It’s also known as Californian Rummy, and it’s a casual game that’s a lot of fun to play. Shanghai Rummy is one of the best family card games. This is a compelling rummy variation for players that want a real challenge. The Shanghai Rummy scoring system may seem a little complex at first, but there are a number of ways to shed cards and win the game. It’s important to watch the cards closely and you may need to take a temporary drawback to secure victory. This may seem simple it is pretty easy to grasp the basics, but there are subtleties to master if you want to master this game. Players attempt to shed cards from their hand and the player that gets rid of all their cards first is declared the winner. Shanghai Rummy is an interesting version of a standard rummy game. We may earn a commission through products purchased using links on this page. ace + joker + joker + jack = nope.Rec Room Pick is reader-supported. In a run, wild cards cannot touch, e.g.You must have a minimum of 2 non-wild cards to complete a set or run.Jokers (☺☆) and 2 of clubs (2♣) are wild cards and can be used in place of any card.Once you’ve laid down, you can no longer buy.If no players ahead of you want the card, the active player clicks ‘allow to buy’, giving you the card you wanted + 1 card from the draw pile, a.k.a.The active player and every player ahead of you has first dibs on that card.If it isn’t your turn but you want the card in the discard pile, you can ask to ‘buy’.Each player has the option to ‘buy’ a card 3x per round to help complete their sets or runs (see: sets and runs).Once you’re done laying down/off, discard 1 card to the discard pile.Once you’ve laid down, if others have also already laid down, you can build on their sets/runs with your extra cards, a.k.a.If you have the cards needed to form the sets/runs needed for the round, you can ‘lay down’ (see: laying down).You have the option of taking the card from the ‘discard’ pile or drawing from the ‘draw’ pile.When it’s your turn you must take/draw a new card + discard a card.The player directly below (or to the left, irl) of the dealer starts the game.Top to bottom, or clockwise if you’re playing irl.Dealer flips the top card from the draw pile to create the ‘discard’ pile.Remaining cards go into the ‘draw’ pile.Each player gets 11 cards for the first 9 rounds, 13 cards for the last 2.Jokers and wilds (see: wild cards) are 50 points.

Your goal is to have the least points at the end of 11 rounds.

Shanghai rummy card game