How to Play

Overview
Gin is a card game played with a standard deck of 52 cards in which aces are worth one point, face cards are worth ten, and all other cards are worth face value. The game is played as a series of hands by dealing ten cards face down to each player and one card face up to start the "discard" pile. The remaining cards form the "stock" pile.

The object of each hand is to form "melds." A meld is either a sequence of three or more sequential cards of the same suit or a group of three or four cards of the same rank. A card cannot be part of both a sequence and a group. Cards that are not part of any set are "deadwood."

A hand ends when one of the players knocks (see Knocking). Scores are then tallied based on the value of the deadwood in each hand (see Scoring). The winner is the first player to reach either 100, 200 or 500 points, depending on the selected "Points to Win" option.

Game Play
On the first turn, the non-dealer may either draw from the discard pile or pass to the dealer. If the non-dealer passes, the dealer may either draw from the discard pile or pass back to the non-dealer. If the dealer passes, the non-dealer must draw from the stock pile. On subsequent turns, players may draw from either pile.

After a card is drawn, a card must be discarded. A player may not discard a card that was just drawn from the discard pile. After discarding, a player has the option to either knock, end the turn, or cancel the discard. If a turn ends without knocking and there are only two cards left in the stock pile, the hand is a draw and the same dealer deals again.

Knocking
A hand ends when one of the players knocks. A player may knock when the value of the deadwood in their hand is less than or equal to the knock limit. The knock limit depends on the selected "Game Type" option. In "Gin Rummy" the knock limit is ten points. In "Oklahoma Gin" the knock limit is equal to the value of the card that started the discard pile or zero if the card was an ace.

When a player knocks, their cards are automatically arranged into melds and the player is allowed to rearrange them. Afterward, the other player is allowed to arrange their cards. If possible, any deadwood is automatically "laid off" against sets in the hand of the player who knocked. Cards that have been laid off will be green. A player may not lay off against a player who "goes Gin" (knocks with no deadwood).

Scoring
If a player "goes Gin" (knocks with no deadwood), they receive the total of the other player's deadwood plus a bonus of either 20 or 25 points depending on the selected "Gin Bonus" option. In this case, the other player is not allowed to undercut (see below).

If a player knocks (without going gin) and the value of the deadwood in their hand is less than the other player's, the difference is added to the score of the player who knocked and there is no bonus.

However, if the value is greater than or equal to the other player's, the player who knocked has been "undercut." The other player receives the difference plus a bonus of either 10 or 20 points depending on the selected "Undercut Bonus" option.

Controls
Keys	Action
"5" or OK	Selects or deselects cards or selected options.
"6" or	Moves the cursor right.
"4" or	Moves the cursor left.
"2" or	Moves the cursor up.
"8" or	Moves the cursor down.
OK	Advances from screen to screen.
CLR	Returns to Main Menu and exits game.