Kalooki 51 Rules

The Rules of Kalooki 51

The Basics

If you started a game of Kalooki 51 your main goal will be to arrange as many cards as possible into "sets" and "runs" which will create “melds”.

A set is simply three or more cards of the same rank.
	OR

A run is a sequence of three or more cards, but all in the same suit and in order.
	OR

Kalooki 51 accepts the use of the Jokers, so a set or a run could be completed by having a Joker.

You can win by Going Out or Going Kalooki but Going Kalooki is the best way for you to win the game, avoiding this way to get penalties.

All games of Kalooki 51 begin with the decks :

In order to play Kalooki 51 you will have to have two standard decks of 52 cards and two Jokers. Numeric cards are given their points by their value, for instance the five of diamonds will worth five points.

The face cards are valued at ten points; the Ace cards worth 1/11 points during play, but increase at eleven at the end of the game if they remain in your hand. The Jokers worth is the worth of the card it represents and when remaining in the hand at the end of the game it will worth 25 points.

The four suits

The cards and their values
2 points | 3 points | 4 points | 5 points | 6 points  7 points | 8 points | 9 points | 10 points | 10 points 10 points | 10 points | 11points | 15points

Playing a Game of Kalooki 51

When choosing to play Kalooki 51 you will first have to receive 13 cards. The dealer must then place the rest of the cards on the board, face down in the middle of the table. The top card will be turned and laid on the table next to the deck. This will form the stock pile and discard pile.

Each player will have to take a turn and he will be able to do three moves at once :

• Draw a card from one of the two piles;
• Create new melds or add cards to the existing melds on the table; and
  
• Discard one card only into the afferent pile. 

It is not compulsory to form new melds, but taking and discarding is. You can even hold on to your melds during your turn as you will find a better moment to use them during the game.

If a player manages to make it to the stock pile until two cards remain, he must shuffle the cards from the discard pile and put them down in a new stock pile faced down. The last card discarded is used to create a new pile.

This way the game progresses and the players continue to build melds.

How to Build Melds

When in a game of Kalooki the player has to wait to place his first meld until it reaches the value of 51 or more. After that he is allowed to use the melds and those of the opponents to discard cards until the game is finished. This process lays under the name of “Building”.

Some strict rules have to be kept in mind while doing this :

• You are allowed to add the fourth missing suit to a three card set, only if a Joker isn’t  the set (repeated suits are forbidden);
  
• The appropriated cards can be added to each end of a run;
  
• You can use the Joker to replace a card in any meld;
• A set is closed if a player adds only a single missing suit to a set of three that contains the Joker;
  If having a three card sets that contain two Jokers, one of the Jokers can be released but it requires the building cards to be part of the two missing suits;
  
• A set becomes "closed" should a player add only a single missing suit to a set of three which contains the Joker;
• Should a run contain a Joker, the player can replace this with a card that the Joker represents and use this one anywhere else on the table; and
  
• Melds can only build, increase but they cannot be rearranged.
  

The game goes on like this until a player can put an end to it by :

• Going Kalooki – if a player disposes all cards at once without having to use builders. 
  
• Going Out – if a player takes the final card from one of the piles and is able to meld all of the cards but one which goes into the discard pile. When this is done none of the remaining players will be able to lay off any more cards; their score will be calculated based on their hand remaining and the created melds.
  

• The player that wins the game by Going Out will make the others to receive the sum of their leftover cards in penalty points.
  
  
• If the player wins though Going Kalooki, the opponents will receive the sum of their leftover cards and get extra 25 penalty points. 

Payout Table

Should a game have a "pool" or "pot", the winner of the game usually receives 75% of the value and the remaining 25% is divided between the opponents. Should a player be more than 100 points behind the winner’s score, however, they do not get a share.

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