Contract Rummy: four seats, two decks plus jokers, and a different "contract" to meet every round. Miss it and you're stuck holding cards for seven rounds straight.

Goal

Seven rounds, each with its own contract: a set mix of groups and sequences. Meet it or your whole hand counts against you. Lowest total penalty after round 7 wins.

Setup

Four seats, AI-filled if you're short friends. Two standard decks plus three jokers, 107 cards. Expect duplicates: two of every card are in play at once.

The seven contracts

• Round 1 (10 cards): 2 groups
• Round 2 (10 cards): 1 group + 1 sequence
• Round 3 (10 cards): 2 sequences
• Round 4 (12 cards): 3 groups
• Round 5 (12 cards): 2 groups + 1 sequence
• Round 6 (12 cards): 1 group + 2 sequences
• Round 7 (12 cards): 3 sequences, no discard

Group: 3-4 of the same rank, different suits.

Sequence: 4+ consecutive cards, same suit.

Lay your whole contract down in one turn, not piece by piece.

Jokers

Wild anywhere. Dead for good in a group. In a sequence, reclaimable: whoever holds the real card a joker's standing in for can swap it back in anytime.

A turn

1. Draw from stock.
2. Lay down your contract, if you haven't this round and you can.
3. Lay off, once you've already met your contract: onto anyone's melds, not just your own. Never the same turn as your own lay-down.
4. Discard -- except round 7, which has none. It ends the instant someone melds out.

May I?

Any seat can claim the just-discarded card before their own turn comes around, at the cost of a penalty card from stock. Not free, but often worth it for the one card your contract's missing.

Scoring

A round ends when someone empties their hand, or stock and discard both run dry with nobody out. Cards left in hand count against you: face cards 10, ace 15, joker 15, everything else face value.

Lowest total after round 7 wins. Chips only -- Contract Rummy doesn't touch your Elo rating, that's gin rummy's own ladder.

Try it

Play a free match, no signup. Four seats, seven rounds, no waiting on anyone.