Level 3: SYMMETRY RUMMY*

*We recommend using two decks for this game.

OBJECT OF THE GAME:

Each player tries to form melds consisting of groups of three or four of a symmetry group, OR sequences of three or more cards of the same color and kind of symmetry (either cyclic or dihedral).

Here are a few examples of melds: {insert examples}

THE DEAL:

Dealer gives one card at a time face down, beginning with the player on the left. When two people play, each person gets 10 cards.

When three or four people play, each receives seven cards; when five or six play, each receives six cards. The remaining cards are placed face down on the table, forming the stock.

The top card of the stock is turned face up and becomes the upcard. It is placed next to the stock to start the discard pile. When two people play, the winner of each round deals the next. When more than two play, the deal passes to next the player on the left.

THE PLAY

Beginning with the player to the left of the dealer, players either draw the top card of the stock or takes the top card of the discard pile and adds it to his hand. The player may also lay down on the table, face up, any meld (matched set). If the player does not wish to lay down a meld, he discards one card, face up, onto the discard pile. If the player has drawn from the discard pile, he may not discard the same card on that turn.

LAYING OFF

A player may add one or more from their hand to any meld already shown on the table. Thus, if C4 cards are showing, they may add another C4 card; if blue C2, C3, C4 cards are showing, they may add blue cards containing 2-fold rotational symmetry only, or 6-fold rotational symmetry, or 2-fold and 1-fold rotational symmetry only, or 2-fold and 6-fold rotational symmetry only.

GOING OUT

When a player gets rid of all of their cards, they win the round.If all of their remaining cards are matched, the player may lay them down without discarding on their last turn. This ends the round and there is no further play.

If the last card of the stock has been drawn and no player has gone out, the next player in turn may either take the top of the discard pile, or may turn the discard pile over to form a new stock (without shuffling it) and draw the top card. Play then proceeds as before.

A player calls “rummy” when they get rid of all cards in their hand at once, without previously having put down or laid off any cards.

WILD CARDS

The four cards with infinite symmetry are wild cards. These cards can be used to represent any other card in the deck. When forming a meld, the number of wildcards cannot be greater than the number of non-wild cards.

HOW TO KEEP SCORE

After each round, player add up the value of the cards remaining in their hand, whether the cards form matched sets or not.

Examples: A card with 1-fold rotational symmetry only counts 1 point. A card with 4-fold rotational symmetry only counts 4 points. A card with 4-fold rotational symmetry and 4 reflection lines counts 8 points. A card with infinitely many symmetries counts 20 points.

In the event that a player calls “rummy,” the value in the other players’ hands is doubled for that round. The game ends after 5 rounds. The winner is the player with the fewest points.