Shop Target for Rummikub. For a wide assortment of Rummikub visit Target.com today. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more. Free Full Screen Rummy-Rummikub online. Play full screen Rummy also known as Rummikub against a computer opponent. Rummy is the online card version of the popular tile game Rummikub.

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Rummikub® Rules

Shop Target for Rummikub. For a wide assortment of Rummikub visit Target.com today. Choose from contactless Same Day Delivery, Drive Up and more. Rummikub Tutorial Rummikub Twist Tutorial Setup All the Rummikub tiles are placed face down in the center of all players. Each player draws 14 tiles to start. The remaining tiles are set aside as a draw pile. Objective: The object of the game is to be the first player to get rid of all your.

Rummikub® is a commercially-available tile rummy game developed by Israeli games inventor Ephraim Hertzano in the early 1930s. Even though this game is played with tiles rather than cards, this is a true Rummy game,featuring many of the elements common to all Rummy games, including the goal of making melds of three or more of a kind.

Rummikub is also known under other names, such as 'Tile Rummy', 'Rummy Tiles', 'Rummy-O', 'RummyCube', 'Rummykub','Rummicub', 'Rummicube', and 'Rummycub'.

Here is an interesting theory about why tiles are used rather than cards:

Over the years, a number of different religious groups have associated playing cards with gambling, and have enforced a strict prohibition against all card games, regardless of whether they were gambling games or not. Rummikub arose as an alternative to this prejudice against playing cards. It is a purely numbered tile game with no images of kings & queens, or other royalty. Rummikub is considered by millions of lay men and women around the world, as socially relaxing and interactive play for all ages. Also clergymen and clergywomen of many denominations enjoy this peaceful and enjoyable game.

Rummikub Rules

Introduction:

All over the world people are discovering the joys of Rummikub® an exciting, fast-moving game which combines theelement of luck with strategic planning to provide hours of fascinating play Rummikub° btings together the most popularfeatures of a number of well-known pastimes including Mah-Jongg®, dominoes, rummy and even an element of chess, into amodern game which holds the attention, stimulates the imagination, challenges the wits and pleases the eye of today’sdemanding game players.

How to Play Rummikub®,
The Sabra Way

RULES

SABRA WAY is played by 2, 3, or 4 people. It is played very much like cards except you play with tiles.There are 106 tiles in the game including 2 jokers.

There are 4 different color tiles, black, red, orange, and blue numbering 1 through 13.

The object of the game is to be the first to eliminate all the tiles from your rack by forming them into sets of runs and groups,and then melding them onto the table.

Your objective, therefore, is to keep as few points in your hand as possible.

SETTING UP THE GAME

Mix the tiles thoroughly face downward on the table. Each player picks a tile to see who goes first. The one who selects thehighest tile is the first to play. The others follow going counterclockwise.

After you determine who plays first, all the players pick 14 tiles.

BEGINNING

In order to place tiles on the table each player must make an initial meld of 50 points in one or more sets. These points mustcome from tiles in the hand only and not from tiles already on the table. Each tile is worth the number of points as valued onthe tile. A joker may be substituted for any tile and its point value is the same as the tile it represents when melding, and worth 30points when held on your rack while another player wins.

RUNS

All runs must consist of at least 3 tiles of the same color -

EXAMPLES:4, 5, 6 red 1, 2, 3, 4 orange

GROUPS

Groups must consist of 3 or 4 tiles of different colors

EXAMPLE:#4 red, #4 blue, #4 black

Not acceptable: #4 orange, #4 orange, #4 red

MELDS

EXAMPLES:

PLAYING THE TABLE

Once you have placed your initial 50 points down, you are free to play on the table and manipulate and rearrange melds.

Rummikub online, free

If you cannot add onto the other runs or groups of yours or opponents, you must pick a tile from the table. Then you mustwait until your next turn to play. You continue to pick tiles until you are able to play - you can never lay down once you havepulled a tile.

EXAMPLE:

are on the table. You can add the #4 blue. You are, therefore, able to take on one of the #4’s to use for another group or run.You must leave at least 3 tiles in order to make another meld.

are on the table. You can add either a #5 red or a #9 red. If you have a joker in your tiand you could make the following addition.

If there are more than 3 tiles in one group or run, you can take the excess to make a new group or run. Each set must contain atleast 3 tiles.

are on the table. You make take the #6 blue if you have a #5 and a #7 blue and make a new run. Or, if you have a #6 red and a #6orange you can make a new group of #6’s. The same would apply to the #9 blue, you would still be leaving 3 tiles if you tookeither the 6 or the 9.

are on the table. You can take one of the 5’s and add it with a #4 and a #6 of the same color and make a run. Or if you had twomore #5’s in your hand you could take a different color #5 and make another group.

are on the table. If you have an 8 blue and 10 blue in your hand you can move the 9 orange over to the group of 9’s and then takethe 9 blue for your run. Therefore, you are still leaving 3 in each set.

are on the table. If you have a #4 black in your hand and a #1 black you can use them to make the following groups.

