Rummikub

Rummikub is a tile-based game for two-four players invented in Israel. It is also marketed as Rummy-O or Rummycube.

History

Rummikub was invented in the early 1930s by Ephraim Hertzano, a Rumanian-born Jew who immigrated to Palestine. He hand-made the first sets with his family in the backyard of his home. The game combine elements of rummy, dominoes, mah-jongg and chess. Hertzano sold the first 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 #1 export game. In 1977, it became a bestselling game in the United States.

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.

The game was first made by Lemada Light Industries Ltd, founded by Hertzano. It is also produced by:

• 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)

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

Equipment

The 106 Rummikub tiles

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 them 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.

Setup

[Image:Rummikub1.jpg|thumb|The boards of two players]] 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.

Once the order of play has been determined, players in turn collect 14 random tiles and arrange them on their racks. Play then proceeds.

Play

The following explanation is based on the rules in the 1998 Pressman American edition; other editions of the rules may have significant differences.

For a player's first move, he must play a set 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. The player may not use other players' tiles to make the initial 30 or more. A player's first move is known as the initial meld. The initial meld cannot build on previously played tiles (for example, a joker on the table cannot be retrieved before the initial meld). If a player cannot make an initial meld, he must pick up a single tile from the pool and add it to his rack. Play then proceeds to the next player.

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

Beginner players often dispense with the "initial meld" rule, thinking it unnecessarily complicates the game and lengthens play. The opposite is true: often, players will accumulate as many as 20 tiles before making their initial meld, but in the early stages of the game, having extra tiles can be a distinct advantage, simplifying and speeding play.

To speed play, and add an extra level of strategy, experienced players will sometimes dispense with the one-tile rule: a player who cannot (or chooses not to) play can pick up extra tiles from the pool. The minimum is one, but a player can pick up an arbitrary number of extra tiles by announcing thus: "I pick up three tiles." This would be tantamount to suicide in the later stages of the game, but in the early stages (especially when nobody has yet melded) can be a distinct advantage.

A Set of Twelve in Rummikub

Sets

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

Runs are composed of three or more, same-colored tiles, in consecutive number order. For example- red 6, 7, 8 and 9. A 1 may not follow a 13.

Groups are three or four same-value tiles in distinct colors. For example- red 3, blue 3, black 3 and orange 3.

1 tiles can be used as high or low, but not both at once. So 1-2-3 and 12-13-1 are both valid runs, but 13-1-2 is not.

Runs:	9 10 11 12
Groups:	7 7 7

Examples of valid sets

A valid run:	1 2 3 4
A valid group:	1 1 1

Examples of invalid sets

Numbers in a run must be consecutive:	1 2 4
Numbers in a run must all be the same color:	1 2 3
Colors may not repeat in a group:	1 1 1

Amending sets

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.

Example

Tiles already out-played:	3 4 5
Own tiles:	2 5 5
Recombined result:	2 3 4 and 5 5 5

Manipulation of played tiles

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 player with a tile matching the color and value of a joker may replace the joker with that tile. The joker must be played that same turn in a set with at least two other tiles from the player's rack. The color and the value of the joker may both change when this happens. Thus, if blue 3, blue 4, joker is an existing run, a player holding a blue 5, a red 7 and an orange 7 may replace the joker with his blue 5 and play the joker with the two sevens as a new group. As an alternative,the joker may be substituted for tiles already played. This will result in a faster paced game.

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-coloured 6, but the 3 must be used during that turn, not kept in the player's hand for later use.

Mistakes

At the end of each turn, all sets on the table must be valid, but during the course of a turn, utterly arbitrary temporary re-arrangements are allowed. These can get very involved, requiring several steps. Sometimes, what had been imagined in the mind to be possible turns out not to be, leaving the table in an illegal state. When this happens (and the choice of when to invoke this rule depends on how formal or "friendly" the game is), the offending player must return all sets on the table to their original state, and pick up three tiles as a penalty.

Winning

Game play continues until either 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.

Scoring

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 least number of tiles in their rack is the winner. Scoring is then carried out in the normal manner.

Awards

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.

Similar games

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

External links

• Official site
• Pressman Toy Corporation: Instructions for Rummikub
• Rummikub at BoardGameGeek