What makes rummy as one of the well-reocgnized card games of all time is that it has several rummy variations; each variant offering a new level of challenge and entertainment in playing the game. Because of absoultely endless rummy variations, each rummy variant is classified according to the type of play the game has. Consequently, there are also several rummy main categories that organize all the rummy variations.
The main classifications of rummy include the following: basic rummy, knock rummy, manipulation game, Asian style, contract rummy, and meld scoring rummy plus a lot more. Keep in mind that under each of these categories there are still several rummy variations. For example, the famous variant Gin rummy belongs to the knock category, Shanghai rummy is under the contract games, Mahjong belongs to the Asian-style game, and carousel or sabra rummy belongs to the manipulation category.
Additionally, variousrummy variations have varying goals; such as the rummy 500 aims to achieve 500 points as its name suggests, the winner of the canasta rummy is the first one to get5000 points, while gin rummy has the lowest point to achieve at 100 points. The points are just part of winning but there are also several variants that have different styles of approach to becoming a winner; as shown by the contract rummy that awards victory to the first player that gets the target numbers of contracts.
Contract games are one of the interesting category of rummy because it has several rummy variations; this include the Liverpool, dummy, joker, progressive, Russian, Florida, Shanghai, and Continental rummy. For every variant, there’s a different number of contracts one must go for in order to win the game. For the continental rummy the only thing needed to win is one contract , for Russian rummy 5 contracts, 7 contracts for both the Liverpool and joker rummy, 10 contracts for the Shanghai and Florida, and progressive rummy with the highest number of contracts set at 15 contracts.
Having numerous rummy variations to choose from, players have unlimited choices on how to play the game depending on the preferences of most players. Therefore, when you play rummy be sure that you are involved in the right rummy variation so your goals are aligned with all the other players.