Wrong kind of cards but that is what came up when I searched our images for cards so whatever!
OK so this New Year’s Eve we went to the neighbor’s house as usual and also as usual played a game that blew us right past midnight because you can’t really see the TV from the table where we play. But this year instead of playing Munchkin until 3am we played Aggravation Rummy according to the rules below.
If you have never played before, it is the kind of game that becomes so frustrating that you start to see your friends as your enemies and cards as a concept cruel and inhumane. SOOOOO aggravating, hence the name. So here are the rules, and don’t cry about needing four decks of cards. You can get them at the dollar store. 2020 is the year of thrift!
By the way, these are Gallery rules and there are about 100000 versions on the Internet but this one is guaranteed annoying!
Aggravation Rummy
Game is for 2 to 6 players. Well, maybe it could be more but it would be super annoying if you needed more than Use 4 decks of cards.
Twos and jokers are wild. An Ace can be high or low but not both. Deal 11 cards to each player.
Everyone starts out on round one. You have to lay down the requirement. If you don’t lay it down before the round ends, you stay back until you lay it down, whereas everyone who laid down progresses. And if you are not familiar with rummy at all, a set is the same card (like three kings) and a run is sequential cards of the SAME SUIT (like 2-7 of hearts). So here are the round requirements!
- 2 Sets of 3
- Set of 3; Run of 4
- Run of 7
- Set of 4; Run of 4
- Run of 8
- 2 Sets of 4
- Run of 9
- Set of 5 and a Pair
- Set of 5; Run of 3
- Set of 5; Run of 5
- Run of 11
- 2 Sets of 5
Dealer deals the cards then puts one card face up, which starts the discard pile. The person to the dealer’s left (you) takes their turn, which consists of:
- Take a card off the deck OR
- Take a card off the top of the discard pile OR
- Take a card from in the discard pile but you have to take all the cards on top of it as well.
I searched for Charlotte McKinney playing cards and this is what came up. I dunno.
Then you can:
- Lay down the requirement. You have to have everything at once. So if there are two things to get, you have to lay them both down at the same time.
- Lay down cards on other people’s sets or runs. You can only do this if you have already laid down. And you HAVE to do it if you can, even if it exhausts the cards in your hand.
- Lay down another run or set of YOUR requirement (which of course you can only do if you have laid down).
Finally:
- Discard.
The round ends when someone successfully discards their final card after having laid down. If you play all your cards and cannot discard, you have to wait until it is your turn again so you can pick up then discard (providing the card cannot be played).
When the round is over, you do the scoring. It is based on the cards you have left in your hand.
- Jokers and 2s = 20 points
- Aces = 15 points
- Face Cards = 10 points
- 3-10 = 5 points
So the ultimate winner is the person with the LEAST amount of points when the final round ends. Of course not everyone will be on the final round when the game ends, and it is possible that the person that ends the game is NOT the winner. That’s why it’s called Aggravation. Also please punch me for such a corny closing.
This sounds incredibly aggravating; therefore I must introduce this immediately to all I love so that I can torture them. Thanks!
Played this card game for almost 40 years, although ours was slightly different, whereas we could buy cards. And your comment about up to 6 players, that’s not a cap, just add another deck if playing with 7. I have actually played with 11-14 people before, so it was an all-nighter. Here’s how the buy system goes and some comments, …
You may pick up from the new pile (draw pile) or the discarded pile on your turn. But to buy, you say “buy” and you buy out of turn off the discarded pile (plus the draw pile as a fee, some rules say). Some play with the 1st person who yells “BUY” gets it, other rules state if more than 1 voices the buy, then it’s the closest person to the left of the discarder who played last, unless the very next person who voices buy and wants it is already left of the discarder and then naturally it is theirs and they don’t need to buy it, they just pick it up and say “it’s not for sale”. Others play by rules that state you may pick up the whole pile, but that is more for Gin Rummy and other rummies, than this game, although many versions exist and some people call this Aggravation Rummy. It is an option, but I don’t play it that way and have always just called it Aggravation (to us). This game has more steps, takes longer and is way more aggravating than Shanghai or Phase 10, or even California/ Contract Rummy which is all sets, no runs. This is played on a cold day with a large pot of soup, because it takes about 4 hours, but more with more players. Keep the soup on low, ladle as you go, play more. I have fond memories of the 11 or so players with 3 to 5 of them yelling buy at any given time, so it gets a bit crazy which helps to break up the aggravation if one can yell it (buy)! I think that way you get your frustrations out when you get aggravated because you can verbalize. Glad to see this page, because it really is a dying game that many people don’t have instructions to anymore.