Rummy Cube

Play Rummikub online and experience the game conquering the world. ‎Rummy classic game using tiles. Drop a tile on the top of another for creating runs. Play against 1, 2 or 3 players (on iPad, just 1 on iPhone). Or, play and chat online, over the internet, against another player. Drop 30 points for initial drop. Rearrange tiles on the table as you wish, as long.

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]

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.

Rummy Cube Face

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]

How to Play Rummikub: Rummikub is a game which is totally different from the other rummy games. Especially it differs on the basis of the fact that it is not played by using a deck of cards. It is in fact played with 106 colored and numbered tiles. They were first introduced by Ephraim Hertzano in Western Europe and America. But people are still not aware with the fact that how to play Rummikub.

It is normal that people do not know how to play Rummikub because most of the people have not even heard of it before.

In the modern Rummikub, there are 104 tiles which are numbered from 1 to 13. There are four different colors used for equal number of tiles which are black, red, blue and orange. There are two tiles for each number and colors. The other two tiles are jokers. Instead of having any number on them, they have a smiling face.

If you are thinking about all these tiles and assuming that it is such a complicated game then you are totally wrong. This is just a simple game and you will completely understand this when you will read about its rules and regulations. I hope you would give it a try for sure.

Object of the Game

If you want to learn that how to play Rummikub then you must know that what is the object of the game? You cannot play even a bit if you have no idea that why you are playing this game and what is to be done in it. Therefore, we have listed out some of the point which will clear all your doubts regarding the object of the game.

• You need to get rid of all of your tiles in order to win the game. The one who does so at first is the winner of the game.
• You can get rid of the tiles by melding them in the combinations on the table.
• There are two possible combinations of the melding through which you can combine the tiles together. They are called groups and runs.
• When you are making groups then all the tiles that you are taking should be of same number and different colors.
• When you are making the runs then the tiles you are taking should be of the three or more consecutive numbers of the same color.

How to Play Rummikub

This section of how to play Rummikub is comprised of the information through which you can understand that how to play Rummikub easily. This is a step by step guide so you would not have to face any problem.

• The game is played between two to four players and played clockwise.
• The tiles are shuffled face down and each player gets 14 tiles and they keep it on a rack so that no other player can see it. The remaining tiles stay on the table face down, to form the pool.
• In a turn you can either draw one tile from pool or meld a set or two on the table facing up.
• The first meld must contain tiles whose combination is made entirely by player's hand and the total number of tiles adds up to 30 or more.
• Usually a time limit is set for each turn and after that the player has to say pass so the next player can play.
• If you are not able to manipulate the tiles on the table within time limit then you must return the tiles on the table to the configuration they were in before. You would have to take back tiles of your hands and you would have to draw three tiles from the pool as penalty.
• The first player who manages to play all the tiles is the winner of the game.

Rules

Play Rummy Cube For Free

There are certain rules which should be follower as it is in order to play this game of Rummikub. There are just a bunch of simple rules which are easy to follow too.

• You cannot use the same tile for two different combinations at the same time.
• Jokers can be used as the substitute for any numbered tile of any color. By adding the joker, you can make a valid combination.
• You cannot take a tile from a group where it combined with the joker. However, you can replace the joker with the tile it is representing to use it somewhere else.
• There are two minutes allotted to each player for per turn.

Scoring

Through this section of scoring it adds more to your knowledge to learn how to play Rummikub. The scoring is done very easily and it is not a complex thing at all.

• Each loser add up the value of the tile left in their racks.
• For each joker, it counts 30 points and for final value add it in the total face value of each tile left. The total score would be counted as a minus (negative) amount.
• The sum of all the scores earned by all the losers is credited to the winner as the plus amount.
• In the final session, all the scores are added for the each player and whoever has the highest score, declared the winner of the game.
• In the rare case, if no player goes Rummikub and all the tiles are used then the player who is left with the lowest count remaining on his rack would be picked up as the winner.
• In this case, each loser would add up their total value and subtract the winner's total and the result will be their minus score.

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The step by step guide to understand that how to play Rummikub is sure shot easy to gulp down. You may not know this but Rummikub is also known with different types of names. It is also known as Tile Rummy, Rummy Tiles, Rummicub, rummycube, Rummycub etc.

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Rummikub is all about strategic planning and some mind games. This is such an engaging game that it keeps you going for like hours. And you would not even realize it that when did you learn how to play Rummikub so well.