Kestrachern

A spin off the traditional Rummy card game. Baja Rummy is designed to be a longer more involved game that the more common variety.

Supposedly created by cruisers on the western United Stated to while away the hours as the traveled from port to port on their way to anchorage in Baja California or at anchor at one of the numerous ports along the west coast of U.S. or Mexico.

The goal of the game is to be the first person to reach 10,000 points.
A deck of card per person plus one (so for 4 people you need 5 decks) is used for game play.   

Game Play:
All the decks are shuffled together and two dealers each give each player a set of 11 cards. (Each player ends up with two sets of cards, one from each dealer)
The remainder of the cards are divided into two stacks and placed on the table.  A single card is turned over and placed between the two stacks forming the discard pile.

The first set of 11 cards played is call “The Hand” the other set is called “The Foot”  Players are not permitted to look at their Foot until they have played all the cards from their Hand.
Starting with the player to the dealers right  2 cards are drawn  and added to what is held.
A player then has three option:
1 – make a play, add to meld
2 – place a single card on the discard pile ending their turn
3 – discard the last card from their Foot ending the game.
Play then progresses to the right until a player can do number 3. (see below for further explanation)

Drawing Cards:
A player may either draw two cards from the stacks (one from each or two from the same)
or a card from the stack and the top card from the discard pile.  To draw from the discard pile the player must have made initial Meld. A player can draw from this discard pile in order to make initial meld but the point value of the card drawn from the discard pile is not taken into consideration for the initial meld calculation. 

To lay down cards and score points a player must make the following card combinations:

Valid Card Combinations:
Minimum of 3 cards with at least 2 non-wild cards either of similar indications (all 4, king, 6, Aces,  etc) or as a straight of the same suit (5,6,7,etc)
No Wild Cards can be used in a straight
2′s alone are a valid combination
You cannot play 3′s in  meld. 

Initial Meld Values:
For the initial meld a player must meet the following minimum point (based on the card value table) value to lay down one or more Valid Card Combinations
For a score of 0-2500: 60 points 
For a score of 2501-5000: 90 points
For a score of 5001-7500: 120 points
For a score of 7501-10,000: 150 points

Card Values:
4-7: 5 points each
8-King: 10 points each
2 & Ace: 20 points each
Joker: 50 points each 
Black 3: -300 points each (cannot be played, only discarded)
Red 3: -500 points each (cannot be played, only discarded)

2′s and Jokers are also wild cards

Meld is completed when it reaches 7 cards (with no more than 2 wild card per meld, excepting if a player is trying to accumulate seven 2′s) and removed from play to be scored at the end of the round.  An Impure Meld contains wild cards while a Pure Meld contains no wild cards. Players can only add to their own meld not the meld of any other player.

Scoring:
Points for cards based on Card Value chart.
Being the first to Go Out: 200 points
Impure: 300 Points
Pure:  500 points
Straight: 1500 points
Pure 2′s: 2000 points
The remaining cards in a players possession (Hand and Foot) that have not been played or discarded are added up based on the Card Value List and subtracted from the players total points. 3′s always count against the player holding them.
 Play then shifts to the right one person and the next round begins.

Getting into your Foot:
A player must play or discard all the cards in their Hand before picking up their foot.   If the  player places the last card from their Hand in play on one of their meld then the Foot is picked up and the players turn continues.  If the final card from the Hand is discarded the players turn ends and the next player’s turn begins.

Ending the Game:
To discard their last card and end the game a player must have completed at least a single Pure and a single Impure set.  Straights count as completing a Pure set for game ending determination.

Other important guidelines:
When a player reaches 6 cards in a Pure or Impure meld they cannot draw from the discard pile to complete the meld.  Straights do not have this restriction.