discard one card (compulsory). Place one card from your hand face up on the open discard pile, overlapped with the previous discard if any so that the identities of all cards in the discard pile can be seen by all players. This ends your turn.
Drawing cards
The player on turn always has the option to draw the top card (unseen) from the closed pile and add it to their hand. Only one card can be drawn from the draw pile.
Instead of drawing a card from the draw pile the player may take any number of cards from the top of the discard pile, but only if at least one of the cards drawn is immediately played in step 2, either to create a new combination on the table or to add to an existing combination belonging to the player's team or to replace a joker (see below). Provided that this condition is met, any number of cards can be taken from the top of the pile, but in order to take any card the player must also take all cards that are on top of it.
(Note that this is different from the rule in the well-known game 500 Rummy, in which the deepest buried card that is taken must be laid down on the table as part of a combination.)
Example. Suppose the cards in the discard pile are as follows
and the next player in turn holds a 2 (a sliding joker). Instead of drawing from the stock the player may take cards from the discard pile in order to open the sequence 6-7-2 or 2-6-7. In order to do this the player must take at least the top four cards including the Q and the 4 which lie on top of the wanted cards, even if they have no use for these other two cards The player must lay down at least one of the drawn cards to justify this move. They can open the heart sequence or for example if their partner has previously opened 8-9-10 they could instead add the 2 and Q to this and keep the 6 and 7 in hand for later use. In addition to these four cards the player may, if they wish, take additional cards - either the 6 or both the 6 and the 9 - and store them in hand for later use.
Exception. In the very first turn of a deal, if the dealer turned a joker to start the discard pile, this joker may be drawn by the first player (to dealer's left) without playing it immediately.
In the rare case where the first player chooses not to take the joker it remains at the bottom of the discard pile. Any subsequent player who takes cards from the discard pile must immediately play at least one of the natural cards taken from the pile. A player who takes the whole pile including the joker is not allowed just to play the joker and to keep all the remaining cards in hand.
Playing Combinations
After drawing a player may, if they are able to and wish to:
- open one or more new sequences (sequences of three or more consecutive cards in a suit or groups of three or more Aces or three or more Threes) by placing the cards face up on the table in front of them;
- add cards to their own or their partner's open sequences;
- replace jokers in their own or partner's sequences by playing from hand the real cards that these jokers represent (see use of jokers below).
Each individual player has their own area for storing sequences that they have opened along with any cards subsequently added to them. (Unlike in other rummy games such as Canasta, partners do not share a common area for storing opened (melded) cards, since in some cases which partner opened the sequence makes a difference to the subsequent play.)
A player can never add cards to an opponent's sequence or replace an opponent's joker.
It is possible to join two sequences opened by the same player in the same suit if they are consecutive, provided that the limit on jokers in a sequence is not exceeded. It is not possible for sequences opened by different members of a team to be joined to each other, and therefore players should normally avoid opening a new sequence in the same suit as a sequence opened by their partner if there is any chance that they may later want to use these cards to build a complete set in the suit.
A set of Threes or Aces only qualifies for the suited group bonus if it was opened all at once by a single player and has had no cards added to it.
Examples
A player (North) could open a sequence at their turn by laying 5-6-7 in front of them on the table. Their partner (South) at their turn can add add 4 or 8 or both from their hand to this sequence. If North has 10-J-Q in their hand they could open this as a new separate sequence. These sequences cannot be joined until they are connected by the 8 and the 9. For example if South adds 8 to North's sequence then later North or South can add 9 and join the two sequences to create the 8-card sequence 5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q.
A player could open a suited group of A-A-A. Further Aces could be added to this set but if this is done it is reduced from a suited group to a value group. It no longer qualifies for a bonus even if the card added is the fourth A. To score the bonus for a suited group of four Aces the whole group A-A-A-A would have to be laid down at the same time by the same player. Note that this would prevent any team from making a complete pure set of clubs (and in a 3-deck variation - see below - a suited group of 3 Aces or 3 Threes would make a complete pure set in the same suit impossible).
