How to Play Pay Me

Pay Me is a fun and relaxing Contract Rummy style game. A very similar game, called Three Thirteen is described in the variations section below.

This game is designed to be played by 2 to 8 players all playing independently. If played by two players, one standard 52 card deck is used with the addition of two Jokers. If the game is to be played by 3 or 4, two such decks are usually shuffled together to be used during the game. For 5 to 8 players, three decks should be used. The standard ranking of the cards in this game is as follows (from high to low); King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.

Determination of seating positions and first dealer can be done using a variety of methods, with drawing of high cards a common method. The players drawing the highest card from a shuffled, face down deck selecting the seat of his choice at the table, the player drawing the second highest is the next to select a seat and so on. The player drawing the highest card of all is set as the first dealer, with the deal rotating in a clockwise direction between each hand.

Pay Me is played over a series of 11 rounds, with the number of cards dealt increasing in each round. For the first round, the dealer shuffles the cards and deals out three face down cards to each player. For each subsequent round one extra card is dealt to each player. In addition, numerous wild cards are used in this game. All Jokers and Twos are considered wild cards and may be used to substitute for any other card in the deck. In addition, each round has a specific wild card for that round. The wild card for the round is the same as the number of cards received. The following chart summarizes the number of cards dealt on each hand the card which will be designated as the wild card for the hand:

Round	Cards Dealt to Each Player	Wild Cards
1	3	Jokers, Twos and Threes
2	4	Jokers, Twos and Fours
3	5	Jokers, Twos and Fives
4	6	Jokers, Twos and Sixes
5	7	Jokers, Twos and Sevens
6	8	Jokers, Twos and Eights
7	9	Jokers, Twos and Nines
8	10	Jokers, Twos and Tens
9	11	Jokers, Twos and Jacks
10	12	Jokers, Twos and Queens
11	13	Jokers, Twos and Kings

Wild cards can be used to substitute any other card (including a card of it's own denomination). There are a few stipulations on the use of wild cards, however; A meld may never contain more wild cards than natural (non-wild) cards, and in any run, two wild cards may not be used directly in sequence.

After dealing out the requisite cards to each player in a clockwise rotation, one by one, the dealer places the remainder of the deck, face down in the center of the table as the stock. He then turns over the top card of the stock, placing it beside the stock to form the discard pile.

During each hand, players attempt to form their hand into valid melds before their opponents manage to do the same. The player to the dealer's immediate left then has the first turn. On each turn a player begins by drawing one card; either the top, face-up card of the discard pile or the top card from the stock pile. To end his turn, the player would normally discard a card from his hand onto the top of the discard pile, face-up. If a player finds that all cards in his hand can be formed into legal melds, he may also make a declaration of "Pay Me" without making such a discard. Thus, if a player makes a declaration of "Pay Me", he is not required (but is permitted) to discard on that turn.

Thus, the player's turn generally consists of drawing cards in an effort to form his entire hand into one or more valid melds. The valid melds in this game are as follows:

Set
Straight

Once a player, on his turn, declares "Pay Me", the remaining players each have one more turn to draw and discard, but may only draw from the stock pile, the discard pile is prohibited once a player declares "Pay Me" on that hand. If another player also can match all his cards into valid melds, he is not obligated to draw or discard on this last turn. Once each player has had this last turn, the player who declared "Pay Me" must then expose their entire hand, declaring each of his melds. After this the other players then also expose their cards, showing their valid melds. They may also lay off any cards from their own hand onto the melds of the original player who declared "Pay Me", but cannot lay off on the melds of any other player. These players may only extend the melds of the player who declared "Pay Me", but may not play the natural card to replace wild cards in those melds.

After each player has had one last turn, the scores for the hand are determined. The players then earn a number of points in their hand based on the unmeldable cards in their hand. The following chart shows the point value for these cards:

Card Denomination	Point Value
Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7	5
8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King	10
Jokers and other Wild Cards	15

After each hand the deal rotates to the next player in a clockwise direction. After all 11 hands have been completed, the player with the lowest accumulated score over all the hands is declared the game winner.

