Dummy (Thai Rummy)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Cards and values
3. Melds
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. Knocking
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Dummy is Thailand's rummy, a relative of Rummy 500. You collect melds – sets and runs – and lay them on the table, where they score points; cards left in your hand count against you. You may dig deep into the discard pile for the card you need, and two special cards, the Queen of Spades and the 2 of Clubs (the speto), are worth 50 points each. The first player to use up their hand knocks and ends the hand; the first to 500 points wins.

• Players: 2–4, each for themselves. Best with 4.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pencil.

Cards and values

The cards rank from low to high 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A. The Ace is only high: J-Q-K-A is a run, A-2-3 and K-A-2 are not.

Melds

• Set: three or four cards of the same rank, e.g. 9♠ 9♥ 9♣.
• Run: three or more cards of the same suit in a row, e.g. 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ or J♠ Q♠ K♠ A♠.

A card added to a meld already on the table – the fourth card of a set, or a card that extends a run at either end – is a lay-off; in Thai this is the dummy that gave the game its name. You may lay off on anybody's melds, and the cards score for you.

Setup

1. Dealer: draw cards; the highest card deals first. Deal and play go anticlockwise (to the right).
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, has the pack cut and deals one card at a time, starting with themselves:

3. Stock and head: the rest goes face down as the stock. The dealer turns the top card face up next to it: this is the head (hua), the first card of the discard pile.
4. Discard pile: spread the discards in an overlapping row, oldest first, so that every card can be seen.

Playing a turn

The dealer plays first; then play goes anticlockwise. On your turn:

1. Draw the top card of the stock, or pick up from the discard pile: choose any card in it, and take that card together with all cards discarded after it. The card you chose must be melded at once – put it on the table in a meld with cards from your hand. The other cards you took go into your hand.
2. Meld and lay off: once you have made your first meld from the discard pile, you may also lay down further melds straight from your hand and lay off cards, on this turn and on every later turn. Until then you may not lay down anything – a player who has never picked up from the discard pile keeps all their cards hidden.
3. Discard one card onto the discard pile.

Example: The discard pile holds 7♦ (the head), 3♠, Q♥, 9♣, 5♦. Ben holds Q♠ Q♦. He picks the Q♥, takes the 9♣ and 5♦ with it and melds Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ on the table – a meld with a speto worth 50 + 10 + 10 = 70 points. The 9♣ and 5♦ go into his hand. Now that he has melded, he could also lay down other melds from his hand before discarding.

The head card: whoever picks up the head (it is always at the bottom of the pile, so you take the whole pile) and melds it scores it as 50 points instead of its normal value – 100 if the head is a speto.

Knocking

If, after drawing or picking up, you can meld and lay off all your cards except one, lay them down and discard the last card face down: you knock (nok) and the hand ends at once.

A player who knocks without ever having melded before – everything goes down in the knocking turn – makes a dark knock. It is the one way to lay cards down without a first pick-up from the discard pile, but it needs at least one meld of your own, not just lay-offs.

Empty stock: when the last card of the stock has been drawn and discarded, the next player may still pick up from the discard pile, but only to knock. If they can't, the hand ends without a knock.

Scoring

At the end of the hand every player scores:

• plus the values of all cards they melded and laid off on the table,
• minus the values of all cards still in their hand (a speto in hand costs 50).

Bonuses and penalties:

Example: Anna knocks. On the table she has 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ (15), K♠ K♦ K♣ (30) and the lay-off 8♥ (5): 50 + 50 for the knock = 100. Ben has Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ down (70) and A♣ 9♦ in hand (15 + 5 = 20): 50. Dan has 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ (15) and 9♥ in hand (5): 10. Carla never melded; her hand 2♣ 3♦ 8♠ 10♣ J♦ A♦ 6♠ counts 100, doubled: −200.

Winning the game

Keep a running total. The player who knocked deals the next hand; if nobody knocked, the player after the one who drew the last card deals. The first player to reach 500 points wins (if several do in the same hand, the highest total).

Tips for beginners

• Make your first meld early. Until you have picked up from the discard pile you can't lay anything down, and a hand full of hidden cards is expensive.
• Watch the head. Don't discard a card that fits with the head card (same rank, or next to it in the same suit) – you hand someone 50 points.
• Get the speto onto the table. On the table the Q♠ and 2♣ are worth 50 to you; stuck in your hand they cost 50.
• Don't discard lay-off cards. A card that fits a meld on the table is worth points to you – and costs 50 if you throw it away and someone spots it.
• Guard your right-hand neighbour's knock. When they have few cards left, discard cards they are unlikely to use.

Variants

Dummy has many house rules, especially when it is played for stakes – agree on them before the game.

• Knock Dummy: today's most popular form in Thailand, played hand by hand without a running total. The knocker wins a fixed amount from everybody, and the others pay according to their rank (e.g. 1, 2 or 3 units), with extra payments for the head, the speto, discarding the knocking card and other mistakes.
• Colour knock: knocking with all your melds and lay-offs in one suit doubles your score (a dark colour knock quadruples it).
• Discarding next to the head: a player who discards a card that lets the next player pick up and meld the head pays that player's head bonus (50).
• Ace 50: some tables count the Ace as 50 or 10 instead of 15, or the speto as ordinary cards.