Rummikub Online Guide

Like all games with tiles or cards, Rummikub is a game of both luck and skill. The degree to which the game is played with skill is largely determined by the players. For the beginner the game can be played with a lot of luck with each player drawing and melding as the tiles come up with no particular strategy. Basically they are allowing chance to determine their success during any given hand. This way can be a great deal of fun and still bring on lively games, but it is not very competitive.

With a player who is more competitive it becomes important to maximize the chances of winning by playing the most strategic way that you can. With 106 tiles available there is an exorbitant amount of possible rack combinations. In fact the combinations range into the trillions. However, most of these are useless when it comes to melding, therefore you need to play the rack and table wisely to maximize your ability to meld all of your tiles.

With this many possibilities, there is still a huge amount of luck involved for every player at your table. However, you do not want to live on just luck alone. The difference between the beginner and the expert player is that the good player takes advantage of all opportunities to improve their chances of winning. Even if the good player is on a streak of extreme bad luck, they will still lose less often than the random player. If luck is on the good side for the better player, they will win with much larger scores than the random player.

When you are given your starting tiles, it is basically chance on what tiles you actually get. The key to being a good player is to be able to arrange the tiles to very specific melds that are needed to lay them on the table in a way that works for you later on. This can be done by exchanging them for other tiles. The other tiles must come from either the discard of the previous player or from the drawing pile. There are only certain tiles on any given play that are advantageous to you. It is important to know what your chances are of getting these tiles. For this reason, you need to try to figure out the location of as many of these tiles as possible. At the beginning of each hand, the only ones that are going to be known to you are the tiles on your rack, but as the game progresses there will be clues which you need to pick up on that tells you where the remaining tiles are.

This is what is going to differentiate a player that plays his game on random chance and luck, and the player that is using intelligent strategy to win.

The Rummikub game is available in a variety of cases, each of which compactly holds the 106 playing tiles and the racks for four people. That is what makes up the entire set. Over time, some of the most popular and ingeniously devised sets were made to make the racks part of the actual case. It was just another way to make it easier to store and play this brilliant game. The lid of the box slides out to form two racks, while the other two racks for the base. If you slide them out, and attach the two supports to each, you will then have four racks total that will hold up to 24 tiles each.

Of the 106 tiles included, two are Jokers and the remainder of the tiles consists of eight sets in four colors. They are red, blue, yellow, and black. There are two sets of tiles in each color, numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Because you need to have plenty of room to play this rather large game, you should play on an area no smaller than a card table.

The general rules are simple. Each player sets up his rack in front of him and the tiles are placed face down on the table. The tiles are thoroughly mixed by shuffling them around with the hands, and then the players arrange them in stacks of seven and line them up to form the pool. The pool provides the tiles which are drawn as the game progresses. The last stack of tiles will contain eight tiles. The use of this extra tile depends on the rules of the individual game in which you are playing.

There are three variations of the game in which you will be playing:

American Rummikub - The simplest of the three versions of Rummikub and the most like traditional rummy games. Once you have learned the basics of American Rummikub, you can adapt what you know to the other rummy games if you choose, or you can vary it with your own rules.

Sabra Rummikub - This adds another facet to the more simple rules of the American version. It is also an easy game to learn, but the extra manipulation allowed makes it a bolder game with aggressive tactics. The action is often quick but demands that you think ahead and visualize the changing configuration of the tiles. There is a strict time limitation in which you will have to make fast and furious plays.

International Rummikub - A highly sophisticated variation of this game, which bears a strong resemblance to Mah-Jongg. It is a challenge to complete a variety of winning patterns and combinations. The scoring is unusual and the ever-changing possibilities of play are thoroughly absorbing.

Both the dealing and the playing always go counter-clockwise. This is because this game, although originally conceived in Romania, really began its journey to the world in Israel, where in Hebrew everything reads backwards info phone remember ringtones send ringtones to your phone cell download free phone ringtones free phone ringtones verizon wireless boost download free mobile ringtones download free alltel ringtones cingular free music ringtones ringtones verizon wireless 24 ringtones theme free ringtones for alltel phone 3 free ringtones sidekick hot new ringtones free ringtones for cricket cell phone yahoo ringtones free download christian music ringtones cingular ringtones free funny voice ringtones 2366i nokia ringtones free logo nokia ringtones download free mosquito ringtones – from right to left. So, Rummikub always goes counter-clockwise because it is staying true to its roots

In the Israeli version of Rummikub, the joker is used far differently than that of the American version. If everyone plays Open Rummy, the jokers then become more or less common tiles since they can be replaced and used in other melds. They are not as versatile as they are in the American version, even under these circumstances, since they can be used only to make new melds instead of being rearranged. They can, of course, be layed off on runs or groups of three, but here they serve only the advantage of lowering your rack by one tile. If this is the tile that puts you out then that is great. Otherwise it would be a basically worthless move.

