8 ♥ 8 ♦ 8 ♠ and runs or sequences of three or more cards in the same suit, such as 3 ♥ 4 ♥ 5 ♥ or more. Gin has two types of meld: Sets of three or four cards sharing the same rank, e.g. The basic game strategy is to improve one's hand by forming melds and eliminating deadwood. The objective in gin rummy is to be the first to reach an agreed-upon score, usually 100 points.

The ranking from high to low is King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace. Gin rummy is played using a standard deck of 52 cards. Card game historian David Parlett finds Scarne's theory to be 'highly implausible', and considers the game of Conquian to be gin rummy's forerunner. Magician and writer John Scarne believed gin rummy to have evolved from 19th-century whiskey poker (a game similar to Commerce, with players forming poker combinations ) and to have been created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy but less spontaneous than knock rummy.

The game remained local to New York until 1941, when it was publicized throughout the United States after becoming a Hollywood fad. Gin rummy was created in 1909 by Elwood T. It has enjoyed widespread popularity as both a social and a gambling game, especially during the mid twentieth century, and remains today one of the most widely-played two-player card games. Gin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game variant of rummy.