How to play
The rules of Rummikub and similar tile rummy games, explained in plain words. It takes about five minutes to learn.
What's in the box
There are 106 tiles: the numbers 1 to 13 in four colors (red, blue, black and orange), two copies of each, plus 2 jokers. The game is for 2 to 4 players.
Goal
Be the first to play every tile from your rack onto the table.
Setup
- Turn all tiles face down and mix them.
- Each player takes 14 tiles and stands them on their rack so nobody else can see them.
- Each player draws one tile. The highest number goes first, then play passes to the left. Put those tiles back in the pool.
The two kinds of sets
Run
Three or more numbers in a row, all the same color: 456 or 9101112. A run can't wrap around from 13 back to 1.
Group
Three or four tiles with the same number, each a different color: 888 or 2222. A group can't have two tiles of the same color.
Your first move: the 30-point meld
Before you can do anything else, you must put down one or more sets from your own rack worth at least 30 points in total. For example, 101112 is worth 33. You can't use tiles already on the table. The first meld guide covers this in detail.
A normal turn
After your first meld, on each turn you either:
- Play one or more tiles from your rack, or
- Draw one tile from the pool if you can't (or don't want to) play. Your turn then ends.
Many groups play with a time limit of one minute per turn.
Rearranging the table
This is what makes the game fun. On your turn you can move tiles already on the table, as long as every set is valid when you finish and you've played at least one tile from your rack. You can:
- Add to a set: put 7 on the end of 456.
- Take a tile from a set of four or more to use somewhere else.
- Split a long run: 345678 becomes 345 and 678, or you can insert a tile in the middle.
- Combine tiles from several sets into new ones.
Finding these moves is the hard part, and it's exactly what the solver does when you're practicing. Try the practice puzzles to see each kind of move.
Jokers
A joker can stand in for any tile. If you hold the exact tile a joker on the table stands for, you can swap it in and take the joker, but you must use the joker again on the same turn. See the joker guide.
Winning and scoring
The first player to empty their rack wins the round. Everyone else loses the value of the tiles left on their rack, and a joker left over costs 30. The scoring guide has a full example.