Variations and Optional Rules

Full Cycle: One common variation of Pay Me is to play in a full cycle. In other words, the game is played in a total of 22 rounds. The players continue receiving one additional card each round, up to a total of fourteen cards. In this round, Aces are the special wild card for the hand. After the 14th hand, the players then receive one fewer card during each subsequent deal and the special wild card decreases back downwards to the three. This continues until the 22nd hand in which the players again will receive three card hands. After this hand the game is completed and scores totaled to determine the winner of the game. Obviously, this can make for much longer and higher scoring games.

65: Sixty-Five (65) is a game similar to Pay Me and appears to be a direct offshoot thereof. This game is also often commonly known as Nickel or Nickel Me (apparently as a name variant of the parent game). 65 uses two standard fifty-two card decks along with four Jokers total, making a deck consisting of 108 total cards. This game is designed to be played by 3 to 5 players. The game can also be played by 6 to 8 players using three standard decks and six Jokers total.

Selection of seating positions and first dealer can be done using any method, with drawing for high cards a common method. As in Pay Me, each round consists of players receiving a different number of total cards, starting with 3 cards on the first hand and ending on the 12th hand with each player receiving 14 cards in that deal.

Also similar to Pay Me, each round features a different rank of wild card. As in the parent game, Jokers are always wild in every hand. However, as in the parent game, each round a different denomination of card is considered to be wild. The following chart shows the denomination of card considered wild during each hand and the number of cards dealt during that hand:

Round	Cards Dealt to Each Player	Wild Cards
1	3	Jokers and Threes
2	4	Jokers and Fours
3	5	Jokers and Fives
4	6	Jokers and Sixes
5	7	Jokers and Sevens
6	8	Jokers and Eights
7	9	Jokers and Nines
8	10	Jokers and Tens
9	11	Jokers and Jacks
10	12	Jokers and Queens
11	13	Jokers and Kings
12	14	Jokers and Aces

After dealing the requisite number of cards for the hand the dealer then places the remainder of the deck face-down in the center of table as a stock pile. He then removes the top card of the stock pile and places it face-up next to the stock pile to start the discard pile. The player to the dealer's immediate left has the first turn and the turn rotates around the table in a clockwise direction. After each hand the deal also rotates in a clockwise direction around the table.

To begin his turn a player first draws a card, either the top, face-up card from the discard pile or the top card of the stock pile. After drawing, the player then discards any card of his choice from his hand to the top of the discard pile, completing his turn.

The object of each hand is to be the first player, during his turn, to be able to play all his cards (except for one card which he must discard) in valid melds to the table in front of himself. After a player manages to do this, the remaining players each get one last turn to attempt to improve his own hand and lay down all his own valid melds to the table. After each other player has had one last turn the hand ends and is scored. As in most other card games of the Rummy family, the valid melds a player can form in his hand are as follows:

Runs
Set

A numerical wild card may also be used as a natural card if the card can be used in it's natural place in a meld. In this case, the card does not count as a wild card for purposes of a limit to the number of wild cards allowed in that meld.

After the hand ends, the players who still retain cards in the hand must add the value of these cards to his own running score. The value of the cards in hand score as follows:

Card Rank	Unmelded Point Value of Card
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10, Jack, Queen, King	10
Ace	20
Jokers and Designated Wild Card for the Round	50

After all 12 rounds have been played, the player with the lowest total score is declared the winner of the game.

Three Thirteen: Three Thirteen is another game played very similarly to Pay Me. It is played identically to the standard game with the following differences:

Jokers and Twos are not considered wild cards in this version. The specially designated wild card for the round remains, however. In fact, the Jokers are not even used when playing this game.

The scoring for the unmelded cards in the opponents hands is somewhat different. The following chart shows the scoring in this variant:

Card Denomination	Unmelded Point Value of Card
Ace	1
2	2
3	3
4	4
5	5
6	6
7	7
8	8
9	9
10, Jack, Queen, King	10 each

When a player is able to form all cards in his hand into valid melds, he states "Rummy". When a player states "Rummy", he is still required to make a discard at the end of his turn.
If a player has unmeldable wild cards in his hand after a player has announced "Rummy", those cards are charged at the rate of 15 points each.
Other players are not permitted to lay off any cards on the melds of the player who called "Rummy" or any other player.
On a player's last turn, after another player has declared "Rummy", a player may draw from either the stock pile or take the top card of the discard pile.

In all other respects this game is played the same as Pay Me, described above.

Crazy Rummy: Crazy Rummy is a Rummy game played similarly to Pay Me and some of the other games previously described on this page. Crazy Rummy is designed for play by 3 to 6 participants and uses one standard 52 card deck. The ranking of the cards used in this deck are as follows (from high to low): King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace.

Any number of wild cards are allowed in melds in Crazy Rummy

In Crazy Rummy a meld may contain any number of wild cards. In this example meld, on the first hand of the game, this sequence meld contains two such wild cards.

The game is played over the course of thirteen rounds or deals. Each player receives seven cards on each deal. However, on each of these deals a different card is considered wild for that hand. On the first round, all Aces are considered wild cards, on the second all twos, on the third all threes, all the way up to the twelfth in which all Queens are wild and on the thirteenth and last hand, all Kings are wild cards. A wild card can be used in a meld to represent any other card in that meld. A meld can contain any number of wild cards, however if there is any doubt as to what a specific wild card is representing in a specific meld, the player of that meld must state the card or cards the wild cards are meant to represent.

A players turn consists of three actions; a draw (either the top face-up card of the discard pile or the top face-down card from the stock pile, optionally melding as able and willing, and ending with a mandatory discard.

As in most forms of Rummy, valid melds consist of Sets and Runs. A set is a collection of three or four cards (never more than four) all of the same rank. A run is a sequence of three or more cards all in direct sequential order and all of the same suit. In melds, although a card is considered wild it can also be used as the normal natural card which is marked on that card (i.e. a wild card nine of diamonds could be used as a natural nine in a meld of 8, 9, 10 of diamonds).

The first meld a player makes must be a new run or group meld. On subsequent turns (or later on that same turn) the player may, in addition to new melds, also add cards to existing melds already on the table, made by any player. If a player has the natural card for which a wild card in a meld on the table represents, that player may, during their turn, take the wild card into their hand and replacing it with the appropriate natural card. However, this can only be done providing that player has already made at least one full meld to the table.

A player completes his hand either by playing all but one of the cards remaining in his hand to valid melds and then discarding his last card as his normal required discard to end the turn (and the hand). A discard is always required to end of a player's turn. Thus, for a player who, at the start of his turn, finds he only has one card remaining in his hand, there are several restrictions on his play during that turn. First, he must start the turn with a draw from the stock pile (he may not draw from the discard pile on that turn). They may then, if able, meld one of the two cards currently in their hand, and then discard the other card to end the hand. If the player cannot (or elects not) to meld one of the two cards in hand, he must retain the new card drawn in his hand and discard the card that was already in hand at the start of that turn.

Once any player manages to deplete his hand, that hand ends and the remaining players must then add their ongoing accumulated total a number of points based on the cards remaining in their hands as shown in the following chart:

Card Denomination	Point Value
Designated Wild Card for that Hand	25 Each
Jack, Queen, King	10 Each
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10	Value as marked on card
Ace	1 Each

Similarly, if the stock pile runs out, the game also ends after the completion of the turn of the player drawing this last card from the stock. In this case, the hand immediately ends and each player adds to his accumulated total a number of points based on the cards remaining in his hand.

The game ends after the last hand has been completed, and the player with the lowest accumulated score is declared the overall game winner.