On your rack the joker is still the most versatile tile you can hold. The player having one joker has a considerable advantage over those with none when everyone is on the rack. A player with two jokers is in a very strong comparative situation. The joker becomes basically a tile that can take any position needed. Therefore if you are using it to form a run or group, and you pick the same tile, you have actually picked the equivalent of two tiles at once since the joker can now be used to fill any other combination that you are holding.

The other advantage of a joker is that it is the highest scoring tile. In the Israeli version of Rummikub, 50 points are needed to meld on the table. The joker is often the key to being able to make an initial meld. It is advantageous to open without using one because the joker then loses its versatility on your rack and becomes available for other players to use. They cannot use it to make their own initial meld, but once they have melded, it is no longer your exclusive property.

In any even, as in the American game, if you play a joke in an open meld, try to place it so that it cannot be reused. If both of the tiles which the joker represents are already tied up in sets or in the discard piles, the joker is absolutely safe on the table and at that point counts for no more value than any other tile.

The probability of Hand is extremely high considering there are over 634,000,000 ways to make a hand. As the easiest hand to play for, many people choose to play for it for the quick score. It can occur almost five times as often as the next better hand, Seven Pairs. Hand scores minus 500 versus minus 1700 for Seven Pairs. Although it is not that high scoring it is important to realize that Hand occurs quickly and is perfect for the times that you need a score and fast.

Look at the next hand, Hand Minor. Hand occurs 7.6 times as often and Hand Minor scores only 1.6 times as much. Give the choice between playing for either of the two; it is almost five times more profitable to play with the easier hand. With Seven Sticks Minor, you see Hand 76 times as often. You score only four times as much. The scoring odds swing in your favor by 19 to 1. This shows you how powerful this hand can be.

If the game were strictly a random collecting of tiles, you would obviously always play for Hand or the even simpler Foot and Open Melds. Of course, it is not strictly a random game, since after the deal, you now have considerable control over the rack you are playing. You do not discard in a random fashion, nor do you pick completely at random, since you have a discard visible to choose each time. Therefore, the chances calculated from the table must be tempered by what you think you can do with your rack. If the initial rack favors one of the low probability hands, consider this as a possibility to play. After all, this is what makes the game so much fun. If you stick only with Hand then there won’t be any true competition in the game, and you may get bored with it.

The table that calculates odds does not include the plays called Open Rummy and Foot. The reason for this is very simple. Both of these plays involve all of the same possibilities as Hand plus the option of laying off tiles on the open melds. There are, they are at least as likely, if not more probable.

The discards are even more important in this game than they are in the American version. First, there are always four players, so that without picking form the discards, each player has an opportunity to draw only 12 or 13 tiles with which to complete their hand. If you are playing for any of the more complicated hands, it is absolutely necessary to have as many picks as possible. Therefore you should always pick from the discard pile often, even if some of the tiles are picked on total speculation. Do not pick unless you can form a reasonable combination, but a guaranteed combination, particularly one which can go several ways, is better in most cases than gambling on an unknown tile.

Besides filling melds or forming combinations, tiles picked form the discard pile leaves more picks in the drawing pile. They also keep tiles in circulation, and you want as many chances at them as possible. Of course this gives the other players more chances also. Thus it is very important to choose your own discards with the maximum amount of care.

If everyone is playing on the rack, the discards are the only clues you have to the tiles that are available. A good memory is extremely important here. You wan tot remember not only which tiles remain in the discard piles and are therefore no longer available, but you also want to remember which tiles your opponents pick up. With four people, remember the discard piles are more important than remember what was picked up, if you have trouble remembering both. Your own discards have little influence on any player other than the one on your right. You directly control that player’s hand to some extent, and you obviously do not want to give them the tiles that match previous discards.

The buried tiles will determine which hands you still have a chance to make and which ones are impossible. This is important even in playing Open Rummy, because you still have far fewer tiles to work with than you do when playing the American version of open melds. As always, the more information you can gather and retain, the more of an edge you have on your opponents. The discards are the only good source of information you have on tiles not on your rack or on the table in open melds. Use them to their fullest advantage. There is probably no one factor which will more quickly separate the expert player from the good player than his or her ability to use the discard data.

