Shanghai Rummy Rounds and Contracts Explained

Welcome to our lesson all about Shanghai Rummy rounds and contracts. In this lesson, you will learn exactly what you have to build in each of the seven rounds, and why a hand that looked strong a moment ago can suddenly be the wrong shape.

Shanghai Rummy changes with every deal. The pairs that helped you in a round requiring sets may be little use when the next round calls for runs. Before choosing what to keep, you need to know exactly what you are trying to build.

That requirement is called a contract. It specifies the combinations you must lay down before you can add spare cards to exposed melds. Because, even though we play for fun, it is still nicer to put the right cards down, and not discover too late that one of them was doing two jobs at once.

This lesson follows the same seven-round Shanghai Rummy version used in our rules guide: 11 cards are dealt in each round, sets begin with three matching ranks, and runs begin with four consecutive cards of one suit. Other versions use different round charts, so if you are sitting down at a new table, check which chart they are using first.

The seven Shanghai Rummy rounds

The minimum contract grows by one card each round. Everyone plays the same contract, and everyone moves to the next round after the current one ends. A player who fails to lay down in round two still plays round three next.

The examples below show complete contracts. Except for the final-round examples, they do not necessarily show your entire hand. You may have spare cards that still need to be laid off or discarded. Unless stated otherwise, the hand-size calculations assume no buys, Shanghai penalties or other changes before your first meld.

Rounds one to three: the opening contracts

Round 1: two sets of three

When you start a game of Shanghai Rummy, the opening contract is the simplest on paper: six cards, divided into two sets of different ranks.

Both sets must be ready before you lay down. Three sevens and two kings leave you one king short. You cannot put the sevens on the table while continuing to collect the second set.

Completing this contract still leaves a substantial part of a normal hand to remove. With no buys, you hold 12 cards immediately after your draw. Putting down the six-card contract leaves six cards before laying off or discarding.

That is why two completed sets do not automatically win the opening round. Look for useful destinations for your remaining cards, including extra sevens or kings that can be added after the contract is down.

Round 2: one set and one run

The second contract combines three matching ranks with four consecutive cards of one suit. You need seven cards in total.

The set and run must use separate physical cards. Suppose Henry instead holds three nines including 9♥, plus 7♥, 8♥ and 10♥. The 9♥ could complete either combination, but it cannot belong to both at once. He still needs another suitable card or an allowed joker.

This round rewards careful sorting. Keep the proposed set slightly apart from the proposed run so that one useful card does not accidentally appear in both plans.

Once you put down a seven-card contract from a 12-card hand, five cards remain before any laying off or discard.

Round 3: two runs of four

The third contract needs eight cards arranged into two runs. Matching pairs do not fulfil any part of this requirement on their own.

An eight-card run is not automatically two valid four-card runs. For example, 3♣ through 10♣ cannot simply be split into 3♣ to 6♣ and 7♣ to 10♣ for the initial contract. Those runs would be directly consecutive in the same suit, which this version does not permit.

Build and inspect each run separately before treating the contract as complete.

Rounds four to six: more cards to organise

From here the contracts get larger, and it becomes easier to talk yourself into thinking a hand is ready when one combination is still missing a card.

Round 4: three sets of three

Round four returns to matching ranks, but now you need three separate sets. The contract uses nine cards.

A fourth card of one rank does not replace the missing third card of another. Four fours, three nines and two queens still leave the queen set unfinished.

This distinction matters when buying. Another four may be useful later, but it does not solve the missing queen. Judge the discard against the incomplete part of your contract.

With no buys, laying down the nine-card contract after your draw leaves three cards. You may be close to going out if those spare cards fit existing melds, but the contract itself does not remove them.

Round 5: two sets and one run

Round five requires ten cards: six for the two sets and four for the run.

If J♠ were your only third jack, however, you could not use it in the set and the run simultaneously. Moving it between the two combinations would merely move the gap.

A minimum contract leaves two cards from a 12-card hand. If you can lay off one and legally discard the other, you can finish in the same turn. Check those last two cards before deciding your hand is ready to go out.

Round 6: one set and two runs

Round six requires 11 cards, matching the number dealt at the start of the round.

If these are your 11 cards at the start of a turn, you still make the normal draw. You then have 12 cards: the completed contract and one extra.

Provided you have made no buys or other changes to your hand size, you can lay down the 11-card contract and legally discard the remaining card to go out. The ordinary restrictions on discarding still apply.

A player who has bought cards may have more left over. Count your actual hand rather than assuming that completing this contract always leaves exactly one card.

Round seven: three runs and no discard

The final contract requires three runs of at least four cards each. You must play the complete hand at once, with no unmatched cards and no final discard.

If Emma began the turn with 11 of these and drew the missing card, she could put down the whole hand and end the round immediately.

Do you need to buy in the final round? Not simply to reach 12 cards. Your normal draw takes an unaltered 11-card hand to 12, which is enough for three runs of four.

Buying can help you obtain a missing card, but each buy in this version adds the discard and two stock cards. Those additions must also be accounted for when you finish. For example, after one buy, an otherwise unchanged hand has 14 cards before the normal draw and 15 afterwards. Three four-card runs would use only 12 and leave three spare cards. That is not a winning final-round hand.

One possible 15-card finish is three runs of five: 3♣ to 7♣, 6♦ to 10♦, and 10♥ to A♥. All three runs have five cards, so every card is used. Other lengths can work too. A four-card run, a five-card run and a six-card run also total 15, provided each run is legal.

The key check is whether every card belongs somewhere. Finishing two excellent runs does not compensate for an incomplete third, and completing three minimum runs does not make unrelated leftovers disappear.

Check your contract before laying down

Use every physical card only once. Two decks allow identical copies, but each copy remains a separate card. If two overlapping runs both need 8♣, you must hold two copies of 8♣ to fill those positions.

For example, 5♣, 6♣, 7♣, 8♣ and 7♣, 8♣, 9♣, 10♣ can form two overlapping runs only when you have separate copies of both 7♣ and 8♣. Lay the cards into two actual groups to confirm that you have eight cards, not six cards counted twice.

Check the joker limit. This version allows no more than one joker per set or run. A joker can fill a gap, but it cannot make an otherwise restricted arrangement legal.

Check each combination individually. One joker in a set and one in a separate run can both be legal even though the contract contains two jokers overall.

And separate completing the contract from finishing the round. In rounds one to six, laying down your required combinations can leave cards in your hand. Those cards still need a legal exit. This Shanghai version permits laying off immediately after the initial contract.

In round seven, the contract and the finish happen together. There is no stage where you leave three runs on the table and wait through later turns to dispose of unmatched cards.

Before putting anything down, check the current round, separate every required combination and count what will remain in your hand. That final count tells you whether you are completing a contract or ending the round.

Take the chart into your next game and sort your hand against the round you are actually in. Then play a hand, or read how the scoring works when a round ends without you.