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RUMMY — Kalooki in Britain, card game rules

Kalooki in Britain
This rummy game is popular in Britain. It is also known as Kaluki, Kalookie, Caloochi and Kalukie. The game originated in Israel and seems to have a dominance of Jewish players. See Kalooki in North America for the rules of that game.

Number of players
2 to 5

Deck used
Standard 52-card pack plus 2 jokers: Jokers, A(high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Direction of play
Clockwise

Object of the game
To be the first person to play all the cards in his hand by melding them or calling up. All remaining players score penalty points based on the card values left in their hand at the end of play. Any player that accumulates more than 150 penalty points over a series of hands is eliminated from the game. The last player in the game wins and takes the money from the pool.

Card values

(*) When melded, the joker takes on the value of the card it represents. The joker counts 15 penalty points when in the hand of a looser at the end of play.

Establish the stakes

Before playing the stakes of the game must be established.

Deal

Deal and play order are determined by a draw of cards. An Ace, 2, 3, 4, and 5 are shuffled together and each player draws one card. The player that draws an ace deals first and has choice of seat. The remaining players are seated clockwise in order from the dealer. The holder of the 2 on the dealers left, the holder of the 3, to the left of 2 etc. The deal is also moves clockwise with each hand. With fewer than 5 players, use the same procedure with cards from ace to the number of players. The deal similarly moves clockwise around the table with each hand.

Dealer shuffles the cards and then asks the player to his right to cut. After the cut, he deals cards to each player one at a time until all the players have 13 cards. The remainder of the cards are placed face down in a stack in the center of the table. The top card of the stack is turned over and placed face up next to the stack pile and is the start of the discard pile.

Play

Play starts with the player at the dealers left and moves around the table clockwise. Each turn consists of the following:

1. Draw (required)
2. Melding (optional)
3. Laying off (optional)
4. Discarding (required)

Draw (required) — The first player may draw from the stock or the discard without having to lay down a meld. After the first play, all players must draw only from the stock until they have made an initial meld of at least 40 points. The only exception to this is if the player takes the top card of the discard pile and immediately uses it to make his initial meld.

Melding options — Cards may be laid down face up on the table before the player melding in sets or runs. The player may keep melds in his hand if he wishes. A player may only lay down one meld during his turn.

Set or (Group) — Three or 4 cards of the same rank and different suits as in this example:

or

Run or (Sequence) – Three or more cards of the same suit in sequence as in this example:

or

Note: Aces do not go around the corner in British Kalooki therefore:

is not valid.

When melding 6 or more cards consecutively, the player has the option of putting down a single run or dividing them into two or more runs. It is considered better to put down a single run because multiple runs give the opponents more opportunities to build upon them.

Laying off (optional) — After a player makes an initial meld, he can in turn do the following in the same turn or later turns:

• Add cards from his hand to your melds already on the table
• Add cards from his hand to melds formed by other players
• In succeeding turns, it is not necessary to meld in order to build on melds. In Kalooki, this is called building and can only happen in a turn and not at the end of a hand

Building on a set — An existing set of 7, 7, 7 can be built upon as:

7, 7, 7, 7

Building on a a run — An existing run of 4, 5, 6, 7, can be built upon adding a 3 and/or 8:

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 —or— 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 9

You cannot add more than 2 cards to the same end of a run in the same turn. When putting down 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit, they must be melded as a new run rather than a build.

Discarding (required) — Unless a player melded all the cards in his hand, he may place a card from his hand face up on top of the discard pile to complete his turn. After discarding a player may not play any more cards until his next turn.

Jokers

The Joker can can take on the value of any card in his meld or even duplicate a card already in another meld.

If a joker is placed at the end of a run,

a player must declare what the joker represents. This cannot be changed later by any player.

If a player puts down a natural card and two jokers,

then he must declare that it represents

a set, or a run

It is not necessary to declare the suit represented by the joker in a set.

A joker that has been previously melded can be re-used by a player who has laid down the initial meld that met the 40 point requirement and the released joker must be used in a new meld or built upon an existing meld. It can never be added to the players hand.

If a set of three cards contains a joker, the joker can be released in exchange for equal ranking cards of heather one of the missing suits from the players hand.

Original meld:

If a player has in his hand he can add them to the meld form a 4 card closed set: and remove the joker to use elsewhere in the same turn. However of you only add one card forming:

it becomes a 4 card closed set and the joker cannot be removed.

If a run contains a joker, any player who has the card that the joker represents can place it on the run, substituting the joker and reusing it elsewhere. The joker must be used immediately by the player during his current turn and cannot be taken into hand.

End of play

Play ends when a player melds all of his cards, discards their last card and thereby goes out. Players may not go out by melding all of their cards without discarding. After calling up or going out, play ends immediately. Losing players add up the points of the remaining cards that they are holding and this sum is added to their cumulative scores.

Winning by melding all 13 cards is know as Kalooki and earns a larger point bonus than calling up. If after discarding to end your turn, you are left with 1, 2 or 3 cards, then you must notify the other players how many cards you have in your hand, otherwise you will be barred from going out on your next turn.

Stock pile runs out

In the event that the stock pile runs out of cards, the discard pile is shuffled and positioned on the table face down to for a new stock pile. The card discarded by the player who drew the last card of the old stock pile is place face up beside the new stock to form the start of the discard pile. If the stock pile runs out a second time the game is declared void. If this happens there is no score or payment. The same dealer shuffles and deals a new hand.

Score

Players payments — Before playing the stakes of the game must be established and payment made to the pool. The winner of a hand is paid this stake for a call-up or a kalooki. Players who have been eliminated from the game are not required to pay.

Penalty points — For each player, the total point value of the cards held in his hand when a winner goes out are his penalty points. This determines who is eliminated from the game and who will eventually win the prize pool.

If a player reached 150 penalty points, he is eliminated from the game, unless he chose to buy-in by paying the amount agreed upon at the start of the game. Buying in reduces his score to the same of the highest scoring player who is still below 150 points. Buyers must abide by the following rules:

1. A player can buy in only two times during game
2. Buying in can be done if there at least 2 players under 150 points

Players settle up on the call-up and Kalooki at the end of each hand. The pool goes to the last player in the game.

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