The point value of your discards is of little importance as far as your final score is concerned when playing any of the hands. If someone else goes you have 100 points scored against you regardless of what is on your rack. Therefore, resist the tendency to discard high tiles first. Discards should be chosen for two reasons only. The first is always choosing tiles that have the least possibility of filling any particular hand or possible hands you could develop. The second is the defensive possibilities of the discard. Remembering this will allow you to use the discard pile to your advantage to win the game.

The hand of Open Rummy is the lowest scoring of all the hands, which means that it is the easiest to play. If more than one of the four players in the game is playing Open Rummy, there is an improvement in those players’ chances of going out first over players, playing hands on their racks. This is because the open melds are available to lay off odd tiles. Otherwise, the players are working on the same possibilities as occur in Hand.

Open melds are not played for any of the special hands played on the rack. If they should develop in such a fashion, they do not count as anything extra. Therefore players are looking only for possible runs or groups that can be formed or added to. The point value of the open melds again does not mean anything. Scoring occurs only by a player going out. Of course points left on a player’s rack count against him, and to this extent melding high tiles may have a slight advantage, particularly late in a game in which the score is very close. Normally this is not a factor. Since any losing player who has not been open melding has 100 points scored against him, the advantage would be only the difference between the tiles on the rack and 100. Incidentally, the average point count for a rack with 14 tiles is 103, so that on the average, a losing player neither gains nor loses points over counting actual point values.

If the tendency for all or most of the players in a game is to play Open Rummy, a player must estimate their chances of winning against such players by playing on the rack. This is not the same game as the American version, in which you cannot rearrange tiles. Therefore the tiles on the table do not automatically become part of the pool in which you can play. Since you can only add to them, you cannot hold combinations on your rack awaiting a chance to use the table tiles to complete them. If you play on the rack, you either have to meld all your own tiles or form one of the Hands, or be able to lay off all odd tiles when you meld the others. Going out from the rack by laying off odd tiles is the play called Foot, and it is worth minus 200 points versus 100 points for the Open Meld. The question is, is the double point value worth holding your tiles while everyone else is on the table?

You automatically lose 100 points if you lose and have not melded. However, if you lose and have melded, you still lose the points on your rack. You are basically gambling on making 100 extra points for each hand that you win. If everyone wins an equal number of hands, you win one out of four times. Therefore, based on points alone you would lose by two to one playing each time for Foot or better. It isn’t really worth it, and if everyone is playing Open Meld then you should consider joining in as well.

As you already know from the American version, calculating the odds on each of the possible hands in the Israeli version is a daunting task. There are over 6 trillion hands that can be made. This can be very important to the player in determining whether or not to play for any specific hand or hands that may be developing on the player’s rack.

In these 6 trillion ways to calculate the hands, it does not even include the hands that are duplicates of each other. In other words, if a run of red 1, 2, and 3 is included, it is only counted once, even though it can be made up eight different ways with the duplicate tiles. In many hands, the run can obviously appear twice. It is nearly impossible to account for differences in odds resulting from exchanging each tile for its duplicate. Included in the table is a list of the scores for each hand, again without jokers.

Many hands haven’t even lent themselves to mathematical analysis. Reasonable speculations can be made about their possibilities though. For example, Piccolo 41 Odd and Piccolo 41 Runs are both easier to obtain than Piccolo 41 Groups. Piccolo 41 Sets are probably harder to get. Minor 51 Runs is less than Minor 51 Groups, which is less than Hand Minor 51. All three are probably easier to get than the Piccolo hands since they include the lower-count Piccolo hands which are played as Piccolo of course. Grand Odd, Single color Odd, Mosaic, Little Wave, and Big Waver are all very low probability hands. Little Blitz or Big Blitz should occur approximately once out of every 5000 to 7000 hands.

Two colors are easier to obtain than Four Colors obviously, and they both score more frequently than Three Colors. This is because Two Colors can be scored with two, three, or four runs, of lengths between three tiles and eleven tiles. Three Colors can be played with only three runs. Four Colors is played with four runs, but after you have formed your first two you still have two colors left for the third run and one for the fourth, whereas with Three Colors, after two runs you have the possibility of working with only one color. With Three Colors you also must form at least one longer run than you have to form with Four Colors.

