Rummikub – Play Online for Free

Rummikub was invented by Ephraim Hertzano, a Jewish salesman born in Romania in 1912 who moved to Israel after World War II and sold toothbrushes, plastic goods and cosmetics there. According to his family, the idea came to him while he was still in Romania, where card games are said to have been banned and tiles offered a way around the rule. In the 1950s the family made the first sets by hand in Israel and at first sold them door to door. The name is said to combine rummy with "cube."

In Germany Rummikub came out in 1980 and won the "Spiel des Jahres" award the same year, only the second game ever to receive it. A world championship has been held since 1991, the first one in Jerusalem, and in 2015 the best players met in Berlin. Our Rummikub game follows today's standard rules with 106 tiles: you take on as many as three computer players in Rummikub online, free of charge, with no account and nothing to install.

Melding, Rearranging, Rescuing the Joker: Rummikub Rules and Tricks

The game uses 106 tiles: the numbers 1 to 13 in black, red, blue and orange, two of each, plus two jokers. Everyone gets 14 tiles on their rack, and the rest form the face-down pool, whose size is shown in the bar at the top. The first player to empty their rack wins.

• Run: at least three tiles of one color in an unbroken sequence, such as the blue 4, 5 and 6. The 1 always comes first and the 13 last, so 12, 13, 1 is not a run.
• Group: three or four tiles of the same number, each in a different color. Two tiles of the same color never fit in one group.
• Joker: it stands for any tile. In a run its number follows from its place, in a group it takes a missing color. Both jokers may even sit in the same set.
• The initial meld: your first play to the table must be worth at least 30 points, counted by the numbers on the tiles, with a joker worth the tile it replaces. Only new sets from your own rack count, and what is already on the table stays untouched that turn. The "Done" button keeps the score and shows, for example, "24 / 30".
• Every turn after that: you add at least one tile from your rack and in return may rebuild the whole table: extend sets, split runs, join two sets or pull the fourth tile out of a group. No tile goes back from the table to your rack, and when you finish, every set has to be valid. An invalid block gets a red frame, "Done" tells you why, and "Reset" puts the table back the way it was at the start of your turn.
• Taking back a joker: you may swap a joker on the table for a tile that keeps its set valid. The freed joker has to go into a set again in the same turn.
• Drawing: if you cannot or do not want to play, "Draw" takes a tile from the pool and ends your turn. You can play the new tile on your next turn at the earliest.
• The end: whoever lays down the last tile wins with the call "Rummikub!". Everyone else scores minus points for the tiles left on their rack, a joker counting 30, and the winner collects the total. Once the pool is empty, players pass instead of drawing; if all of them pass in a row, the lowest rack wins, and on a tie the one with fewer tiles.

Drag a tile where you want it, or tap it and then tap its new spot. Drop it onto a set and the table slides aside to make room. In the bar at the top you choose whether you face one, two or three computers; you lead off in game one, then the opening passes around the table. Here is how to get rid of your tiles faster:

• Sort your rack: "777" lines your tiles up by number so possible groups sit side by side, and "789" sorts them by color for runs. Switching between the two often reveals sets that were hidden in the clutter.
• Count the table: every tile exists exactly twice. If both red eights are already on the table, the pool will not give you another, and the gap between your red 7 and 9 can only be closed by rearranging.
• High numbers first: whatever is left on your rack at the end counts against you, and a 13 hurts far more than a 2. Given the choice between two plays, get the high tiles down.
• Do not hoard the joker: it rescues a tight initial meld or completes a run, but it costs 30 points if it is still yours at the end. Save it for an important turn, not for the last one.
• Spot the spare parts: a group of four can give up one tile and stay valid, and a run of six splits into two runs of three. Sets like these supply the tiles for your rearrangements.
• Experiment without risk: nothing is final until you press "Done". Try a bold rebuild, and if it does not work out, "Reset" brings back the old table.
• Ask the light bulb: when you lose track, the bulb at the top lights up the tiles of the next simple play, such as a new set from your rack or a tile that fits onto a run on the table. The big rearrangements you still have to find yourself.

Empty Rack, Still Hungry? Five Games for Collectors and Combiners

If you love the collecting, sorting and well-timed melding of this game, you will find more of it here:

• Rummy: the same idea with cards instead of tiles. You hold 13 cards, your first meld needs 40 points, and after drawing you usually discard one card onto the pile.
• Gin Rummy: the head-to-head member of the rummy family, played with just ten cards. You build sets and runs in your hand and may knock as soon as your leftover cards add up to ten points or less.
• Canasta: two teams, two decks with jokers, and the big goal is a meld of seven cards. You decide before the start how many points the match runs to.
• Scopa: the great Italian card game of captures. Each card you play can take cards of equal value from the table, alone or added together, and sweeping it clean earns a scopa.
• Mahjong: tiles in a very different role. From a layout of several layers you pick two matching tiles that lie free and remove them as a pair until the whole stack is gone.