

Once a player melds their last card the game ends. Once they meld a card their turn is over. If they can play that card, they must, if not they are to continue drawing until they draw a playable card. Players that are unable to meld any cards must draw 1 card from the top of the stockpile. After melding, the turn passes to the next player. However, this is not to say you must meld EVERY card that can be melded, but at least more than one. If you have the ability to meld more than 1 card you are required to. This particular feature is what makes Shanghai a manipulation rummy game.

Players can use some or all cards in hand to meld or add cards to pre-existing melds already on the table.

A clean pile is a set of seven cards with NO wild cards. Play continues until at least one team collects two "clean" piles and two "dirty" piles.If it is after they discard, they must wait until the next round to play those cards. If they pick it up before they discard, they can continue playing cards from their foot. When a player lays down the last card in their hand, they can pick up their foot.As soon as the first player from a team lays down their cards, every player on that team may add to those sets on their next turn. Players may wait until they have more than the goal points for strategy if they desire. Both players from the team will build on the SAME set of cards. As soon as a player reaches the minimum number of points for that round, they may begin to lay down their sets of three or more.The player MAY NOT look at what is under the top card of the discard pile, so you'll want to pay attention! After the first round, if the player has at least two cards that match the top card in the discard pile, they may take the top five cards from the discard pile instead of two cards from the draw pile.Play moves around the table clockwise with each player drawing two cards from the pile.The discard pile should be kept so that only the top card is visible at all times (one of the reasons we use the card holder pictured at the top of the page is because my father-in-law wanted to keep people from cheating).At the end of the turn, the player must discard one card into a discard pile next to the draw pile.The player should arrange their cards in sets of three or more, but sets must be kept in their hand until the minimum number of points has been reached.Any player may go first and draws two cards from the draw pile.
