Conquian is the earliest known Rummy game in the western world. The card pack for Conquian consist of a 40 card pack.There are two players.

The deck consists of the cards A-2-3-4-5-6-7-J-Q-K in the usual suits hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.

Objective and Meld

The objective is to be the first to “go out” by melding 11 cards. Melding is placing a valid combination of cards face up on the table in front of you. These face up cards are your meld. The combinations allowed are:

a group or short of three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7 of Hearts, 7 of Clubs, and the 7 of Spades in a

sequence or straight of from three to eight cards of the same suit in consecutive order, such as 4 of Clubs, 5 of Clubs, and 6 of Clubs.

Note that in this game the ace is always low and the 7 is next to the jack. So when making sequences A-2-3 and 6-7-J are legal but Q-K-A is not allowed.

At all times, the meld you have on the table must consist one or more separate valid combinations. A card can never be part of more than one combination at the same time.

Note that a sequence cannot contain more than eight cards. This maximum length is set because you have to meld exactly eleven cards to win. For this you must have at least two combinations. If one of them has the minimum size of three cards, the other cannot have more than eight.

End of the Game

Play continues in this way until either someone goes out or the stock runs out.

You go out by melding the face up card from the center of the table (whether discarded or rejected by your opponent or newly turned up by you) along with all the remaining cards in your hand (if any). Your meld on the table will then consist of eleven cards. In this case you have won and your opponent pays you a fixed stake.

If there are no cards remaining in the stock and you do not use the card your opponent discarded or rejected, you are unable to turn up a new card because there are none left. In this case the game is a draw, and some play that the next game is played for a double stake.

Note that although you may meld ten cards and discard your last card, this does not win the game or end the play. If you do this you have to continue playing until you get an eleventh card which you can add to your meld. This eleventh card would have to be either discarded or passed to you by your opponent or turned up by you after rejecting the card from your opponent.