Gin Rummy Scoring

Card values

Cards inside valid melds are not counted as deadwood.

What counts as deadwood?

Deadwood is every card that is not part of a set or run. For example, if your hand contains a 4-5-6 run and a 9-9-9 set, those six cards count as zero. The remaining four cards are deadwood unless they form another meld.

If one card could belong to two melds, choose the grouping that leaves the lowest deadwood. A card cannot count in both melds at once.

Scoring a successful knock

After a knock, both players reveal their hands. If the knocker has lower deadwood after any allowed layoff, the knocker scores the difference.

A complete scored hand

You have just drawn the 6 of Hearts and discarded the King of Spades. Your ten remaining cards contain three melds and only 2 deadwood points, so you knock. Here are both hands, grouped before any layoffs.

Your hand: 2 deadwood points

4 5 6

7 7 7

9 10 J

2

• Heart run: 4 of Hearts, 5 of Hearts, 6 of Hearts.
• Set of 7s: 7 of Spades, 7 of Clubs, 7 of Diamonds.
• Club run: 9 of Clubs, 10 of Clubs, Jack of Clubs.
• Deadwood: 2 of Spades = 2 points.

Gus's hand: 26 deadwood points before layoff

3 4 5

Q Q Q

7 K A 8

• Diamond run: 3 of Diamonds, 4 of Diamonds, 5 of Diamonds.
• Set of Queens: Queen of Hearts, Queen of Spades, Queen of Diamonds.
• Deadwood: 7 of Hearts, King of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, 8 of Spades = 7 + 10 + 1 + 8 = 26 points.

Apply Gus's layoff, then compare

4 5 6 7

K A 8

Gus lays off the 7♥: 26 − 7 = 19. Your deadwood stays at 2. You score 19 − 2 = 17 points.

After your knock, Gus can add his unmatched 7 of Hearts to your 4–5–6 heart run. That removes 7 points from his deadwood, leaving the King of Clubs, Ace of Clubs, and 8 of Spades: 19 points. He could not lay off if you had gone gin.

His King of Clubs cannot extend your 9–10–Jack run without the Queen of Clubs. His 8 of Spades cannot join your set of 7s, because every card in a set must have the same rank. His Ace of Clubs cannot extend the club run either. There are no other legal layoffs.

Final scoring for this hand

Count	Points
Your deadwood	2
Gus's deadwood after layoff	26 − 7 = 19
Your points won	19 − 2 = 17

You score 17 points; Gus scores zero for this hand. Your running match score rises by 17. There is no gin or undercut bonus on a successful ordinary knock. Box bonuses, if your table uses them, are counted separately at the end of the match.

Follow the draw and discard that produced this hand in the beginner walkthrough.

Scoring gin

Going gin means all your cards fit into melds, leaving zero deadwood. The gin player scores a bonus plus the opponent's full deadwood count. The opponent cannot lay off cards after gin.

Bonus values vary. Some traditional references use 20 points. Many modern tables and apps use 25 points.

This site's game uses a 25-point gin bonus. For example, if you go gin and Gus has 26 deadwood, you score 25 + 26 = 51 points. He cannot reduce that count by laying off.

Scoring an undercut

An undercut happens when the defender's deadwood is equal to or lower than the knocker's after layoffs. The defender scores the difference plus an undercut bonus.

This site's game uses a 25-point undercut bonus. If you knock with 8 and Gus finishes with 5 after layoff, Gus scores 8 − 5 + 25 = 28 points. A tie at 8 gives Gus the 25-point bonus alone. Agree on bonus values before playing at another table.

Winning the game

A common gin rummy game target is 100 points. When a player reaches the target, many rules add a game bonus and box or line bonuses for hands won. These end-of-game bonuses vary by house rules, so agree on them before starting.

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