How to keep score in Rummy: card values, going out and playing to 500
July 27, 2026 · 5 min read
Quick answer
In basic Rummy only the player who goes out scores, and they take the total value of the cards still held in every other hand: face cards 10, aces 1, number cards their face value. Melding your entire hand in a single turn is “going rummy” and doubles that total. Hands repeat until someone passes the agreed target, usually 100 or 500 points.
What is each card worth in Rummy?
Card values are the one part of Rummy that almost never changes between groups, so agree on them once and they hold for the whole evening:
- King, Queen and Jack — 10 points each
- Number cards — their face value, so a seven is worth 7
- Ace — 1 point in basic Rummy, but 15 in 500 Rum (except when it sits low in an A-2-3 run, where it is still 1)
- Jokers, if your group uses them — commonly 15 or 20; settle it before the first deal
The ace is the value people get wrong, because it swings depending on which Rummy you are playing. In the basic game it is the lowest card and worth a single point; in 500 Rum it is a high card and worth fifteen, which is why holding one at the end of a hand hurts so much.
Who scores in basic Rummy?
Only the player who goes out. When someone gets rid of their last card, everyone else counts the cards still in their hand and the winner of the hand scores that combined total. Cards you already laid down on the table are safe — they neither earn you points nor count against you.
That is why holding a king “just in case” is expensive: it is 10 points handed to the person across the table. Laying off cards onto existing melds late in a hand is mostly damage control.
If you meld your entire hand in one turn, having laid nothing down earlier, you have gone rummy and the total you collect is doubled. Play continues hand after hand until someone crosses the target the group agreed on — 100 for a short game, 250 or 500 for a proper session.
500 Rum counts differently, and it is the version worth tracking
In 500 Rum every player scores every hand, not just the one who goes out. You add up the value of the cards you personally melded, then subtract the value of the cards left in your hand. Scores can and do go negative, which is what makes the running total interesting.
Because everyone scores each hand, 500 Rum turns into a long cumulative race to 500 points, sometimes over ten or fifteen hands. This is the variant where a paper tally gets unreadable fastest, and where a saved history actually tells you something about who plays well.
Gin Rummy: knocking, deadwood and the undercut
Gin Rummy is a two-player cousin with its own scoring. Your unmatched cards are your deadwood, and you may knock once that deadwood totals 10 or less. The knocker scores the difference between the two players’ deadwood counts.
Going gin — melding all ten cards with no deadwood at all — earns the deadwood difference plus a bonus, commonly 25 points. If the defender turns out to have equal or less deadwood than the knocker, they undercut: the defender scores the difference plus that same bonus instead. Games run to 100 points, and some groups add line and game bonuses on top. The exact bonus values vary between rule books, so pick one and stay with it.
Common scoring mistakes in Rummy
- Counting melds already on the table as points in basic Rummy — only the cards left in a player’s hand are scored.
- Forgetting to double the total when someone goes rummy by melding their whole hand in one turn.
- Using the basic Rummy ace value of 1 while playing 500 Rum, where an ace is worth 15.
- In 500 Rum, adding up melds but forgetting to subtract the cards left in hand — a hand can easily end negative.
- Letting the target score drift mid-session; agree on 100, 250 or 500 before the first deal.
- In Gin Rummy, giving the knocker the points after an undercut — the defender scores in that case.
What's the easiest way to track Rummy scores?
Rummy is decided over a dozen hands, not one, and the running total is exactly the part that ends up as a smudged column on the back of an envelope. Logging each session keeps the whole rivalry instead of tonight’s arithmetic — who actually reaches 500 first, and how often.
RivalBoard is a free score tracker for exactly this: log each Rummy match in seconds and your group gets a shared leaderboard with win percentages, streaks and head-to-head records. Still weighing your options? See our comparison of paper, spreadsheets and apps for tracking board game scores.
Frequently asked questions
How many points do you play to in Rummy?
Basic Rummy is usually played to 100 for a short game or 250 to 500 for a longer session; the group agrees before the first deal. The variant 500 Rum is played to 500 points by definition.
What are face cards worth in Rummy?
Kings, queens and jacks are worth 10 points each. Number cards are worth their face value, and an ace is worth 1 point in basic Rummy or 15 in 500 Rum.
What does going rummy mean?
Going rummy means melding your entire hand in a single turn, having laid nothing down on any earlier turn. The points you collect from the other players’ hands are doubled.
Do melded cards count when scoring Rummy?
It depends on the variant. In basic Rummy, cards already melded on the table score nothing and cost nothing — only cards left in hand are counted, and they go to the player who went out. In 500 Rum you score the value of your own melds and subtract the cards left in your hand.
Related scoring guides
How to keep score in Skull King: bids, bonuses and negative points
Yahtzee scoring: categories, the 63-point bonus and extra Yahtzees
Scrabble scoring: letter values, premium squares and the 50-point bingo
Start your group's leaderboard
Free on the web and Android. Create a group, invite your friends and find out who really rules game night.