THE JOKER

A Joker may be substituted for any tile when you make a meld. You can add a tile to a meld containing a Joker, either the fourthtile in a group or to either end of a run. You may not take a tile away from a meld which includes a Joker. You may take a Jokerfrom a run or group in exchange for a tile of the same vaue from your hand. You must use the Joker immediately with 2 moretiles from your hand to make another meld onto the table. You may not hold the Joker to use ata later time. Under tournamentrules, a Joker taken from a group of three tiles must be replaced with both missing tiles.

EXAMPLES:

A meld containing a Joker may not be manipulated. After a Joker has been taken from a meld as shown above, the meldmay be manipulated.

TIME LIMIT

Two minutes per turn - per player.

SCORING

Each loser adds up the value of the tiles left on his rack, counting 30 points for a joker and face value for all other tiles, andscores this as a minus (negative) amount.

The sum of all the losers’ scores is credited to the winner as a plus amount. At the end of the session, each player’s final scoreis totalled for the final results. The total of the plus scores should equal the total of the minus scores if all the arithmetichas been done correctly.

In the rare case that all the tiles are used up before anyone goes Rummikub®, the player with the lowest count remaining on hisrack is considered the winner. Each of the losers adds up his total remaining tile value, subtracts the winner's total andscores the result as a minus amount, and the winner gets a plus score by totalling the losers’ scores.

PENALTIES

A player who plays past the two-minute time limit must draw one tile from the pool.

A player who manipulates the tiles unsuccessfuUy and leaves incomplete melds on the table, must replace the tiles in theiroriginal positions, take back the tiles he has melded, and draw three additional tiles from the pool.

© E. Hertzano, Israel, © 1985 Pressman Toy Corp., N.Y., N.Y.

Rummikub Instructions

Other Rummikub Rule Links

Other Rummy Tile Games

John McLeod has rules for several other related games, including the Turkish game Okey,Romanian Tile Rummy, and the Rummikub variationsAmerican Rummikub and International Rummikub.

Rummikub Card and Board Games

Rummikub Software

Rummikub® is a registered trademark of Pressman Toy Corporation. The Rummikub rules were OCR'd from a vintage rule sheet, and are provided as an educational resource forRummy players, researchers, and students of the game. Any grammatical or typographical errors are an artifact of thisprocess, and should not be attributed to the original source.

Additional Information

Rummikub is a tile-based game for 2 to 4 players, combining elements of the card game rummy and mahjong. There are 106 tiles in the game, including 104 numbered tiles (valued 1 to 13 in four different colors, two copies of each) and two jokers. Players have 14 or 16 tiles initially and take turns putting down tiles from their racks into sets (groups or runs) of at least three, drawing a tile if they cannot play. In the Sabra version (the most common and popular), the first player to use all their tiles scores a positive score based on the total of the other players' hands, while the losers get negative scores. An important feature of the game is that players can work with the tiles that have already been played.

History[edit]

Rummikub was invented by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian-born Jew, who immigrated to pre-state Israel in the 1940s. He hand-made the first sets with his family in the backyard of his home. Hertzano sold these sets door-to-door and on a consignment basis at small shops. Over the years, the family licensed it to other countries and it became Israel's best selling export game. In 1977, it became a bestselling game in the United States.^[1][2] The game was marketed as 'Rummikid' during part of the 1970s.^{[citation needed]}

Hertzano's Official Rummikub Book, published in 1978, describes three different versions of the game: American, Sabra, and International. Modern Rummikub sets include only the Sabra version rules, with no mention of the others, and there are variations in the rules between publishers. The game was first made by Lemada Light Industries Ltd, founded by Hertzano in 1978.

Rummikub is similar to several central European card games which are played with two decks of playing cards, including Machiavelli and Vatikan. Vatikan is played with two decks of cards and one joker per player, thus making 106 cards for two players.^[3]

Game pieces[edit]

Rummikub's main component is a pool of tiles, consisting of 104 number tiles and two joker tiles. The number tiles range in value from one to thirteen in four colors (blue, red, orange,^[4] and black). Each combination of color and number is represented twice. Players each have a rack to store tiles without revealing the face of the tiles to the other players.

Rules[edit]

The following explanation is based on the rules in the 1998 Pressman American edition:

Setup[edit]

Tiles are shuffled together and either placed into a bag or spread out face down across the table. Each player draws and reveals one tile. The player whose tile has the highest number value will start the game. Tiles are returned to the pool, and players collect 14 random tiles and arrange them on their racks. Play begins with the starting player and proceeds in a clockwise (for modern variants) direction.

