Common Cause

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Melds and card order
3. The co-op rule: every meld needs both of you
4. Setup
5. Your turn
6. An empty hand
7. No talking
8. Winning and losing
9. Differences from Rummy
10. Difficulty levels
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Common Cause is a cooperative rummy for two: you play as a team against the stock and win or lose together. As in Rummy, you collect sets and runs and lay them on the table – but no meld may come from one hand alone. You put down two cards that belong together, and only your partner may add the third. The catch: you may not talk about your cards, and every card drawn from the stock brings the end closer.

• Players: 2, as a team.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck with its 2 jokers (54 cards).

Common Cause is a new game written for this site and not yet playtested. It is our own cooperative version of basic Rummy, with the jokers of Rummy (Rommé). The size of the stock is the first thing to tune: if your games are won or lost too easily, change it before anything else (see "Difficulty levels").

Melds and card order

A meld is a group of at least three cards that belong together:

• Set: 3 or 4 cards of the same rank, e.g. 7♥ 7♠ 7♦.
• Run: 3 or more cards of the same suit in sequence, e.g. 4♣ 5♣ 6♣.

The cards rank A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K. In a run the Ace may be low or high – A-2-3 and Q-K-A both count – but it can't go "round the corner": K-A-2 is not a run.

The two jokers are wild: a joker can stand for any card. When you put one into a run, say which card it stands for ("the joker is the 6♣"); in a set it stands for any missing suit.

The co-op rule: every meld needs both of you

You may never lay down a complete meld from your own hand. Instead you lay an open start: exactly two cards (no joker) that one more card would turn into a meld:

• a pair: 7♥ 7♠ – completed by one of the other two 7s or a joker;
• two cards of one suit next to each other: 4♣ 5♣ – completed by the 3♣, the 6♣ or a joker;
• two cards of one suit with one gap: 4♣ 6♣ – completed by the 5♣ or a joker.

Put your open starts on your side of the table. Only your partner can complete one: they add a fitting third card from their hand, which may be a joker. From then on it is a complete meld that belongs to you both.

• Each of you may have at most two open starts on the table at a time.
• You may not add cards to your own open start, and you may not take it back.
• Complete melds are open to both of you: either of you may lay off more fitting cards on them – the 7♣ on 7♥ 7♠ 7♦, or the 3♣ or the 7♣ on 4♣ 5♣ 6♣. A set has at most four cards.

Setup

1. Shuffle all 54 cards and deal 10 each, face down, one at a time. This is your hand – don't show it to your partner.
2. Turn up the next card and put it in the middle: this starts the discard pile.
3. The rest goes face down next to it as the stock (draw pile) – 33 cards. It is your clock. Count off the cards for your level and put them aside face down without looking at them: on Normal 11, which leaves a stock of 22 (see "Difficulty levels").
4. The younger player begins; then you take turns.

Your turn

1. Draw one card: the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. You may take the discard only if you put it onto the table in the same turn.
2. Place cards (optional – as many as you like, in any order): - lay an open start (while you have fewer than two on the table); - complete one of your partner's open starts; - lay off cards on complete melds; - swap a joker: if a complete meld contains a joker and you hold the real card it stands for, put your card in its place and take the joker into your hand.
3. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile. If your hand is already empty, you don't discard.

Your discard is your message. Usually it says "I don't need this". But if you hold a card that completes your own open start, discard exactly that card: your partner may take it from the discard pile and complete your start – without using up a card from the stock.

An empty hand

With an empty hand you are not out of the game. You go on taking your turns: draw a card (from the stock, or the top discard if you can place it), use it to complete an open start or lay it off if you can – otherwise discard it. You may be the one who draws the card your partner's open start is waiting for.

No talking

During the game you may not say anything about your cards or your plans: no "I've got a 7", no pointing, no sighing. You may talk about the rules, whose turn it is and how many cards are left in the stock. Your open starts and your discards are your only language.

Winning and losing

• You win together as soon as both hands are empty and no open start is left: every card on the table is part of a complete meld.
• You lose when a player has to draw, the stock is empty and they can't place the top discard. The discard pile is never turned over as a new stock.
• Sometimes you can see that an open start can't be completed any more – say, both 7s it needs are buried in the discard pile and no joker can be had. Then the game is lost; you may stop at once and deal again.

Example: Normal, with a stock of 22. Anna begins. She draws from the stock, lays the open start 7♥ 7♠ and discards the K♦. Ben can't place the K♦, so he draws from the stock. He completes Anna's start with his 7♦ – 7♥ 7♠ 7♦ is now a complete set – lays his own open start 4♣ 5♣ and discards the 2♠. Anna draws the 7♣ and lays it off on the set. She completes Ben's start with a joker: "The joker is the 6♣." Then she lays a new open start, 10♥ J♥, and discards the Q♥. Ben reads the message: Anna wouldn't throw away a card her own start is waiting for unless it was meant for him. He takes the Q♥ from the discard pile and completes the run 10♥ J♥ Q♥ – without using a card from the stock. Whoever gets the real 6♣ later may swap it for the joker.

Differences from Rummy

• You play as a team; there is no scoring.
• Nobody melds alone: an open start of two cards plus a card from the partner.
• Jokers as in Rummy (Rommé); the Ace may be low or high.
• The top discard may only be taken to place it at once – a known Rommé variant.
• The discard pile is never reused, and an empty hand does not end the game.

Difficulty levels

The budget: each turn you draw one card and discard one, so your hands only shrink by the cards you place – and all 20 have to go. Every turn costs a stock card, unless you take the top discard, which you may only do when you place it at once. On Normal the 22 stock cards give you 22 turns, 11 each, plus the turns in which you use a discard: you have to place almost one card per turn. An open start puts down two cards at once, but it has to be completed before you can win.

In a computer simulation with a simple strategy – two players who never see each other's cards and never talk, place whatever they can and discard the card that completes their own open start – the team won about 82% of games on Easy, 56% on Normal and 31% on Hard (94% with the full stock of 33 cards). On Normal a game took about 24 turns, and in about five of them a discard was used instead of a stock card. Talking on Easy was not simulated – it makes the game easier still – and people play differently from a computer. If the game is too easy or too hard for you, change the number of cards you put aside first.

Tips for beginners

• Start with pairs. A pair can be completed by two other cards and both jokers; a run with a gap only by one card and the jokers.
• Offer the missing card. If you hold the third card for your own open start, discard it – your partner can take it and complete the meld without touching the stock.
• Read the discards. What your partner throws away, they don't need; a card that fits their open start is an offer. If they leave your discard lying, they probably couldn't use it.
• Keep a joker for the end. An open start that nobody can complete loses the game – a joker completes any of them.
• Don't block yourself. Two open starts that your partner can't complete use up both your places. Late in the game, only start what can still be completed.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Open hands: play with your hands face up, but still without talking – good for learning.
• Ace low: as in basic Rummy, the Ace is only low (A-2-3, but not Q-K-A).
• Three open starts: each of you may have three open starts on the table instead of two – more freedom early on, more to complete at the end.