How to Play Rummikub

Rummikub is rummy played with tiles instead of cards. Two to four players each start with 14 numbered tiles on a rack and race to be the first to play them all, laying them out in runs (same colour, numbers in a row) and groups (same number, different colours). What makes it different from card rummy is that every tile on the table belongs to everyone: on your turn you can split, extend and rearrange any set to fit your own tiles in. Your first play has to be worth at least 30 points, and the first player to empty their rack calls “Rummikub!” and wins the game.

Rummikub Rules at a Glance

Runs and Groups

Every tile you play has to be part of a set of at least three tiles.

• A run is three or more tiles of the same colour in consecutive order, such as blue 4, 5, 6, 7. A run can be as long as you like, but the 1 is always the lowest number: it can’t follow a 13, so 12, 13, 1 is not a run.
• A group is three or four tiles of the same number, each in a different colour, such as a red, black and orange 9. Because there are only four colours, a group can never be longer than four, and two tiles of the same colour can’t share a group.

How to Set Up

1. Turn all the tiles face down and mix them on the table (or put them in a bag).
2. Choose who starts. Each player takes a tile and the highest number goes first. Put the tiles back and mix again.
3. Take 14 tiles each and stand them on your rack so only you can see them. Stacking the pool in piles of seven makes this quicker.
4. The tiles left over are the pool. Play passes clockwise.

How to Play Rummikub

1. Make your initial meld. Until you have, your only move is to lay one or more sets from your own rack worth at least 30 points in total, counting each tile at its number. You can’t use tiles already on the table for this, and a joker counts as the tile it replaces.
2. Otherwise, draw. If you can’t play, or don’t want to, take one tile from the pool and your turn is over. You can’t play a tile you have just drawn until your next turn.
3. After your meld, build. On later turns you can lay new sets, add tiles to any set on the table, and rearrange sets to fit your tiles in, as long as you play at least one tile from your rack.
4. Leave the table tidy. At the end of your turn every tile on the table must be in a valid set of three or more.
5. Go out. The first player to play their last tile calls “Rummikub!” and wins the game.

The official rules give each player one minute per turn. If time runs out, you draw a tile. If you leave the table in a mess, you have to put everything back where it was, take back your tiles and draw three tiles as a penalty.

If the pool runs out before anyone goes out, play continues until nobody can play. The player with the lowest total on their rack then wins.

Rearranging the Table

Rummikub calls this manipulation, and it is where most of the game’s skill lies. Once you have made your initial meld you can:

Any tile you take from the table must be played again on the same turn. You can’t take it back to your rack.

Joker Rules

• A joker can stand in for any tile in a set. It takes the number and colour of the tile it replaces.
• You can take a joker from the table by replacing it with the real tile it stands for, from your rack or from the table. In a group of three, either missing colour will do.
• A joker you take must be used in a new set on the same turn, and you must also play at least one tile from your rack that turn.
• You can’t take a joker until you have made your initial meld.
• A joker still on your rack when someone goes out costs you 30 points.

How to Score Rummikub

When a player goes out, everyone else adds up the tiles left on their rack. Each tile is worth its number, and a joker is worth 30. Each loser scores that total as a minus, and the winner scores the sum of all the losers’ totals as a plus, so the scores for each game add up to zero.

A round has as many games as there are players, so four games with four players. The player who wins the most games wins; if that is tied, the highest score decides. You can also simply keep a running total across games.

Rummikub Rules Questions

Rummikub Variations

• Rummikub XP: 160 tiles and four jokers for five or six players.
• Draw two / the river: when drawing, take two tiles, keep one and discard the other face up into a row. Later you can take a tile from the row along with every tile after it.
• “French” rules: groups are laid vertically through runs already on the table, crossword-style.
• Okey: a Turkish game played with very similar tiles, popular in cafés and at family gatherings.
• With cards: the game can be played with two decks of playing cards, ace to king standing for 1 to 13, with the suits as the colours.
• Time limit: rules vary between publishers, and some sets allow two minutes a turn instead of one.

Rummikub Strategy

• Don’t empty your rack too early. The official rules suggest holding some tiles back at first, so other players open up the table and give you more to build on.
• Play three, keep the fourth. If you have four tiles of a run or group, lay three and keep the last one, so next turn you can play it instead of drawing.
• Keep the joker for a hard tile, but not too long. It is the most flexible tile in the game, but it costs 30 points if someone goes out while you still hold it.
• Play high tiles first. They count most against you, and they make the 30-point opening easier.
• Look at the whole table. Before drawing, check whether splitting a long run or swapping a tile in a group frees space for one of yours.
• Watch rack sizes. When an opponent is down to two or three tiles, get your own high tiles and any joker out of your rack.

Rummikub Odds

The figures below are exact where they come from counting, and from 200,000 simulated deals for the initial meld, using the official rules: 14 tiles each, sets from your own rack only, and a joker worth the tile it replaces.

Where Rummikub Comes From

Rummikub was created by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian-born Jew who moved to Israel after the Second World War. He made the first sets by hand with his family and sold them door to door and through small shops, and it became Israel’s best-selling export game. In the 1970s it reached the United States, where by 1977 it was a best seller, and in 1980 it won the German Spiel des Jahres, Game of the Year. More than 50 million copies have been sold. The name means “rummy cube”.

More Games to Try

The rummy rules guide covers the card game Rummikub is based on. For more rummy games, try gin rummy, Rummy 500 and Shanghai rummy, and for another tile game, mahjong or dominoes.

Rummikub: frequently asked questions