Puneet Varma (Editor)

Indian Rummy

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Indian Rummy (or Paplu) is a card game in India with little variation from original rummy. It may be considered a cross between Rummy 500 and gin rummy. Indian Rummy is a variant of the rummy game popular in India that involves making valid sets out of 13 cards. Each player is dealt 13 cards initially; each has to draw and discard cards by turns till one player melds his/her cards with valid sets that meet the Rummy validation rules. It could be that Indian Rummy evolved from a version of Rummy in South Asia, Celebes Rummy, also called Rhuk.

Contents

Two kinds of sets are possible: a run of consecutive suited cards, and three or four of a kind (with no duplicate suits.) The basic requirement for winning a hand is at least two sequences, one of which must be "pure", i.e., made without any jokers.

Gameplay

Indian Rummy is similar to the standard Rummy game, the only difference being the number of card dealt: a set of 13 cards is dealt to each player.

Every player picks/discards a card from the closed/open deck to complete sets or sequences in a clockwise manner. The basic 13-card strategy is to make valid sequences and sets before one's opponents.

Once either player discards a card in the discard stack, the game will end. The players needs to arrange the cards and then place them on the table to show their hands to other players. If the players hand meets the objective, he is declared the winner. If not, the opponent is declared the winner.

At the conclusion of the hand, the unmade points held by the losing players are totalled. Scoring is generally rounded off to the nearest five (for example, 62 points becomes 60).

The three most popular Indian Rummy Variants that follow a similar pattern of play, based on the draw and discard of cards are:

  • Points Rummy: Games in which the monetary value associated with each point is preset at the beginning. The player who finishes first wins the amount as: (sum of points of all opponents) x (monetary value of 1 point).
  • Deals Rummy: Games in which the number of deals (game rounds) is preset at the beginning. The player with the maximum points at the end of all the deals is the winner of the game.
  • Pool Rummy: Games in which the upper limit (101/201) for the points is preset at the beginning. The player who remains till the end, after all the other players have been eliminated on crossing the preset limit, is the winner.

    • Jokers

    In addition to the standard jokers in the deck, one player selects a card out of the stock. This card determines an additional set of jokers for that hand in the following manner:

  • The same rank regardless of the color.
  • The same rank but of opposite color known as opposite joker.
  • The next higher card of the same suit is called a "paplu". This card functions as a joker, but the holder is awarded an additional bonus from each player at the conclusion of the round. Generally, this is 10 points from each player (25 points if two paplus are held).
  • If the selected card turns out to be a printed joker, all aces become the joker for that particular rummy game.

    • Online play

    The Indian version of rummy is also available online and numerous gaming organisations pioneered the digital world with their digital gaming experience's offerings. Some of the leading companies who are offering online rummy game variants are founded by gaming veterans with global online gaming expertise. Online Indian Rummy is the genre, being liked by Indian families along with young generation, which forms a professional circle of skilled rummy players. Web portals with 3D effects are gathering appreciation by the digital game experts as well, which is attracting a number of people's attention as compared to other gaming portals.

    Rummy has been declared by the courts of law to be a game of skill or mere skill. Such games are excluded from the applicability of laws prohibiting betting and gambling ('Betting and Gambling' being a state subject under the Constitution of India) in all states to the exception of a few. However, the states of Assam and Orissa have not provided clear rulings on this matter and are thus ambiguous territories. Playing rummy online is also legal in India.

    References

    Indian Rummy Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA