Word Rummy

A word card game of the post-WW2 era.

There are two letters on each card, of different colors, in opposite corners. The 52 cards make 4 complete alphabets: red A-Z paired with blue Z-A, and green paired with black. Each card also has a rank 1-13 (for A-M and Z-N), and the Morse code for each letter. Later editions also have 2 Universal wild cards. The rules describe two games.

Simple Word Rummy:

Deal 7 cards per player. In a turn, a player: draws 1 card from the draw or discard pile; plays one meld from the hand or adds to a meld on the table; and discards one.

Melds can be 3+ of the same letter; a straight of 3+ letters in a row; or a word of 2+ letters of the same color (unless there are 2+ of the same letter in the word). Adding to a meld can extend the set or straight, or change its type (straight ABC + S to word CABS), or even flip them to the other color and letters.

The round ends when a player empties his hand after discarding. He get the total of the numbers on all cards in hand of all opponents. Each player with a meld of 5+ cards gets 50 points bonus. Game is 500 points.

Siamese Word Rummy:

With 2 people, deal 7 cards each and 7 cards in a face-up column; with 3-4, 6 each and a column of 6. In a turn a player draws 1, melds or adds to a meld (or passes), and discards.

Melds are words only, and must include all the cards in any one row on the table. Words must be 3+ letters of the same color, unless there are duplicate letters. The player immediately scores: if a new word, all the cards' points; if a rearranged word, all the cards' points + 25 bonus; if an extended word that preserves the root (plural, past tense, -ING), only the points on the added letters.

As before, the player who empties his hand gets a bonus of 50 points plus the total of the cards in the others' hands; game is 500 points.

The earliest version of this game used the Hebrew alphabet, in celebration of the new nation of Israel.