Biddies: Biddies is a Rummy variant that is played identically to Crazy Rummy, described directly above, with the following few differences:

Biddies is designed for play by 3 or 4 players.
The first dealer is usually determined by dealing cards face-up from the shuffled deck around the table until the first Jack is dealt, with the player so dealt this card set as the first dealer for the hand.

Around the corner melds are not permitted in Biddies

Aces can be used in Sequence melds (Runs) either as a high card, after King, or as a low card before two. However, a sequence may not go around the corner (as an example, King, Ace, 2, 3.
If a player finds, after his normal discard that the only card he has in his hand is a two, and the twos are not the designated wild card for that round, may optionally elect to immediately end the hand (called "up for 2"). The player with the 2 scores two penalty points and the other players each score as normal for the cards remaining in their hands.
Any Aces found remaining in a players hand after the end of play have a scoring value of 10 points.
The designated wild cards in each hand are called "Biddies" and melds are called "downers".

Other than these differences Biddies is played identically to Crazy Rummy and is commonly played in Southern Wales as well as reportedly being one of the card games regularly played in prisons.

Treize Brasses: Treize Brasses (translated from French as Thirteen Shuffles) is another game which is played similarly to Crazy Rummy. The game, which is found in Canada, played mostly by the French speaking populace, is played identically to Crazy Rummy with these differences:

The game is played with a double deck consisting of 104 cards, consisting of two standard decks shuffled together.
The game can be played by two to eight players.
Each player receives a total of 13 cards during each deal.
Despite there being a total of 8 cards in every denomination, a set may never contain more than 4 total cards, although these cards may consists of cards in that denomination from any suits.
If a player draws the top card from the discard pile, he must use that card immediately in a meld to the table, he may never add it to his hand.
The scoring value for cards left in a player's hands is as follows:

Card Denomination Point Value

Designated Wild Card for the Hand 25 Each

King 13 Each

Queen 12 Each

Jack 11 Each

2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Value as marked on card

Ace 1 Each

Card Denomination	Point Value
Designated Wild Card for the Hand	25 Each
King	13 Each
Queen	12 Each
Jack	11 Each
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10	Value as marked on card
Ace	1 Each

Other than these differences, Treize Brasses is played identically to Crazy Rummy as described further above.

Beanie: Beanie is a variant of Crazy Rummy which is most commonly found in Canada. It is played identically to Crazy Rummy, with the following differences:

A player may never meld on his very first turn of each hand.
After the first turn, however a player may make legal melds from his hand at any time, even when not his turn. This includes completely new melds or laying off cards to melds already found on the table.
If a player has the correct replacement for a Beanie wild card found in an existing meld he can replace that card, taking the Beanie card into his hand.
The cycle of wild cards is the opposite as in Crazy Rummy. In other words, on the first hand in Beanie, the Kings are the wild card, on the second hand, Queens, all the way down to the Aces on the last hand. The wild cards in this game are called Beanies.
Once a player manages to completely deplete his hand of cards, he loudly announces "Beanie", with the hand ending immediately and the other players must add points to their current ongoing score based on the cards still remaining in their hands. This player is said to "Beanie Out".
The point value for cards remaining in a player's hand are as follows:

Card Denomination Point Value

Beanie Card (Designated Wild Card for that Hand) 25 Each

9, 10, Jack, Queen, King 10 Points Each

Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 5 Points Each
If a player elects, on his turn, to draw from the face-up discard pile, he must take the entire discard pile into his hand.
The hand does not immediately end once the draw pile is exhausted. As long as each succeeding player is willing to draw from the discard pile, the game can continue, however once any player refuses to draw from the discard pile, the hand immediately ends and is scored.

Card Denomination	Point Value
Beanie Card (Designated Wild Card for that Hand)	25 Each
9, 10, Jack, Queen, King	10 Points Each
Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8	5 Points Each

Other than these differences, Beanie is played identically to Crazy Rummy.