The results for each game are computed by negative scoring. The winner of each round receives minus points. All of the losers score plus or positive points. As you will see, this is switched around in the final scoring so that the winners and losers for the day are clearly indicated.
If the round is not finished by the time the entire pool is used up the scoring is a bit different. Any player who has not melded receives 100 minus points. A player who has melded scores plus or positive points for the total sum of the tiles remaining on his rack. If a player wins by discarding a joker, all the scores are doubled. If the winner’s score has been doubled because he has discarded a joker as his final discard, then the loser’s scores are also doubled.
The winner of an Open game scores minus 100 points. A Foot scores minus 200 points. If the winner of an Open game is the only player to have melded, he scores minus 200 points, as if he had won a Foot. The number of jokers, or in some cases, the lack of them, does not matter in the scoring of Open or Foot.
The scores for each winning Hand from #1 to #40, with no jokers, one joker, or two jokers, are located in the score sheet. The winning scores are the indicated amount as minus or negative points.
The player who has melded, scores only the value of the tiles remaining on his rack, regardless of how much the winner has scored. This is done with the loser scoring plus points. The values of the tiles that are left in an Open player’s rack are face values for the tiles 2 through 10. Tiles 11, 12, 13, and 1 are counted as 10 points each. To make the scoring a bit easier many players adopt a table rule that states that after adding the tiles left on a losing player’s rack, the total is rounded off to the next highest 10 point division. For example, if a player scores 14 points, it will be rounded up to 20. Another example would be with the player who scores 51 points. He will then be rounded up to 60. This rule must apply to all the players at the table.
A player who has not melded at all in a game which is won by an Open player or by a Foot player, scores 100 plus points. A player, who has not melded in a game which is won with a Hand, loses the exact amount that the winner has scored. That is, if one player goes Rummikub with no jokers, Single Color Odd, he scores minus 1600 points, and any player who has not melded receives 1600 plus points for that round.
A popular table rule which you may want to adopt into your game involves the trump. According to this rule, the player who has the tile which matches the trump, either in his original 14 tiles or later by drawing it, is entitled to an extra 50 minus points. This holds true for a joker as well as numerical tiles. If you decide to include this rule in your game, be sure that everyone agrees to it in advance, and remember to announce the matching tile and claim the 50 points during the course of the round.