Setup
Shuffle two 52-card packs together with six jokers, 110 cards in all. Deal thirteen cards to each player; the dealer takes fourteen and starts by discarding. Stack the rest face down as the draw pile and turn the top card up beside it to start the discard pile.
How to play
On your turn take one card, either the top of the draw pile or the top of the discard pile, then finish by discarding one card face up.
Melds are runs of three or more cards in the same suit or sets of three or four cards of equal rank in different suits. Your very first melds in a deal must total at least 40 points laid down at once. After that you can add cards to anyone's melds and lay down freely. A joker stands in for any card and counts as whatever it replaces while it sits on the table.
The deal ends the moment a player gets rid of their last card.
Scoring
Every card left in a hand when the deal ends is written down as a penalty:
- Cards 2 to 10: face value
- Jack, queen, king: 10 each
- Ace: 11, or 1 when it is being used low in an ace-two-three run
- Joker: 20
The player who went out records 0 by default, or a negative bonus if that option is turned on. Add each player's figure to their running total.
Two multipliers can apply. If the winner went out in one single turn without having melded earlier in the deal — a Hand-Rommé — every opponent's figure for that deal is doubled. Independently, a player who never melded anything all deal can be made to double their own figure. If both rules are active they stack, so that player pays four times their card value.
Ending the game
The usual finish is an elimination limit: as soon as any player's running total reaches 500, the game stops and the lowest total wins. The alternative is a fixed number of deals, which makes the length predictable.
Common variations
Some tables raise the joker penalty to 25 or 30 to discourage hoarding. Others cap the first meld at exactly 40 but allow a joker to count toward it, while stricter groups insist the 40 comes from natural cards only. Playing to 1000 rather than 500 roughly doubles the evening.
Scoring at a glance
| Who wins | Lowest score |
|---|---|
| Played to | 500 points by default |
| Score sheet | One number per player per round, with a running total |
| Typical round score | 0 – 120 |
| Negative scores | Possible |
| Worth knowing | One cell per player per deal, holding the penalty value of the cards still in hand. The player who went out enters 0, or a negative bonus if that setting is on. |
Rommé — score sheet
Worked example
Settings: Game endsWhen someone passes a points limit, Points limit500, Number of deals6, Joker penalty20, Hand-Rommé doubles penaltieson. Players: Anna, Ben, Cara.
Each cell is the penalty value left in that player's hand. Whoever went out enters 0.
| Deal | Anna | Ben | Cara |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 65 | 40 |
| 2 | 84 | 0 | 51 |
| 3 | 120 | 96 | 0 |
| 4 | 0 | 38 | 72 |
| 5 | 47 | 0 | 63 |
| 6 | 55 | 91 | 0 |
Deal 3 was a Hand-Rommé: Cara laid her whole hand down in one turn having melded nothing earlier, so every opponent's figure doubles. Anna's 60 becomes 120 and Ben's 48 becomes 96 — the doubling is applied to the cell before it is written, not by the sheet.
Running totals:
| After | Anna | Ben | Cara |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0 | 65 | 40 |
| 2 | 84 | 65 | 91 |
| 3 | 204 | 161 | 91 |
| 4 | 204 | 199 | 163 |
| 5 | 251 | 199 | 226 |
| 6 | 306 | 290 | 226 |
Six deals have been played and Number of deals is 6 — but the game is not over. the game is still running, because this match ends on the points limit and nobody has reached 500.
Deal 7 is another Hand-Rommé, this time by Ben, so the penalties double again: Anna's 105 becomes 210 and Cara's 22 becomes 44.
| Deal | Anna | Ben | Cara |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 210 | 0 | 44 |
Final totals: Anna 516, Ben 290, Cara 270.
Expected standings: Cara 270, rank 1 — winner; Ben 290, rank 2; Anna 516, rank 3. the game is over.
House rules and settings
Every table plays Rommé a little differently. These are the 8 rules groups argue about. Each one is a setting in the app — and changing it recalculates a match that is already in progress, which is the thing no other score keeper does.
Game ends: what are the options in Rommé?
Choose whether the game runs until a player collects too many penalty points, or simply for an agreed number of hands.
Default: When someone passes a points limit. Two options:
In the app: “Game ends”.
Points limit: what is the default in Rommé?
If the game ends on a points limit, the game stops as soon as any player's total reaches this figure. The player with the fewest points wins.
Default: 500. Adjustable from 100 to 1000 in steps of 50.
In the app: “Points limit”.
Number of deals: what is the default in Rommé?
If the game runs for a set number of hands instead, this is how many are played. Usually one deal per player, or a multiple of that.
Default: 6. Adjustable from 1 to 30 in steps of 1.
In the app: “Number of deals”.
First meld minimum: what is the default in Rommé?
The combined value of the sets and runs you put down the very first time you meld. Below this you must keep everything in your hand.
Default: 40. Adjustable from 0 to 60 in steps of 1.
In the app: “First meld minimum”.
Joker penalty: what is the default in Rommé?
What a joker left in your hand costs you at the end of a deal. It is the most expensive card in the pack.
Default: 20. Adjustable from 0 to 50 in steps of 5.
In the app: “Joker penalty”.
Hand-Rommé doubles penalties: on or off in Rommé?
A Hand-Rommé is going out in a single turn straight from your hand, having never melded before. When this is on, every opponent's penalty for that deal is doubled.
Default: on.
In the app: “Hand-Rommé doubles penalties”.
Double penalty if you never melded: on or off in Rommé?
A player who has not put a single meld on the table by the time the deal ends pays twice their card value. Punishes sitting on a hand too long.
Default: off.
In the app: “Double penalty if you never melded”.
The player who goes out scores: what are the options in Rommé?
Whether ending the deal is simply free, or earns an actual bonus that pulls the winner's total down.
Default: Zero. Three options:
In the app: “The player who goes out scores”.
Variants of Rommé
Going out without a discard
You may finish by melding your last card rather than discarding it, which speeds up the endgame considerably.
Sequence-only first meld
The first meld must be a run of at least three cards in one suit, not a set of equal ranks.
Rommé is also known as
Deutsches Rommé, Rommee, German Rummy, Jokerrommé. These are the same game — the rules and the score sheet above apply to all of them.
Keep score offline
The sheet above works in your browser. Cardzo for iPhone remembers your players, survives a closed tab, and works in a field with no signal.