Three Player Rummy (Version 1.1)

Materials: Deck of cards, three different-color tokens (preferably one red token and one black token).

Goal is to be the first to get rid of all cards.

Player 1 (Black) can only play black cards.

Player 2 (Red) can only play red cards.

Player 3 (Both) can play both red and black cards.

Setup:

Each player draws a card from the top o the deck. The first player to draw a black card is Player 1. The first player to draw a red card is Player 2. The third player is Player 3.

Red Player is given the Red Token.

Black Player is given the Black Token.

Third Player is given the Third Player Token.

These tokens help keep track of who is who. Players must follow their rules based on the token they have.

Shuffle the cards.

Each player is dealt 7 cards at the beginning of the game.

Playing Cards:

At the beginning of your turn, draw one card.

At the end of your turn, discard one card.

Play a chain of three or more cards (three consecutive-value cards in the same suit).

Play three or more of a kind (three or more cards of the same value).

Black and Red players may play two cards of a kind (two cards of the same value).

Build off a chain:

Play one or more cards that continues a chain of consecutive-value cards from the same suit.

Play one or more cards of a kind.

If there are two red cards of the same value, and black player has one or more black cards of the same value, the black player may play those cards to add to the set.

Playing from the discard pile: Any player can draw any number of cards from the discard pile. However, they have to play at least one of the drawn cards before the end of their turn.

If the draw pile becomes depleted, shuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.

The Joker can be used as any card in the deck.

After each of the three players has completed a round of turns, players then pass their token clockwise such that players switch roles. In this manner, each player will have been the Red Player, Black Player, and Third Player after three rounds.

Game responses:

The three players really enjoyed this game. I think a big part of it has to do with the fact that Rummy is such a great game, and this variation doesn't change the rules of the original that much – it just makes it a unique way of playing the game.

It was also suggested that the game could be played by combining two decks of cards. This might eliminate the need for the 'two of a kind' rule for the Black and Red players.