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Gin Rummy: how to play

Gin Rummy, the classic two-player card game, hosted by Mogi. Each level is one hand against a new, sharper opponent: Bruno, Kip, then three bots. Gather your cards into sets and runs, and knock once the cards left over add up low enough.

How to play

You each get 10 cards. On your turn, take the top card of the deck or the discard pile, then discard one (not the card you just took from the pile).
Group cards into melds: sets of three or four of a rank, or runs of three or more in one suit. Aces are low (A-2-3, not Q-K-A). Your melds are underlined in colour.
Cards outside your melds are deadwood: aces count 1, number cards their number, and jacks, queens and kings 10.
With deadwood at or under the level's knock limit, press KNOCK (or K) and pick your discard. Both hands are then counted.
Lower deadwood wins the difference. No deadwood is gin: 25 points more. If the other player ties or beats the knocker, that's an undercut: they win the difference plus 25.
Keys: D draws from the deck, P from the pile; ← → and Enter discard.
A lost hand costs one of your three hearts and deals again. If the deck runs down to two cards, the hand is simply dealt again.

The five levels

Neon City: vs Bruno: knock with 10 or less
Rooftops: vs Kip: take discards that fit a meld
Sewer: vs Sewer Bot: knock at 7 or less
Robot Factory: vs Factory Bot: lay off onto the knocker's melds
Glitch Zone: vs Glitch Bot: knock at 4 or less

Clear the Glitch Zone and the levels loop again with opponents that make 40% fewer careless moves. You have three hearts for the whole run, and the game is the same for everyone each day, so you can compare scores. Press M to turn the sound off or on.

Tips

Throw away high cards that are far from a meld: a lone king is 10 points of deadwood.
Don't throw cards that fit what your opponent took from the pile.
Knock as soon as you can: waiting for gin gives the other side time too.

Questions

What does knock mean?

Ending the hand, once your deadwood adds up to the level's limit or less: 10 at first, then 7, then 4.

What is laying off?

From the Robot Factory on, after a knock, the other player's loose cards join the knocker's sets and runs where they fit, lowering their deadwood. Not on a gin hand, though.