A player can open a value group of three or more Threes or three or more Aces with any mix of suits, for example 3-3-3 or A-A-A-A. At their turn, either partner can add further Threes of any suit to a value group of Threes and further Aces to a value group of Aces.
Note that sequences can never be split apart, nor can cards be moved from one sequence to another. Therefore if a player has two overlapping sequences in the same suit, for example 7-8-9 and 9-10-J, these can never be joined together. Even if they later add a 10 to the first sequence and a 8 to the second sequence so that they have 7-8-9-10 and 8-9-10-J they are not allowed to rearrange these cards to make 7-8-9-10-J and 8-9-10. If they eventually wanted to build a complete pure set in diamonds they would need to add either a second J to the first sequence or a second J to the second.
Use of Jokers
When opening or adding to a sequence of consecutive cards in a suit, jokers (printed or sliding) can be used as substitutes for any natural card, with the restriction that each sequence must contain at least one natural card and not more than three jokers.
A player who has the real card that is represented by a joker in a sequence on the table that belongs to their team can at their turn replace the joker by the real card that it represents.
- If the replaced joker is a printed joker the player takes the joker into their hand and can reuse it as part of a new sequence or add it to a sequence that their team has already opened either immediately or in a later turn.
- If the replaced joker is a sliding joker it cannot be removed from the sequence. The player must slide it to one or the other end of the sequence, where it now represents the card in that position. For example if a member of a team that has opened the sequence 4-2-6 has the 5 they can use it to replace the 2 and choose whether to slide the 2 to represent the 3 or the 7.
When a player replaces a sliding joker in a sequence opened by their partner, then instead of deciding where to place the joker they can leave this decision to the opener of the sequence. A player who replaces a sliding joker in their own sequence must decide alone which way to slide it, without consulting their partner.
A printed joker can never be replaced in a sequence by a sliding joker, nor a sliding joker by a printed joker: jokers can only be replaced by natural cards.
It is not possible to add a joker to a complete set, since there is no real card that it could represent. However, if a player has the real card represented by a sliding joker in complete set belonging to their team, they can replace the sliding joker by the real card at their turn. The joker must then be slid to one end of the sequence, placing it either below the 3 above the Ace. This is the only way in which it is possible to create a complete set of more than 12 cards. The joker beyond the end of the sequence no longer represents any real card so cannot be removed or replaced again.
A sequence that contains printed jokers can become pure if all the printed jokers are replaced by natural cards, and if it is 12 cards long it scores the bonus for a complete pure set.
Sequences that previously contained a total of more then 3 jokers can never be joined, even if the total number of jokers has been reduced to 3 or fewer by replacing printed jokers with natural cards. For example if a player has two sequences 4-*-2-7 and *-10-2, these can never be joined into a single sequence, even if the player replaces the first printed joker with a real 5 and then adds a 8. Although the two sequences are consecutive and now contain only 3 jokers, because they previously had a total of 4 jokers they must remain separate with the 8 added to one or the other. For this reason a player should normally avoid opening sequences like these with an excess of jokers, except near the end of the play when they need to get rid of cards from their hand and have no ambition to build them into a compete set.
Players can only replace jokers in sequences belonging to their own team. They are not allowed to alter or use their opponents' jokers in any way.
Discarding
A player must always discard one card at the end of their turn. This card should be placed face up on top if the discard pile overlapping the previous discard (if any) so that the identities of all cards in the discard pile remain visible.
It is illegal for a player to place all their cards on the table in step 2 of their turn leaving themselves with nothing to discard. Example. At the start of their turn a player holds just two cards in hand: 5 and 6. There is no usable card in the discard pile so they take the top card of the draw pile which is a 7. It would be illegal for this player to open a sequence 5-6-7 as they would then have nothing to discard. They must therefore discard one of these three cards. If they are lucky it may still be in the pile at the start of their next turn, enabling them to take the top part of the pile and open this sequence.
It is legal to discard a joker, and in this case the joker together with the whole of the pile on which it was discarded is turned face down along with the discarded joker and set aside out of the game. Since the discard pile is now empty, the next player must draw a card from the closed draw pile and their discard will start a new discard pile.
End of the Play
The play can end in one of two ways.
