GINNY-O

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OBJECT OF GINNY-O: The object of Ginny-O is to score the most points over the course of the game.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 2 to 4 players

MATERIALS: A rulebook, a gameboard, 2 sets of tiles, and 4 racks for the tiles.

TYPE OF GAME: Rummy Board Game

AUDIENCE: 8+

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OVERVIEW OF GINNY-O

Ginny-O is a rummy board game for 2 to 4 players. The goal of the game is for you to score as many points as you can by melding tiles to the board.

The board game is very similar in ruling as a traditional rummy-style card game. It also shares a lot of similarities in gameplay with Scrabble.

SETUP

For 2 players you only need one set of the tiles, but for 3 or 4 players both sets of tiles are needed. The tiles will be placed facedown into the top of the box and mixed to randomize. Each player will take a tile and the highest-ranked tile is the first player.

The tiles are added back to the box and remixed. Then all players draw 7 random tiles to add to their tile rack.

Tile Ranking and Values

The ranking for this game is Ace (high), King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace (low). Aces can be used as a high or low ranking but cannot cross the bridge of King, Ace, 2.

There are also joker tiles which are wild and can be used to represent any tile of rank or suit in a meld. Once the tile represents something it cannot be changed.

The game consists of playing melds to the board. Melds can consist of sets of 3 or 4 tiles of the same rank but of different suits or runs of 3 or more tiles of the same suit in ranking order.

There are also values associated with the tiles used for scoring later. Aces can be worth 1 or 15 points. 2 through 10s are worth their numeric value, and face cards are worth 10 points each. Jokers are wild and hold 0 value.

GAMEPLAY

The game starts with the first player who will draw a random tile from the box. They may either play a meld if possible or will need to discard a tile facedown to the box and remix the tiles. If they play a meld, they will need to draw up from the box to 7 tiles on their rack again before ending their turn. Every player will always end their turn with 7 tiles.

A player may choose to use their whole turn to replace all or some of their tiles by discarding them and redrawing, but they will not be able to play and must end their turn after.

For the first meld, it must be played to the center red space on the board. Once the first meld is played other players may add or play additional melds, but they must be connected to the original meld somehow. The board should look similar to a crossword puzzle. The only exception is if starting a new meld on another red start square.

You have three types of plays you can make on your turn. You can add to another player’s meld. You can make a new meld by connecting to the previous one, or you can start a new, unconnected meld by using a red start square.

If starting a new meld from a new red square it can never join with other melds started by a different red square.

SCORING

Scores are kept cumulatively and are updated after each turn. Aces values are dependent on which type of meld they are played to. They are worth 1 point in a run and 15 in a set.

There are colored squares that change the score value when tiles are played on them. Yellow squares double the value of the tile played on the square, and green squares triple the value of a tile. Red squared double the value of the meld played on it, and blue triple the value of the meld. Squares can only be counted once when they are first covered.

The center red square receives no bonus, and adding to a meld to cover a red or blue square will not score the previously played meld. keonha cai

END OF GAME

The game ends the draw pile is exhausted and no plays can be made or when players cannot make any more plays with any of the remaining tiles in the box or their racks. Players subtract points from their game score for the remaining value of the tiles they have in their racks. For this, aces count as 15 negative points and jokers count as 0 points. The player with the highest score at the end is the winner.