The Complete Guide to Rummy: History, Variations, & the Digital Revolution Rummy is a card game that has been a player favorite for centuries. Its inception dates back to the early 1800s. The precise origins of Rummy are still a little unclear, but it is geneof apkrally accepted that it developed from earlier card games like the Mexican-originated Conquian. Throughout the 1900s, the game became more and more popular in the US, especially after Gin Rummy, a faster-paced variation of Rummy, was introduced in 1910. In order to create the wide variety of variations we see today, rummy underwent numerous adaptations as it spread throughout different cultures and geographical areas. The combination of skill, strategy, and luck in the game is what makes it so enduringly popular.