Although there is no denial in the fact that rummy games are really popular nowadays, there is a lot of controversy around rummy history in general. Different disagreements exist and different theories are accepted by different people. We thus have three main rummy history origins theories that we need to know about.
The Conquian origin theory links back to Conquian rummy games, one of the earliest possible type of games that are a part of the Rummy family. Different sources claim that the games appeared in Spain and were then exported towards Mexico. That is where interest grew and around the middle of the 1800s the game started to rise in popularity. As time passed the game reached the Southwestern USA areas and Texas around the end of the 19th century. We thus have early American references to Cooncan, which is a type of rummy. The new game also arrived in England and it received the name Rum, a slang word meaning queer or odd. As this term reached USA it became Rummy.
Another widely accepted rummy history origin is linked with poker. The theory is that poker is the ancestor of rummy games and appeared due to influences from French Settlers that arrived in what is now known as USA. Rummy and poker share similarities in the combination of cards as both have the sequences concepts involved together with groups. The theory claims that Rummy appeared from the Whiskey Poker variation, which would have eventually become Rum Poker and then Rummy.
Others think that the Chinese Origins theory is more correct. We know of a game called Khanhoo, which first appeared around the 1800s. It includes the characteristics of both Rummy and Poker in the sense that you need to create groups and sequences. A lot of domino games of Chinese origins are also created based on the mechanism, with Mah Jong being the most popular.
We cannot really be sure which of the three accepted theories above are correct so we can say that Rummy history is definitely controversial. While the past is blurry, the future seems to be bright as Rummy games are constantly gaining new followers, especially in the online gaming world. There are a lot of people that are starting to learn different rummy variations and really enjoy the game. If you want to try this great game out, give a look to our rummy download page.