Play[edit]

For a player's first move, they must play a set (or sets in some versions) with a value of at least 30 points. Point values are taken from the face value of each tile played, with the joker (if played) assuming the value of the tile it is being used in place of. A player may not use other players' tiles to make the 'initial meld'. If a player cannot make an initial meld, they must pick up a single tile from the pool and add it to their rack. Play then proceeds to the next player.

Once a player has made their initial meld, they can, on a separate turn, play one or more tiles from their rack, making or adding to groups and/or runs. If the player cannot (or chooses not to) play any tiles, they must pick a tile randomly from the pool and add it to their rack.

Players may not make their initial meld and along with that play on groups and runs during the same turn. You can play on runs and groups after the turn of making the initial meld.

Players may play tiles by amending sets already in play. The only limit to the length of a run is the extremes of the tile values. Groups are limited to four because colors may not repeat within a group.

Sets[edit]

All tiles in play must be arranged in sets of at least three tiles. The two valid set types are called runs and groups.

A run is composed of three or more, same-colored tiles, in consecutive number order. (A 1 may not follow a 13.)

A group is made from three or four same-value tiles in distinct colors. For example: red 3, blue 3, black 3 and orange 3.

Examples of invalid sets[edit]

Example of play[edit]

Manipulating existing tiles[edit]

During a player's turn, sets of tiles that have already been played may be manipulated to allow more tiles to be played. At the end of the turn, all played tiles must be in valid sets.

Shifting a run

Players may add the appropriate tile to either end of a run and remove a tile from the other end for use elsewhere. If red 3, 4, and 5 have already been played, a player may add the red 6 to the end and remove the 3 for use elsewhere.

Splitting a run

Players may split long runs and insert the corresponding tiles in the middle. Thus, if blue 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are already a run, the player may insert his own 8 to make two runs: 6, 7, 8 and 8, 9, 10.

Substituting in a group

Players may replace any of the tiles in a three-tile group with a tile of the fourth color and the same value. If blue 6, red 6, and orange 6 are already a group, the player may add the black 6 and remove any one of the other three for use elsewhere.

Removing tiles

So long as the remaining tiles form a valid run, tiles can be removed from the ends of runs. Any one tile may be removed from a four-tile group.

Joker substitution

A joker may be retrieved before the initial meld. A joker can be retrieved from a set by replacing it with a tile of the same numerical value and colour it represents. The tile used to replace the joker can come from the player's rack or from the table. In the case of a group of 3, the joker can be replaced by the tile of either of the missing colours. A joker that has been replaced must be used in the player's same turn as part of a new set. A set containing a joker can have tiles added to it, be split apart or have tiles removed from it. The joker can be moved or replaced in any possible way as long as you maintain a set of at least three tiles. The joker has a penalty value of 30 points if it remains on a player's rack at the end of the game^[5]

Harvested tiles

In the course of a turn, a tile that is 'harvested' from an existing set must be played during the turn; it cannot be kept for later use. Example: if there is a 3, 4, 5 run on the table, the 3 can be harvested by putting down the appropriately colored 6, but the 3 must be used during that turn, not kept in the player's hand for later use.

Scoring[edit]

Once a winner has been declared, the losing players must add up the values of the tiles remaining in their racks (their score for the game). The joker has a penalty value of 30. A player's score for the game is subtracted from his current cumulative score. Once calculated, each of the losing players' scores for the game is added to the winners current cumulative score.

For example- suppose in a game player A wins, player B has a score of 5, player C has a score of 10 and player D a score of 3. Player A will now have a cumulative score of 18, player B will be −5, player C will be −10 and player D will be −3.

Should the game result in no winner, the player with the lowest number of tiles in their rack is the winner. Scoring is then carried out in the normal manner.

If one person never had the required points to make a meld and the game is over, their points are added to the score of each of the other players. The person with the least number of points is the winner.

Winning[edit]

Game play continues until a player has used all of the tiles in the rack, at which point they should call out 'Rummikub,' and are declared the winner. If the pool runs out of tiles, play continues until there is a winner or no player can make a valid play.

Awards[edit]

• 1980 Spiel des Jahres (German Game of the Year)^[6]
• 1983 Spel van het Jaar (Dutch Game of the Year)^{[citation needed]}.
• 1993 Gra Roku [pl] (Polish Game of the Year)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^'Rummikub: Old Memories'. www.skooldays.com. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
2. ^'Rules of the Games: Rummikub'.
3. ^McLeod, John. 'Manipulation Rummy, Machiavelli, Carousel, Vatikan, Shanghai'. Pagat. Retrieved 9 October 2015.
4. ^Official Game Rules
5. ^Official Rummikub Manual(2017), https://rummikub.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2600-English.pdf
6. ^'Spiel des Jahres 1980: Rummikub' (in German). Spiel des Jahres. Retrieved 9 June 2012.

External links[edit]