Players must meld their cards in the following ways: On each turn, players play cards from their hands to the table. Shanghai begins with the player to the left of the dealer and passes clockwise. In the hands that follow, the deal passes to the left. The cards that remain are placed face-down in the center of the table, these cards will form the stockpile. They will be dealt in batches of three sets of 3 cards each, one set of 3 at a time, and then 1 additional card. After the dealer deals each player a total of 10 cards. The first dealer is chosen at random by whichever mechanism players prefer. Players may add more decks if they wish to play with more than 5 people, however, this tends to make the game less interesting. This game is suited for anywhere between 3 and 5 players, although 4 is optimal. For more information about rummy card games, click here. These are not to be confused with and are different games entirely. More commonly, there is a version of Shanghai that is a contract rummy game. Shanghai which will be discussed in this article is a variation of manipulation rummy. NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3-5 players NUMBER OF CARDS: Two 52 card decks RANK OF CARDS: K (high), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A TYPE OF GAME: Manipulation Rummy AUDIENCE: All Ages
OBJECTIVE OF SHANGHAI: Play all cards in hand by melding them.
