So my husband and I have a tradition of playing card games over the Christmas when we are off work, and whenever we go on holiday. We almost never play the rest of the time, although I am a bit partial to an online game or two of Solitare (or patience as we also call it) or Hearts.
Anyway, Christmas is hurtling towards us at break neck speed and as we are both off for an extended break for a couple of weeks this Christmas that is sure to mean one thing… Gin Rummy!
For anyone who doesn’t know, Gin Rummy is not a drink as the name may suggest, but is instead a popular card game that can be played by two or more players. I think if more than 4 players are needed then a second deck of cards needs to be added so that there are enough cards to play with, but since my husband and I always play just the two of us I’m not 100% sure on that!
Anyway, the game was invented in the 1930s by a man called Alfred Butts and is played with a standard 52 card deck (no jokers). The aim of the game is for each player to build sets or runs of cards. A set is 3 or 4 of the same number or face card (i.e. the 5 of clubs, the 5 of hearts and the 5 of spades) whereas a run contains three or more cards that are all of the same suit, running in numerical order (i.e. the 2 of hearts, the 3 of hearts and the four of hearts). Each player is dealt cards – depending on how you play this can be 7 cards, or it can be 10. Players then take turns picking up a face down card off of the pack of undealt cards and either including it in their hand and discarding another card, or discarding it straight away if it is of no use. The next player then has the choice to pick up the last player’s discarded card, or select a new face down card from the pack. The game continues until one player has sorted all of their cards in to sets or runs (also called melds I think) and is ‘out’.
I’ve been thinking about our upcoming card game sessions over the Christmas holidays as when we played whist on holiday in the summer my husband won! I have a bit of a competitive streak, so that just isn’t on, and I’m not about to let it happen again over Christmas so I started thinking about what I could do to give me a better chance of winning.
I wondered if it was possible to play Gin Rummy online since you can do pretty much everything else online these days so I had a bit of a Google and found that yes! You can!
Super excited to find this on a very cold and dreary Monday! And even more excited to get some practice in so that I can thrash my husband over Christmas!!!
I hadn’t every played Gin Rummy online before but I already love this game – the computer beat me twice while I was getting the hang of it, but that won’t happen again now LOL!
So if you, like me, enjoy a family game of cards over the Christmas break then why not check out this online version of Gin Rummy and become a pro before challenging your family and friends!
I know they say it’s the taking part that counts… but winning feels pretty good too! 🙂
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