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How to play


START - Enter your name and click "start"

SHARE - Share link to the game with your friends or play bots

DEAL - Once everyone joined, deal cards


Start the game

100% free!

No account required to play.

What to expect

Video about what to expect when playing Shanghai Rummy

How players rate this game?

4.6 out of 5
5 star
72.3%
4 star
20.7%
3 star
3.5%
2 star
1.2%
1 star
2.3%
Total ratings 256 - Last ratings on: 04 Jun 2023

Players can submit rating upon completing 4th round.

Leaderboard for June 2023

Position
Player
Games Won
Total Score

🥇

F
16
2598

🥈

R
12
3290

🥉

k
11
2175

Shanghai Rummy Rules

While there are seemingly a lot of rules in this game, fear not, there will be a lot of hints that will remind you what to do next when playing.
You can download rules in a pdf file for offline viewing here

Players

  • You need a minimum of 2 players. 3-6 players is the ideal size.
  • 2-6 players = 2 decks, incl. jokers.
  • 7-8 players = 3 decks, incl. jokers.

Start or Join

  • Start the game by entering your name. You'll be given a link to share with your friends.
  • If you received the link from your friend, join the game by entering your name.
  • The game can be stopped and continued at any point.
  • Register your account to resume games at a later date and on different devices.
  • While not necessary, audio call with your friends while playing is fun. In the future you'll be able to have one directly in the game.

Rounds

  • There are a total of 11 rounds.
  • Each round is a different combination of sets and runs. (see: sets and runs).
  • Each round gets progressively more difficult.

Round progression

  1. Two Sets
  2. One Set & One Run
  3. Two Runs
  4. Three Sets
  5. Two Sets & One Run
  6. Two Runs & One Set
  7. Three Runs
  8. Three Sets & One Run
  9. Three Runs & One Set
  10. Four Sets
  11. Four Runs

The goal & scoring

  • Your goal is to have the least points at the end of 11 rounds.
  • Each card is worth its face value.
  • Face cards are 10 points.
  • Aces are 20 points.
  • Jokers and wilds (see: wild cards) are 50 points.

Dealing

  • Each player gets 11 cards for the first 9 rounds, 13 cards for the last 2.
  • Remaining cards go into the ‘draw’ pile.
  • Dealer flips the top card from the draw pile to create the ‘discard’ pile.

Direction of play

  • Top to bottom, or clockwise if you’re playing irl.
  • The player directly below (or to the left, irl) of the dealer starts the game.

Your turn

  • When it’s your turn you must take/draw a new card + discard a card.
  • You have the option of taking the card from the ‘discard’ pile or drawing from the ‘draw’ pile.
  • If you have the cards needed to form the sets/runs needed for the round, you can ‘lay down’ (see: laying down).
  • Once you’ve laid down, if others have also already laid down, you can build on their sets/runs with your extra cards, a.k.a. ‘laying off’ (see: laying off).
  • Once you’re done laying down/off, discard 1 card to the discard pile.

Buying

  • Each player has the option to ‘buy’ a card 3x per round to help complete their sets or runs (see: sets and runs).
  • If it isn’t your turn but you want the card in the discard pile, you can ask to ‘buy’.
  • The active player and every player ahead of you has first dibs on that card.
  • If no players ahead of you want the card, the active player clicks ‘allow to buy’, giving you the card you wanted + 1 card from the draw pile, a.k.a. the payment.
  • Once you’ve laid down, you can no longer buy.

Wild cards

  • Jokers (☺☆) and 2 of clubs (2♣) are wild cards and can be used in place of any card.
  • You must have a minimum of 2 non-wild cards to complete a set or run.
  • In a run, wild cards cannot touch, e.g. ace + joker + queen + joker = good. ace + joker + joker + jack = nope.
All Rules

To read about the rest of the rules including explanation of Sets, Runs, Laying Down, Laying Off, Dead Cards and Ending of the Round, head to our rules page: Rules

Shanghai Rummy Updates

2022 Wrap-Up 🍾 Year in numbers

2023-01-10

This has been a fun year in Shanghai Rummy game development world. We've had continuous growth in numbers in all dimensions, from players who enjoyed the game to fully completed games played daily. There have been many new features and improvements added to the game throughout the year. All of these changes have made game play more enjoyable and closer to the real life experience. Read More

Exiting updates have landed

2022-10-28

We have a few long requested updates landed over last week: You can now play three bots, you can reject buying a card from a bot without having to wait 10 seconds, and two players can play with two bots. Read More

Free gifts for monthly winners

2022-08-18

🎁 Your dedication to the game means a lot to us. Every month, we will reward our top 3 (or more) players with a free gift which are two decks of physical cards shipped directly to the winners. Read More

Introducing Leaderboard

2022-08-06

🏆 Introducing "Leaderboard" as a first step to recognize our top players. Read More

Playing with bots

2022-02-18

You can now play 🦾 Anna and 🤖 Bob bots to the heart content. These bots are fairly smart but do make some mistakes at times. We will make them bit smarter over time probably. Read More

Player accounts

2021-06-16

Today we added the ability for players to create accounts. This feature is optional to use but will come in handy for players who would like to resume games at a later date and on different devices. Read More

Choosing stack for a multiplayer game in 2020

2020-12-06

Overview of the tech stack choices we made to create this game. 🚨Nerd alert🚨 Read More

Introducing Shanghai Rummy

2020-11-14

Humble beginnings of online Shanghai Rummy reincarnation. Read More