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Kalooki originated in Israel. Some people spell it Kaluki, Kalookie or Caloochi. Kaluki has many variants and the rules for Kalooki rules may differ depending on the version of Kalooki you play. There is Jamaican Kalooki, European Kalooki and others. Kalooki is one of the most popular card games in U.S. The general rule and order of the play is almost same as standard rummy with some minor exceptions.

The Deck
Similar to Canasta but unlike other rummy game variations, to play Kalooki you will need two full decks of 52-cards and all 4 jokers. The total number of cards is 108. The European Kalooki uses 106 cards with only two jokers. Chances are high that you will receive all of the cards twice, even the jokers.

Number of Players
The original game of Kalooki is played with 2 players. But it can accommodate up to 5 players.

Card value
The value of cards differs among different variations so let's stick with the card value based on the typical rules of North American Kalooki.

The joker is worth 25 points. Aces, 15 points and face cards are all worth 10 points each. Other cards are counted at face value, just as in all other rummy game variations. Remember the jokers' point value is only determined by the meld it is connected to, it will be worth the value of the card it represents.

Game Objective
Kalooki is a money game. I mean, generally, people play Kalooki for money. You don't have to play for real money, but it can be a lot of fun. The stakes don't have to be high. In any case, before starting the card game, all the players must decide on the stakes. For the call up win, all the players have to decide how much will be paid to the winning player of each hand by all the other players. If a player wins a hand with a Kalooki (Kalooki can be achieved by putting down all the cards arranged in melds or runs in one turn), all players have to decide a sum of money to be handed over to the winner with Kalooki by all other players. Similarly, all the players have to decide how much money they will give for initial stake i.e. paying a specific amount of money to the pool before starting the game. There is also a buy-in stake. The buy-in stake is for the player who has to re-enter in a game when he is out of the game because his score exceeded the target score.

The prime object of the Kalooki is to be the first player to meld (calling-up) all cards in your hand and give penalties to other players by calling up first. You have to avoid scoring penalty points determined by the cards in your hand when other player calls up first. So you have to arrange cards in your hand in melds or runs quickly and call-up.

Dealing
In Kalooki, the deal and order of the play is decided by a draw of cards. A player picks up an Ace, two, three, four and five and shuffle them together. He then distributes the cards among player and whoever gets the Ace will be given the choice of seat and the first deal. He will sit on its chosen place and all the remaining players will seat clockwise in order of the cards they received. The player with Ace card will sit, for example, on west side, the player with card number 2 will sit on his left and then, the person with card number 3 will sit next to him and so on. The deal moves in clockwise around the table with each subsequent hand.

The dealer shuffles cards and offer the person on his left to cut the cards. After the cut, the dealer deals cards clockwise, one at a time and give each player 15 cards each if there are 2, 3, or 4 players. If there are 5 players, he will deal 13 cards and if there are 6, he will deal 11 cards.

The remaining cards in the deck are placed face down on the table and the top card is turned face up and placed at the center of the table to start discard pile.
The play starts with the player sitting next to the dealer and it goes on clockwise around the table from there.
Usually there are four parts of each turn. The player has to draw, meld, build and discard.
Once a joker has been used in a meld, it can be reused under certain circumstances. You can only reuse a joker if you have already laid down your initial meld, and you must immediately use the joker you take in another meld that you lay down. In addition, you must replace the joker with the card that it represents in its original meld.

Scoring
Once any player calls up (or goes out), there is no opportunity to lay off or lay down melds. All players are stuck with the points that are in their hands. Those points are totaled and added to the player’s cumulative score. If a player reaches 150 points, he/she is eliminated from the game, unless he chooses to buy in by paying the buy-in amount that was agreed upon at the start of the game. If he buys back in, he score is reduced to the score of the highest scoring player who is still below 150 points.
Players settle up on the call-up and Kalooki at the end of each hand. The pool goes to the last player remaining in the game.