How to play Knock Rummy against the computer

Knock Rummy is a two-player rummy game, and in Games by Zaweba your opponent is the computer. You build sets and runs, keep the cards that do not fit to a minimum, and try to knock before the computer does. It lives on the Cards shelf, and the first player to 100 points wins.

It is a thoughtful game with a steady rhythm. Every turn is the same two steps, draw and discard, but each one is a small decision about what you are building and what you are giving away.

Taking a turn

On each turn you draw one card, either from the stock or by taking the top card of the discard pile. Then you throw one card away onto the discard pile. That is the whole turn.

Your aim is to form melds. A set is three or four cards of the same rank, such as three sevens. A run is three or more cards in sequence in one suit, with the ace counting low, so ace, two, three of hearts is a run. Every card in your hand that is not part of a meld is deadwood. Picture cards count 10 as deadwood, aces count 1, and the other cards count their number.

Knocking and scoring

When your deadwood adds up to 10 or less, you may knock, which ends the hand. The other player then lays off what they can, adding their loose cards to your melds where they fit. Then both hands are counted, and the player with the lower deadwood scores the difference.

Two special results earn a 25 bonus. Gin is a hand with no deadwood at all. An undercut happens when you knock but your opponent turns out to have lower deadwood than you. That is why knocking the moment you are allowed is not always wise.

Hands go on until someone reaches 100. The first to get there wins.

Drawing, discarding and sorting your hand

Click the stock or the discard pile to draw, then click a card in your hand to discard it. You can drag cards to reorder your hand, which is well worth doing. Keeping your sets and runs together makes it much easier to see what you have and what you still need.

Playing a stronger hand

Watch what the computer picks up. When it takes a card from the discard pile, it is probably building something with that card. Throwing it another card that would fit the same set or run is a gift.

Throw your high deadwood early. A king that is not in a meld counts 10 against you if your opponent knocks, so it is better to discard it while you still have time to build something else. Low cards are cheaper to hold on to.

Think before you knock. Knocking as soon as you reach 10 ends the hand quickly, which is good if the computer is close to going out. But if you suspect the computer's hand is tidy, waiting for a lower count, or for gin, protects you from an undercut.

A game to come back to

Knock Rummy in Games by Zaweba rewards practice more than luck. Over a few games you start to read the discard pile and plan your melds earlier. Esc pauses the game between turns, and F1 brings back the rules if you need to check how deadwood is counted. Your wins against the computer are counted on the game's tile in the library.