So Why Is the Card Game Called Rummy?

No one knows exactly how the rummy card game originated or how it’s name came about. All that exists are theories and conjecture, remarkably for a game of such international popularity there are no definitive records on how rummy came into existance.

Here are a couple of theories which you may have heard, no guarantees are offered as to the authenticity of any of the following!

Rum is a British slang for “queer, peculiar or odd” and one popular theory is based on that fact. It is only right to assume that maybe someone has described the game as being “rum” or indeed uttered the word rum when learning the rules of the game and this has somehow stuck and become accepted as the name of the game.

Another possibility is that rummy originated as a drinking game played when participants were partaking of the odd glass or two of rum. Rum is of course also a name of an alcoholic drink which would have been widely drank around the time the card game rummy began to gain popularity. There is also a game called “rum poker.” which might well be the “father” of rummy card games and the many variations of it.

Finally there are a number of people who also believe that rummy originated in Mexico. They call it “Conquian” which does not explain in any way how the name rummy came about!