Snake Rummy
2-5 players
One deck of cards excluding Jokers
Pen and paper to keep score
Set up
Deal each player seven cards. Then place the rest of the deck in the middle and flip the top card over to start forming the snake.
How to play
Start with the player left of the dealer. On your turn you pick up a card from the deck and discard any card from your hand or the one you have just picked up, and place it alongside the cards already there to form a long snake like pile of cards.
The aim of the game is to make sets and lay them down in front of you to gain points. Cards that remain in your hand when the round is over are negative so you want to try and lay down as many cards as you can.
A set is a minimum of three cards, they can be a three/four of a kind such as three queens, or you can have a run. In a run the cards must be the same suit and they must go up in sequence e.g. two, three, four. Aces are also low in this game so can be in a run as ace two three but not queen king ace.
Now in order to start placing sets down the cards you lay must add up to thirty or more the first time you lay any set down. For example you could lay three tens or you could lay multiple sets that have a combined total of thirty plus such as three fives and the four five and six of clubs.
On your turn you can choose to pick up a card from the snake instead of the deck however, if you want one of the first cards you must also pick up all the cards that follow it. So looking at the image above if you want the five you would also have to pick up the jack. Additionally you must use the card which you pick up straight away to form a set and lay it down in front of you.
When you have placed down a set of your own, you can add to any of the other sets that are down. You do this by just placing the cards down next to your set and indicate to the other players where it follows on from, this is just so you can keep track of your points.
Player 1
Player 2
75
120
50
100
-10
30
Player 3
The round is over when a player manages to get rid of all their cards. In order to go out your final card must be discarded. You cannot place a set and then have no cards left to discard. Once the round is complete points are counted up any card which is eight or less is worth five points. Any card above nine is worth ten points and aces are worth fifteen points. These points will either be negative or positive depending on whether they are down on the table or if you are caught with them in your hand when someone goes out. So if you have more cards left in you hand then you have manged to place down you will likely have a negative total score for that round. You can play for a set number of rounds or play the first person to a certain number of points is the winner e.g. five hundred.