The Game of Rummikub

The Game of Rummikub

Squidoo: The Game of Rummikub A Family Favorite!

Rummikub is a more strategic version of the popular card game of Rummy, and is played with tiles, rather than cards.

This isn to imply that the card game of Rummy doesn also involve strategy! But Rummikub makes use of all the strategy you might employ in the regular Rummy card game, and then adds more. This is because not only can you play down your tiles on the sets of others, you can rearrange all the tiles already on the board to suit your liking.

This isn to imply that the card game of Rummy doesn also involve strategy! But Rummikub makes use of all the strategy you might employ in the regular Rummy card game, and then adds more. This is because not only can you play down your tiles on the sets of others, you can rearrange all the tiles already on the board to suit your liking. It takes a lot of planning, figuring out, and problem solving in order to do this!

The Basics: The game is similar to the card game Rummy in that you play down runs (3, 3, 3) and straights (4, 5, 6), but the rules of this game allow something that regular rummy doesn Players are allowed to rearrange the whole board of already played tiles (adding one or more from their own rack in the process), as long as they can still keep at least three pieces in each set or dissolve the set entirely by moving all of its tiles into other sets. The fun comes in as you try to figure out in your head how you can rearrange the tiles on the board in such a way as to allow you to add one or more from your rack.

Let say, for example, that there is already a 2 3 4 5 6 on the board, all in the same suit. You may have a 4 in that suit on your rack. Just pull the 2 and 3 away from the rest and add your 4 at the end. The sets on the board would still all have at least 3 tiles in them (one set would have 2 3 4 in it, and the other would have 4 5 6), so that a fair play.

You can combine one or more sets on the board, as long as you follow all the rules. You can pull one or more tiles away from one or more sets, as long as every remaining set still has at least 3 tiles. You can completely demolish a set by using all the tiles in other locations. There are times when I rearrange almost every set on the board, in a single turn! To me, those turns are the most fun! It like working a puzzle, trying to figure out how to play one more tile from your rack so you can win the game!

I love this game!!! We call it Rack Rummy at our house. I played it since I was a teenager, took it away to college with me when I went, and have since taught it to my own husband and children.

What I love about the game: What I love about the game of Rummikub is the process of figuring out how I can play down all my pieces and go out. I make plans in my head of how I can accomplish this, often by rearranging the the whole board (all the tiles that have already been laid down) in new ways. The style of thinking I engage in to do this is so much FUN! To me, it like a puzzle to be solved!