- A player ends their turn by discarding the only remaining card from their hand, leaving it empty. This is called declaring a show. In order to declare a show and score for it, the player's team must have put down at least five complete sets, and at least one of sets these must be a pure complete set (a sequence of 12 natural cards from 3 to Ace in a suit without jokers). (This is for the standard 4-player 4-deck game. See variants for requirements in other versions.)
Note. Groups of Threes or Aces, even suited groups that earn a bonus, do not count towards the requirements for declaring a show. - If the draw pile becomes empty, the next player has the option either to end the play and declare an immediate ground show, or to draw from the discard pile and play a normal turn. If this player does not declare a show at the end of their turn the play automatically ends at that point with a ground show.
If a player discards their last card and their team has not met the requirements to declare a show, this counts as a wrong show. The team of the player who discarded their last card scores nothing at all while the other team scores normally.
Scoring
Each team keeps a cumulative score which begins at zero, and to which points are added at each show (there are no negative points in this game). The aim is to be the first team to achieve a total of 1500 points or more, thus winning the game. (1500 points is the target for the standard 4-player 4-deck game. For other options see variants.)
If both teams reach or exceed the target in the same show, the game is a draw. In this case it does not matter which team declared the final show or which team has more points.
If a player declares a valid show there are four sources of points.
- Show points. A team that declared a show having met the requirements for it scores 20 show points.
- Points for cards on the table. Each team scores for all the cards they have placed on the table in sequences or sets.
- Points for unplayed cards. Each team scores for all the unplayed cards in their opponents' hands.
- Bonuses for complete sets and suited groups. Complete sets of 12 cards of a suit and suited groups of Threes or Aces.
In case of a ground show (the draw pile is empty and the player on turn does not draw from the discard pile or plays one turn and does not declare a show) there are no show points, but both teams score for their own cards on the table with bonuses for complete sets and suited groups and also score for unplayed cards in the opponents' hands as usual.
In case of a wrong show, the team that ended the play without meeting the requirements scores 0 points, while the other team scores normally for cards on the table, bonuses and unplayed cards in the hands of the team that ended the play. There are no show points.
Card values
The values of individual cards on the table and remaining in players' hands are as follows.
| card | points |
| 3–6 | 0.5 each |
| 7–K | 1 each |
| A | 1.5 each |
| 2 | 2 each |
| printed joker | 4 each |
Bonuses
The following bonus scores for complete sets and suited groups on the table are in addition to the values of the cards that make up the combination.
| Item | Points |
| Complete set in suit (sequence from 3 to Ace, including jokers) | 15 |
| Complete pure set in suit (sequence from 3 to Ace, no jokers) | 20 |
| 3 suited 3s | 25 |
| 4 suited 3s (opened in a single turn) | 75 |
| 3 suited Aces | 50 |
| 4 suited Aces (opened in a single turn) | 75 |
Note. A group of Threes or Aces which has mixed suits or has had cards added to it does not score any bonus points, but only the values of the cards it contains.
Variants
The rules above are for the standard game with four players and four decks of cards. The game can also be played by six players, and the number of decks used can be reduced to three or even two. In these cases there are changes to the number of cards dealt, the requirements for a show and the target number of points needed to win the game.
| Variant | Players | Decks | Total cards |
Cards
per player |
Undealt cards |
Complete sets required for show |
Number of these sets that must be pure |
Target points |
| 4-Deck (Standard) | 4 | 4 | 220 | 45 | 39+1 | at least 5 | at least one | 1500 |
| 3-Deck | 4 | 3 | 165 | 31 | 40+1 | at least 3 | no requirement | 1000 |
| 3-Deck (Slower game) | 4 | 3 | 165 | 27 | 56+1 | at least 3 | no requirement | 1000 |
| 4-Deck (6-player) | 6 | 4 | 220 | 31 | 33+1 | at least 5 | at least one | 1500 |
| 3-Deck (6-player) | 6 | 3 | 165 | 21 | 38+1 | at least 3 | no requirement | 1000 |
| 2-Deck | 4 | 2 | 110 | 21 | 25+1 | at least 2 | no requirement | 500 |