Gin Rummy

Fans of Hand 'n Foot will no doubt be familiar with the mechanics of Gin Rummy, another card game in which the object is to create melds and score points.  While Hand 'n Foot has considerably more specialized cards and rules, introducing unfamiliar players to Rummy is a good way to bring them over to the new game.

Gin Rummy is played with a single standard deck of playing cards, and the object is to outscore your opponent.  You do so by creating melds of three or more cards, either the same number of different suits (three of clubs, spades, and diamonds) or by creating a run of consecutive numbers inside the same suit (two, three, four of hearts).  Any cards not part of a meld are called deadwood, and are scored according to face value (aces count one point, face cards count ten).  

To setup, deal each player ten cards, and turn the top card of the remaining deck face-up to start the discard pile.  On each player's turn, he has the option of either taking the face-up card (known as the upcard) or drawing the top card from the deck (called the stock).  He then must discard a card from his hand, always keeping ten.  The object is to use the cards drawn from the table to replace unusable ones in your hand, and create melds.

A player can also "knock", on his turn, ending the game.  You may only knock if the deadwood in your hand totals less than ten points, but you must knock if you have no deadwood left.  The knocking player places his melds on the table, and his opponent has a chance to "lay off" any of his deadwood by adding it to the melds.  When all applicable deadwood is laid off, the players compare hands, with the winner taking one point for the difference in the deadwood values.  If the winner knocks with two points of deadwood, and the loser has ten points, the winner will record a score of eight.

There are many variations of the rules, but this simple mechanic will be familiar to any Hand 'n Foot player.