Game Review: Gin Rummy (XBLA)

Gin Rummy

Published by: Sierra Online
Developed by: Studio Ch’in
Genre: Card & Board
Platforms: XBLA (Xbox 360)
Players: 1 (Offline) 1-4 (Online)
ESRB: E
Prices: 400MS pts

I think based on the name, 99% of people would have decided if they where going to buy this game before they were going to read any reviews. Also 99% of XBLA users can guess what this game has: Gin Rummy? Yes, Different game modes but still basically Gin Rummy? Yes. Play on and off line? Yes. Different theme for the cards and stuff? Yes. Supports Live Vision, Yes. Anything else? No.


Most people are going to dismiss this game like they have with so many other casual XBLA games (bar UNO which has sold a ton), which is a shame to a degree because if you have not played Gin Rummy before (like me) its actually not a bad card game. The rules seem complex at first be are pretty simple:

The objective in Gin Rummy is to score more points than your opponent. The basic game strategy is to improve one's hand by forming melds and eliminating deadwood. Two types of meld exist:
* Sets of 3 or 4 cards sharing the same rank. For example, 8♥-8♣-8♠.
* Runs of 3 or more cards in sequence, of the same suit. For example, 3♥-4♥-5♥-6♥.


A player's "deadwood" cards are those not in any meld. His deadwood count is the sum of the point values of the deadwood cards— aces are scored at 1 point, face cards at 10, and others according to their numerical values. Intersecting melds are not allowed; therefore, if a player has a 3-card set and a 3-card run sharing a common card, he can only count one of them and must count two cards as deadwood.
On each turn, a player:
* draws either the (face-up) top card of the discard pile, or one card from the stock pile
* may "knock", ending the round, under certain conditions
* discards one card from his or her hand onto the discard pile


Play continues, in alternating turns, until one player knocks or only 2 cards remain in the stock pile. In that case, the hand would end in a draw.

There are 6 game modes: Classic Gin Rummy, Speed Gin Rummy, Oklahoma Gin, Hollywood Gin, Three-Hand Gin, or Customize Your Own Rules. But really its just the same game and most will just play classic gin rummy or if they want a quick game speed gin rummy, unless they are after the achievements.

It's only a small wait for online 1vs1 games (most of the time) but getting 4 player games very hard, which makes you wonder, why wait 10-15mins to play a 10-15 min game? Oh yeah for the achievement. At time of writing there was only 35,00 on the main leader board (far less in the other board), which explains why 4 player games are hard to get, there is just not enough people playing. Which is a shame as once you get a 4 player (2 vs 2) game going its genuinely feels different from the other game modes and is fun.


Its a simple game and bar the slightly confusing tutorials and slightly dull presentation, is have been made well, and for 400 points its hard to complain too much. In the end, its just about deserves to be on XBLA and because of that and MS new XBLA policy...

Final Score: