Rummy games are considered to be the third most popular games in the world. In North America the word Rummy is used for the Gin game but the term is used for the whole games family including Canasta, Mahjong, Rummykub, Conquian and Kalooki (Jamaican Rummy).

There are various card games under the name of Rummy but all share the same essential features features like the basic Rummy (also called Sai Rummy). All those games use a standard deck of 52 cards or tiles. The cards have different importance starting from low (2 to 9) to high (10 to A). Rummy games can be played with two to four players and some of these games use jokers as wilde cards.

The origin of the Rummy games are hard to trace. Some theories say that Rummy originates from the seventeenth-century game named Conquian played in Mexic. Another theory suggests that Conquian was a hundreds of years old spanish game that later was carried to Mexic and later developed as Rummy. It’s also believed that Rummy can have roots in the Chinese history originating from the Asian game of Mah Jong (Mahjong).

Gin Rummy is a relative new version of Rummy game and today is the most popular version of the game played in the United States. Gin Rummy appears to be born in New York deriving  from "Knock Rummy" invented by Elwood T. Baker around 1909. Gin Rummy became the most common game in the United States when it was, for some time, played more than any other card game.

Canasta is one of the Rummy variations most common in American Continent. Canasta appeared in the 1940 in Uruguay spreading rapidly in all Latin America and in early 1950’s gained huge popularity in the United States.

Rummy Tiles game named Rummykub was invented in 1930 by Ephraim Hertzano, an Israelian games inventor. Hertzano hand made the first sets with his family and sold them door-to-door and in small shops. Over the years the game was licensed in other countries and in 1977 the Rummykub became a bestselling game in the United States.

Although the history of Rummy is not known the game makes new fans every day. The development of the internet offered a new opportunity for the gaming industry and it did not took long to appear the online version of Rummy.

The biggest website where you can play online over ten types of Rummy games is Rummy Royal. Players can choose to play on real money or fun money and join lots of tournaments and freerolls. The largest Rummy tournament available on the internet is Kalooki 51 $25,000 Guaranteed Prize at Rummy Royal. This tournament will begin on Sunday, September 13th at 19:00 GMT and has a buy-in of $100. You can win vouchers for the $25,000 Guaranteed tournament through the daily and weekly qualifiers with buy-ins as low as $3.25.