Push is related to Contract Rummy, but there are some important differences: Push is a partnership game, and the draw and discard mechanism is different.
Push is for four players, two against two in fixed partnerships; as usual, partners sit facing each other. Two standard packs of cards are used, including 4 jokers, making 108 cards in all. The jokers and twos are wild cards.
There are 5 deals. The first deal is 6 cards to each player, the second 7, the third 8, the fourth 9, and the fifth 10 cards. During each hand, the object is to get rid of as many cards as possible from your hand by playing them to the table as melds. When one player gets rid of all their cards, the cards remaining in the other team's hands score penalty points. The team with the lower total of penalty points after the fifth hand wins.
As in most rummy games, the possible melds are sets of equal cards and runs of consecutive cards in the same suit. Wild cards can be used as substitute for any number of cards in a set or run. The minimum size of sets and runs is three cards, but a longer run is required for the initial meld in some deals.
In each deal, there is a minimum requirement for each player's initial meld, as follows:
Deal No. | Cards dealt | Initial meld |
---|---|---|
1 | 6 | 2 sets of three |
2 | 7 | 1 set of three, 1 run of four |
3 | 8 | 2 runs of four |
4 | 9 | 3 sets of three |
5 | 10 | 2 runs of five |
The first dealer is chosen at random and the turn to deal passes clockwise. The dealer deals the appropriate number of cards (see above table) to each player, one at a time. The next card is placed face up to start the discard pile, and the remaining undealt cards are placed face down beside it to form the stock. The first face-up card is not allowed to be a wild card; if the card turned up is a two or joker, the dealer buries it in the stock and turns up a new card to start the discard pile.
The player to dealer's left begins, and the turn to play continues clockwise. A turn consists of drawing, melding and discarding.
The objective is to meld or discard all of one's cards, and the play continues until one of the players manages to "go out" by getting rid of all the cards from their hand. It is possible to go out in the melding part of a turn, by melding all of your cards, or to meld all but one of your cards, and go out by discarding your last card.
In the unlikely event that the stock runs out, then as soon as a player wishes to draw from the stock and there is no card available the play ends.
As soon as a player goes out, the hand is scored. The team of the player who went out counts nothing for this hand (the cards belonging to the partner of the player who went out do not count). The two opponents count the total value of cards remaining in their hands. If the stock ran out before any player could go out, both teams score the penalty points in their hands. The values of the individual cards is as follows:
each 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 | 5 points |
each 10, J, Q. K | 10 points |
each ace | 15 points |
each two or joker | 20 points |
The value of the losing team's cards is added to their running total. The score is kept like this:
WE | THEY | |
---|---|---|
6 | --- | 40 |
7 | 120 | 40 |
8 | 120 | 100 |
9 | 300 | 100 |
10 | 300 | 280 |
In this example, "THEY" win after the last round.
Wayne Ostrowski describes a variation known as Cap-It in which 10 cards are dealt in each of the 5 rounds. The contracts are the same as in Push, except for the fifth round, in which a run of 3 and a run of 7 are needed.
There are no partnerships, and it is possible for 5 or 6 to play, in which case a third deck of cards with its two jokers is added.
All contribute equally to a pot at the beginning. The winner of each round takes an agreed amount from the pot and the remainder is collected by the overall winner - the player with the lowest cumulative score after round 5.
Here is an archive copy of Bill Whitnack's page on Push, which is largely based on this page.