If a player who has not laid down yet replaces any joker they must lay down their meld in that turn, but if the player has already laid down their meld they may take the joker and use it how they choose anytime.Ī 'buy' is when an out-of-turn player takes the upcard, draws 2 extra cards from the stock, and cannot play the cards immediately, but must wait for their turn. If a player has laid down and has a joker in a run or set, the joker can be replaced by the appropriate card by any player. However they may lay the same number of jokers as face-cards (8/8/joker/joker). But a player cannot lay more jokers than face-cards (8/joker/joker). But if a player has a joker or 2 they could play in place of an 8 (8/8/joker). An example of this would be if one is trying to get a set one must have three or more cards of the same rank (8/8/8). A player is not allowed to have more jokers than face-cards in either a set or run. Jokers are wild cards and can be played in the place of any card. Once a player discards their card, the card underneath that card is now considered a 'dead' card because it is no longer in the game. To get a card that isn't yours a player must say, “BUY', before the next player draws their card, or else it is already considered 'dead'. That card then becomes the new upcard, which the next player in turn can take or other players can buy. (Also, the other players in the game have the ability to get the upcard.) After the player draws their card, either from the deck or the upcard, they must then choose any card in their hand to discard, and they then place this card face up on the discard pile. They may either pick up one new card from the top of the deck or take the upcard.

This card is called the upcard and becomes the beginning of the discard pile.Įach player has a choice at the beginning of their turn. One card is taken from the top of the deck and placed face up next to it. The rest of the deck is then placed face down in the middle of the players this is referred to as the deck. Each player is dealt eleven cards for each of the ten rounds. One person begins as dealer for the first hand, and then the person to the dealer's left becomes dealer for the next hand, and so on. Each game has ten hands, and the rules for each hand are unique.

Aces are high (above a King) or low, (below 2). Two decks are required for a game of up to four players. Shanghai Rummy is played with multiple decks of 54 standard playing cards, including the Jokers. Shanghai rum is a Rummy card game, based on gin rummy and a variation of Contract rummy played by 3 to 8 players.

A meld of four cards in the game Shanghai rum

Shanghai rummy card game sequence