Rummikub

Rummikub is a tile-based game for two, three or four players. It won the 1980 Spiel des Jahres award (German Game of the Year) and the Spel van het Jaar award (the Dutch Game of the Year) in 1983. Also known as Rummy-O or Rummycube. more...

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The game is similar, in terms of game play and rules, to a Turkish game with the name Okey.

History

The game was originally created in the 1940s by the Jewish Romanian games inventor Ephraim Hertzano. The game was later exported by Hertzano to Western Europe and America.

In Hertzano's 'Official Rummikub Book', published in 1978, he describes three different games: American, Sabra and International. Modern Rummikub® sets include only versions of the Sabra rules, with no mention of the other games, and there are variations in the rules between publishers.

Hertzano founded the company Lemada Light Industries Ltd, but Rummikub is published by the following companies:

Alga (Sweden); Crown Andrews (Australia); Goliath (Benelux); Grow (Brazil); Hasbro (France, Spain, Mexico, India, Turkey, Latin America); Jumbo (Germany, Netherlands); Mathiassen (Denmark); Piatnik (Austria, Hungary); Pressman (USA, Canada); Ravensburger (Switzerland, Italy); Tomy (UK); Babyboom Learning Co Ltd (Hong Kong SAR, China);

Equipment

Rummikub's main component is a pool of 106 tiles, consisting of 104 number tiles and two joker tiles. The number tiles range in value from one to thirteen, in four colors (black, yellow, blue and red). Each combination of color and number is represented twice. Players each have a rack to store tiles, without revealing their tiles to the other players, similar to that used in Scrabble.

Rummikub can also be played with two decks of 52 standard playing cards, plus two of the four jokers. Cards have their face value, with ace counting for 1, jack for 11, queen for 12 and king for 13. It is advisable to use small cards, because space on the playing table is limited, and to deal the cards (rather than taking them from a pool) unless the backs of both decks have the same color and motif. Cards are less likely than tiles to read as upside down for any given player; however, large hands may prove slightly difficult to hold, especially for children.

In North America, the most common edition of the game is Pressman's "The Original Rummikub."

Set up

Tiles are either placed into a bag for selection, or the entire lot of tiles is placed face down on the table for selection. Every player picks one tile to determine who plays first. The player with the highest number begins, with play proceeding in a clockwise direction. Tiles are returned to the pool. House rules may apply if the player picks up a joker. The game rules list the jokers' penalty value as 30, so that value could be used or the player could be instructed to return the joker and select another tile.

Read more at Wikipedia.org