- Score sheets
- Card games
- Shanghai Rummy
Shanghai Rummy score sheet
A Shanghai Rummy score sheet has a row for every deal, usually seven or ten depending on your version. When someone goes out, everyone else adds up the cards left in their hand, and after the last deal the lowest total wins.
- Two or more decks, with jokers
- A new contract every deal
- Seven or ten deals
- Lowest total wins
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This is the real Scorepad, live: Pagat’s seven deals, one hand per deal, lowest wins. Tap any hand to change it.
Shanghai Rummy
A contract rummy game where each deal sets the melds you must lay down, out-of-turn buys cost two extra cards and are rationed, and the lowest total of leftover cards after the last deal wins.
How to play Shanghai Rummy, in brief
In Shanghai, each deal sets a contract: the melds (groups of cards) you must lay down first. Cards left in your hand count against you, and the lowest total wins.
- Deal from two decksShuffle two decks with their jokers (wild). Most versions deal 11 each.
- Know the meldsA set is 3 or more cards of one rank; a run, 4 or more in a row in one suit. Contracts grow deal by deal.
- Draw, meld, discardTake the top card of the stock or discard pile. Lay down your contract once you can, then add to any meld. End with a discard.
- Buy out of turnIf the player in turn passes up the discard, another player can buy it for extra cards from the stock. Buys are limited.
- Go outThe deal ends when someone has no cards left.
Agree the version, then count what everyone holds.
Shanghai is a family of house rules more than one game, and the card values change from version to version, so settle them before deal 1. In every version, the player who goes out scores 0 and everyone else pays for the cards still in hand.
What each card left in your hand costs
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| 3 to 7The same in all three versions here | 5 |
| 10, J, Q, KThe same in all three versions here | 10 |
| 8 and 9Pagat: 10. Wikipedia and Bar Games 101: 5 | 10 or 5 |
| 2Pagat and Bar Games 101: 5. Wikipedia: 20 | 5 or 20 |
| AcePagat: 20. Wikipedia and Bar Games 101: 15 | 20 or 15 |
| JokerPagat: 50. Wikipedia: 25. Bar Games 101: 20 | 20 to 50 |
- Agree your version firstHow many deals, which contracts, how many buys, and what an ace, a 2 and a joker are worth.
- Go out, score 0The deal ends as soon as one player has no cards left. Write 0 for them.
- Count what everyone else holdsAdd up every card left in each hand with the values you agreed. In Pagat’s version a 2 to 7 is 5, an 8 to king 10, an ace 20 and a joker 50.
- Add the deal to the running totalLower is better, so a big catch hurts.
- Stop after the last dealThat is deal 7 in Pagat’s version and deal 10 in Wikipedia’s and Bar Games 101’s. The lowest total wins; no version gives a tiebreaker.
Deal 3: Dev goes out, and Anya pays for her face cards.
The contract is two runs. Dev goes out. You, Priya and Anya are caught holding only cards that score the same in all three versions here, so this deal reads the same at most tables. This is hand 3 on the Scorepad above.
| Player | Cards left in hand | Hand |
|---|---|---|
| Dev | Went outNothing left in hand | 0 |
| You | K♦ Q♠ 10♥ 6♣10 + 10 + 10 + 5 | 35 |
| Priya | 7♠ 7♦ 4♥ 3♣ J♣5 + 5 + 5 + 5 + 10 | 30 |
| Anya | K♠ K♥ Q♦ J♠ 10♣ 5♥10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 5 | 55 |
Your version, kept straight.
Tabletales is a scorepad and scrapbook for game night. In Shanghai Rummy, type each player’s leftover cards after every deal, however many deals your table plays. Tabletales keeps the totals, and the smallest one wins.
- The trophy goes to the lowestPick Lowest wins before you start (every new game begins on Highest wins). The trophy then sits on the smallest total after every deal.
- Seven rows or tenSwitch to By hand and add a hand for each deal, as many as your version has. Hands are numbered, not named, so keep your list of contracts beside you, or print the sheet below.
- Leftovers on the keypadType each player’s leftover total, or read the cards off as you type (10 + 10 + 10 + 5) and Tabletales adds it up to 35.
- And the night is keptSave it with who played and a photo from the table. Each game gets a history: how often you play it, who with, and who holds the best score.
- Everyone who was there
- Photos from the table
- Shanghai Rummy, with its scores
Common Shanghai Rummy scoring mistakes
- Assuming everyone plays the same ShanghaiAgree the number of deals, the contracts, the buy limit and the card values before you start.
- Charging one card for a buyIn every version we checked, a buy takes the discard plus two cards from the stock. Each extra card is one more that can be caught in your hand.
- Scoring the player who went outThey score 0. Only the cards left in the other hands count.
- Treating a Shanghai call as a bonusIn Pagat’s rules it is about a discard that fits a meld already on the table. It changes no score.
Shanghai Rummy scoring, answered
- How do you score Shanghai Rummy?
- The player who goes out scores 0, and everyone else adds up the cards left in hand: 3 to 7 are 5 and 10 to king are 10 in every version we checked, while aces, 2s and jokers depend on your rules. The lowest total after the last deal wins.
- How many deals are in Shanghai Rummy?
- Seven in Pagat’s version, which uses the Contract Rummy contracts. Wikipedia and Bar Games 101 play ten, with longer contracts at the end.
- What is the difference between Shanghai and Liverpool Rummy?
- Both are contract rummy. In Shanghai a buy costs two extra cards and is limited, and many tables play ten deals; Liverpool is always seven deals, a buy costs one extra card, and a perfect cut takes 50 off.
Shanghai Rummy score sheet
Print one for the table: ten deals down the side with Pagat’s seven contracts printed in, three more rows for ten-deal tables, six player columns and a total at the bottom.
Score another game
This page follows Pagat’s version (Mark Allen Davis’s rules: 3 to 5 players, 11 cards each, at most two buys a deal). Wikipedia and Bar Games 101 play ten deals with longer contracts, Bar Games 101 allows only three buys a game, and Pagat also gives an eight-deal version. Wikipedia’s own card counts and player counts do not agree with each other, so this page does not lean on them. Rules checked on 19 October 2026 against Pagat, Wikipedia and Bar Games 101.
Keep score tonight. Keep the night for good.
Tabletales adds up every hand, then saves the whole night: the games, the scores, the photos and who was there.