These are all examples demonstrating the complexities for forming many of the hands which are not immediately obvious from looking at the form of each hand. Playing the suggested solitaire game is a good way to get a practical feel for what the table is saying. Intuition may tell you that it should be easier to form Odd hands than hands with groups and runs. After all, you don’t have to match up tiles to form an Odd hand, do you? Of course the chances of forming at least some runs and groups with 14 tiles are extremely high. Therefore, it is far more difficult to prevent their formation, and the Odd hands are of low probability.

As you already know, it is best to keep your melds for the last possible moment, but there are going to be times when you simply can’t keep them in your rack any longer. As the hand progresses you may see that this is the case and you are going to need to change your strategy. It may become desirable to begin playing the open melds, and you have to be prepared for this.

If one or more of your opponents is down to three tiles, the chances are that they are looking for one or two possibilities to complete their hand, and you do not want to be caught with a large point count. There may also be times during the hand when open melds appear that allow you to play odd tiles on your rack which you do not see much chance of combining. Therefore you should play early on in the hand, to form melds with enough points to allow an initial meld. During the play you may wish to rearrange these on your rack, but you should always try to maintain the necessary 25 points to make an initial meld. If you should be lucky enough to have a joker, it is always possible to meld it with two other tiles for a guaranteed initial meld, but that may not happen, not to mention that it isn’t wise in general to meld with a joker to begin with.

Again, you should try not to make an initial meld until it is to your overall advantage, either defensively or offensively. If you have reached a point that you feel that it is necessary though you need to remember that you do not have to put all of your possible melds down. The rule is still to play as few of your tiles on the table as possible. By keeping some tiles behind you are making it harder for your opponents to use your open melds and possibly going out, gaining more points.

There are going to be times in which you have tiles on your rack that you are certain that your opponent can use to their advantage. This is when you most definitely hold back these exact tiles. The last thing you want to do is to give them an advantage over you. When you hold tiles defensively they usually have no offensive value to you, so therefore you must attempt to build possible combinations around these tiles that will allow you to meld them later on. Sometimes these defensive tiles can be played to allow your opponent to use them and give you an advantage on your next turn, but you need to make sure that you can use them the next time around.

It may seem reasonable to assume that it is always to your advantage to have an opponent play to the open melds while you retain your tiles and form your melds on your racks. This is generally true when you are dealing with an average rack. The trade off which you must consider is that any tile on the table is of no value to anyone as a score. The only scoring points you receive come from the tiles that remain on opponent’s racks after you go out.

There are many strategies for open melding, but the important aspect to know is that you need to play them defensively. This means paying melds that are the most difficult to rearrange or add on to. The safest meld is a group of three. There is only one other tile that can be added to such a set by another player which is better than the group of four that allows any one of the tiles to be removed and used in another group or run. A group of three requires that all tiles be rearranged and used, which is much more difficult.

When it comes to runs, if you have to play them, you should again choose a run of three rather than a run of four. An opponent can lay off at both ends of the run but cannot take an end tile to use in another set. A run of five buries one more tile than does a run of four, so that may be a choice as well. Again, two end tiles are available for use in other sets, but the fourth is relatively protected. A run of four tiles is safer than a group of four tiles. With the group, any one of the four tiles can be removed and used. With the run, only the two end tiles are available. Then of course you have a run that begins with a 1 or ends in a 13. They are very safe because they can only have tiles added to one end, or taken away from one end.

This pattern can be used in the opposite manner if you are playing the tiles on your rack. In this case, you want to maximize your chances of creating new melds or adding onto existing ones. Therefore, you would attempt to form melds from the lower part of the figure in preference to those in the top part. Here you need to make a choice between offensive and defensive play. The strictly defensive player plays his rack the same way as he plays the open melds, knowing that sooner or later he has to play the melds on the table.

With open melding, obviously you lay off as many of your tiles on the table, as well as form melds on your rack. If you have, or pick up tiles that can be laid off to the open melds, it is best that you keep them as long as possible in your rack. As the hand progresses the chances of someone else having the same tiles you do becomes less, and you are almost guaranteed layoffs when you do finally need them. You may also prevent your opponents from using your tiles in open melds and keep them guessing as to what you are holding. Again, it is a matter of your having the knowledge in which they lack.

If there are a number of open melds on the table, such as what can occur with four players, you have the possibility of acquiring several such tiles. These are great for when you are ready to go out. The effect of adding just one tile to an open meld is important to understand, because adding to it changes its ability to be used by both you and your opponent. Adding to any open melds is a poor defensive move and has no offensive value whatsoever.