What is Hollywood scoring?
In the standard game here one hand is the whole game: whoever wins it wins the game. Hollywood scoring keeps playing hand after hand and scores three games at the same time, side by side on one score sheet. The rules of play don't change, only the scoring.
The first hand you win scores in the first game. Your second win scores the same points in the first and second games, and your third and every later win in all three. Each player counts their own wins, so the games fill up at different speeds. A game is over as soon as someone reaches the target, 100 or 250 points, and a finished game takes no more scores: a win that would go only into games that are already over is not entered anywhere.
When a game ends, its winner gets a game bonus of 100, or 200 if the loser scored nothing in that game, and both players get 25 for every hand they won in it. The match is over when all three games are finished, and whoever wins two of them wins the match.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Gin Rummy | Hollywood scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Standard Gin RummyOne hand. | Hollywood scoringAs many hands as it takes to finish three games. |
| Score sheet | Standard Gin RummyThe hand's points only. | Hollywood scoringThree games, side by side, for both players. |
| Where a win scores | Standard Gin RummyThe hand's points are the result. | Hollywood scoringYour first win in the first game, your second in the first two, your third and later wins in all three. |
| Finished games | Standard Gin RummyNot used. | Hollywood scoringA game takes no more scores once someone has won it. |
| Target | Standard Gin RummyNone: the hand's winner wins. | Hollywood scoring100 or 250 points in each game, chosen at the table. |
| Bonuses when a game ends | Standard Gin RummyNone beyond the 25 for gin or an undercut. | Hollywood scoring100 to the game's winner, 200 if the loser scored nothing in it, and 25 to each player per hand they won in it. These don't count toward the target. |
| The next hand | Standard Gin RummyThere is none. | Hollywood scoringThe winner of the hand deals the next one, and the other player plays first. |
| End of the stock | Standard Gin RummyWhen the stock runs out, the discard pile except its top card is shuffled into a new stock. | Hollywood scoringThe last two cards of the stock can't be drawn. A discard that leaves two cards in the stock ends the hand with no score, and the same dealer deals again. |
| Winning | Standard Gin RummyWin the hand. | Hollywood scoringWin two of the three games. The sheet total, points plus bonuses, is shown beside them. |
| Other options | Standard Gin RummyStraight Gin, Oklahoma rules and a game to 100 or 250 points can be chosen. | Hollywood scoringHollywood scoring works with Straight Gin and with Oklahoma rules. Instead of three games, a single game to 100 or 250 points can also be chosen. |
History
Gin rummy is usually credited to a New York bridge player, Elwood T. Baker, around 1911, and was named Gin by his son Graham after the drink; other accounts give 1909 and name Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. In 1941 the game became a Hollywood craze, gambling bonuses were added, and a method of playing three games at once was devised, often called Hollywood Gin.
Hollywood scoring is usually played as it is here: a first win goes into game one, a second into games one and two, a third into all three; it is a scoring style, not a change to the rules of gin. Once a game is won, no further scores are added to it by either player, and the overall winner is generally the player who wins two of the three games.
The bonuses vary between rule sets. One common set gives 100 for a game, 200 if the loser scored nothing, and a box or line bonus of 20 per hand won; others use 25 per hand, as does the version played here. A target of 100 points is the usual one, and some tournaments are played to 250 points per game.