The dealing step is the first minute of the hand.
A working rulebook for an adult reader sitting down to 13-card rummy for the first time — what every player does before the first discard, what the open pile actually means, when a joker may be used and what counts as a valid declaration.
Setup: thirteen cards, two decks, one joker
Standard 13-card Indian rummy uses two 52-card decks shuffled together with two printed jokers and one or more wild jokers (selected at random after the shuffle). Two to six players sit around a table, each holding thirteen cards face-down.
The remaining deck becomes the closed stock, and the top card of the stock is flipped face-up beside the stock to form the open discard pile. The player to the right of the dealer goes first; the dealer always closes the round.
On your turn
- Draw. Take one card from the closed stock (face-down) or from the open discard pile (face-up).
- Meld (optional). Lay down any number of valid sequences and groups formed from the cards now in your hand.
- Discard. Place exactly one card face-up onto the open pile.
- Declare (optional). When the hand is valid for declaration, lay the full 14-card combination face-up and announce.
Valid melds and the joker rule
Two kinds of meld are legal in 13-card rummy:
Pure sequence. Three or more consecutive cards of the same suit, with no joker. At least one pure sequence is mandatory for a valid declaration. Most rulebooks fix this floor at the start of the evening.
Group (set). Three or four cards of the same rank but different suits. A joker may substitute any missing card in a group.
Impure sequence. A run that contains a joker in place of a missing card. Impure sequences count toward the finish but do not satisfy the pure-sequence floor.
Finish. The 14th card of the declared hand — typically a single discard, a group card, or a sequence continuation. A joker in the finish is illegal in most rulebooks.
Declaration, show and the mis-declaration penalty
A valid declaration places all 14 cards face-up in front of the declaring player, split into at least one pure sequence plus any combination of additional runs, groups and a single finish card.
If a declaring hand is invalid — missing a pure sequence, including a joker in the finish, or grouping a joker with mismatched ranks — the player is penalised under the table's mis-declaration rule. The standard penalty is 80 points charged to the declaring player, paid to every other player at the table.