Rummikub

Rummikub can be a great deal of fun and as you build your skill, you can play more and more competitively. You are bound to quickly become an avid fan of Rummikub if you enjoy either rummy, dominoes,mah-jongg or chess as it combines all the best elements of these games.

At the beginning of the game, each player is given 14 random tiles and the objective of the game is to be the first player to use all of their tiles.

How to play

There are a total of 106 tiles which range in value from one to 13 and in four colors (black, blue, yellow and red). Each player is given a rack on which to place the tiles. In the first move, each player must make a ‘meld' of 30 points and if this is not possible, he or she must pick up another title from the pool and skip a turn.

After this point, you need to make sets (either runs or groups) with at least three titles. Runs are consecutive numbers of the same color and groups are three or four of the same value tile in different colors. You can build on sets that have already been played.

Tips

To a certain degree, the game is based on luck but there are certainly plenty of strategies you can learn to maximize your chances of winning. To have an edge over you competitors, you don't want to rely on luck alone. Learn how to arrange your tiles strategically and try to identify where the missing tiles you need are so you can wait for them to be placed.

Trivia

Rummikub originated in Israel more than 50years ago and enjoyed a huge surge in popularity in the 1970s when it became the most popular game.