I learned how to play Progressive Rummy or PR from my buddy Jake sometime in the early 90's, and that was much akin to learning to swim in the Amazon with piranhas. Jake's family is very even keeled, but slap some cards in front of them and the family dynamic does an about-face, especially his mom Coila. I've never seen such violence in a card game. Anywho, I've taken this game that I learned from Jake and his family and have taught it to my family, who in turn have taught it to many others. There have been many times when Mindy has called me up to ask the order of the rounds, so I decided to make a little cheat sheet and explain the game.
The mechanics of this plays fairly similar to Phase 10, but it can be a lot more hectic and intense. First off, in a group of 4 you'll want to use 2 decks of cards with the jokers. After shuffling the dealer will try to guesstimate the number of cards s/he needs to perfectly deal out 11 cards to each player in the group (in a clockwise fashion). If the dealer got the right amount of cards they will receive -50 points to start the round. The remaining cards are set in the middle with the top card flipped over. During the game you will be completing rounds consisting of sets and runs. A set is 3 of a kind, and since you'll be playing with at least 2 decks you could have the same suit in your set. A run consists of four consecutive cards in the same suite, but you cannot have a King, Ace, Deuce, Three. An Ace may be used after a King or before a Deuce, but not both. A joker may be used as a wild card in either a run or a set. Jokers also have the ability to be reused by other players. Once a player lays down, meaning they have all the cards necessary for the round, other players may be able to take a used Joker on their turn, but only by replacing the Joker with the card it represents, and only in a run. If a Joker is used in a set it is permanently locked and may not be removed. So for example, if my run is 2 3 Joker 5 of hearts and the next player has a 4 of hearts in their hand, on their turn they may replace the Joker with their 4. Again, this can only be done on their turn. Each round every player will have 3 "buys". The card that is facing up may be purchased out of turn by a player at the cost of an additional card. The purchase should be made before the player draws a card. There is also a purchase priority meaning if two people want to buy the same card the person closest in order of the current active player will get the card. If a player uses all three buys they'll have a total of 17 cards in their hand, so use buys wisely. When it's a player's turn they must either draw a card or they can chose the card that is face up. All buying at this point is over. The player decides what to do with the card, then must discard a card from their hand to the face up pile. Once that card is discarded it is available for purchase. Finally, as the name of the game says, if you discard a card that could be used in a pile that someone has laid down someone may yell "Rummy!" and give a card of their choice out of their hand to the player that discarded it.
Round 1 - After the cards are dealt the object is to get 1 set and 1 run. Once you have the cards you need you can chose to lay down on your turn or wait to see if you can lay down all at once. After you lay down you will probably still have several cards in your hand. After others lay down you can add to their piles on your turn. Once a player goes out and has no more cards in their hand the round is over. Everyone tallies up their points and moves to the next round. The points are the following: 2-8 5 points, 9-K 10 points, Ace 20 points, Joker 50 points. Obviously if you go out first you get zero points. The score keeper should have basic math skills. :) Everyone moves on to the next round whether they lay down or not.
Rounds 2-7 - Once you understand how to play the first round it becomes easier to follow the game and begin to develop your style. Round 2 is 2 sets, Round 3 is 2 runs, Round 4 is 3 sets, Round 5 is 2 sets 1 run, Round 6 is 1 set 2 runs and finally Round 7 is 3 runs. The winner is the player with the lowest score. It is possible to end the game with a negative score, but not likely if you play against me. I'm just saying.
So hopefully these instructions were useful, it's always best just to play it with someone who's played before. I've included a little cheat sheet that you can print out and put in your deck o' cards.
