How to Play the Rummy Royal Board Game

The Rummy Royal Board Game is a card game that is also known as Michigan Rummy, Tripoley and, in Europe, Poch. The goal is to play cards in numerical and suit order during the game to win chips from the pot on the playing board. All of the chips may not be won on each hand, however, which makes the stakes grow from from hand to hand.

Play with three to six players, seated around the Royal Rummy playing board. Give each player 60 chips.

Direct each player to place one chip in each of the 13 chambers on the game board. These chambers are labeled with special playing cards or combinations of playing cards, the kitty and the pot. There are eight chambers in the middle of the playing board and one on each corner.

Deal out the entire deck of 52 cards. Deal the deck so there is one more pile of cards than the number of players. Give one hand to each player. Some piles may have one more card than other piles, which is fine. As the dealer, you must decide to keep your hand or take the unclaimed hand. If you choose the other hand, you cannot have your original hand back.

Direct the player sitting to the left of the dealer to play the lowest black card in his hand, either clubs or spades. Players take turns playing a card, with the playing having the next highest card in that suit playing it next. Players may play multiple cards in a turn as long as they are in sequential and suit order. If no player has the next highest card, the player who played last plays the lowest card in her hand from a suit of the opposite color of the one that was just played. That is, if nobody can play the next spade in ascending order, the last person to play can play the lowest heart or diamond from his hand. When an ace is played, the player that played the ace plays the lowest card from her hand in the opposite color as there is no card higher than the ace.

Continue playing cards in this fashion. When a card from the playing board is played, the player that played it collects the chips in the holder on the playing board for that card. The cards that earn chips are the four aces, the 10 of hearts, jack of hearts, queen of hearts, king of hearts, and ace of hearts. The ace of hearts has two different holders from which the player receives chips on the game board. Certain combinations also reward chips: playing both the king and queen of hearts in a row by one player and playing the 8, 9, and 10 of the same suit in a row by one player. These are the hardest chips to win because they require multiple cards to be played.

Continue playing until one player has played all of his cards. That player wins the chips in the kitty section of the playing board.

After a player wins the chips in the kitty, direct each player to form her best five-card poker hand from all of her cards, even the ones she has played. The player with the best poker hand collects the chips in the pot.

Repeat Steps 3 though 8. Keep playing until one player has all the chips or the Rummy Royal Board Game has been played for a predetermined number of hands or amount of time. The player with the most chips at the end of the game is the winner. If a player runs out of chips he is eliminated from the game. If he runs out of chips while placing them on the playing board before a hand, he can play that hand. If he fails to win any chips during the hand, he is out of the game.