We have discussed rummy variations and to tell you the truth, Kalooki 40 rummy is not really one of my favorites, but fans of the game speak highly of it.

So – How to play rummy, the Kalooki 40 variation?

Some newbies may look at this game as very complicated to learn and would choose to stick with gin or the traditional rummy. However, once you learn and master the techniques and strategy of the game you will most probably find it entertaining and in turn it could well become your favorite rummy variation (We’ll see about that!).

Each player receives 13 cards at the start of the game and the remaining cards become the stock. The first card is opened and placed beside the stock pile and becomes the discard pile.

Then the next player draws a card and gives out a card to the discard pile to complete his turn, he can also retrieve card in the discard pile from previous player instead of drawing.

Up till now you will probably have noticed that this is a standard routine in any rummy game. So how does Kalooki 40 differ? Well, that’s next to be discussed on how to play rummy, the Kalooki 40 way!

The difference lies in laying off of cards. A player can lay off a card on existing melds if he already has formed 1 meld himself. A players meld has to reach at least 40 points.

The game or hand ends when a player has disposed all of his cards by melding all but one card, which is then discarded.

Scoring – There are two methods in keeping track of scores. First method is done by adding the value of each players cards to the winning players score. Faces count as 10 points, Aces are 11 points and all the other cards are counted according to their face value.

The second way of scoring would be tallying, the winners score and add the value of his melds to his points. In addition, the opponents must add their unmelded card as a penalty to their own score.