Although the Israeli Rummikub is not played very frequently, it is still important to know how to score it in case you run into a group that does play it. The first obvious difference between the American and Israeli version of scoring is that the Israeli version is scored as a minus.
A long score sheet should be set up with a column for each player A normal game consists of four rounds (16 hands) for four players, and fiver rounds (20 hands) for five players. Besides the minus points given the winner of each hand, all other players receive plus points for the unmelded tiles remaining on their racks. This applies to those players who have been playing for Open Rummy. If a player has not melded any of his tiles, he is given 100 plus points.
If only one player has been playing for Open Rummy and that player goes out winning the hand, he receives minus 200 points, instead of minus 100, since he has been able to add only to his own melds. If all the tiles in the drawing pile are used up before any player wins the hand, each player receives plus points for the tiles remaining on his rack if he is playing Open Rummy, or plus 100 if he has not melded. The trump remains on the table and cannot be drawn as the last tile unless it can be used to finish the last player’s hand for a win.
Each player’s score is entered on the score sheet at the completion of each hand. At the end of the game, each player’s scores are totaled. This is not the final total though. All of the scores are then converted to plus numbers by adding the same arbitrary number to each score. This random number must be equal to or larger than the largest minus number, to obtain all of the plus values. Other than this, the value of the random number does not matter, since it does not affect the final score. The scores obtained by adding this number are called the primary scores. All the primary scores are added together and this number is written below each player’s primary score.
Each player’s primary score is then multiplied by the number of players in the game. The resulting number is written below the sum of the primary scores in each player’s column. It is then subtracted from this sum to give the final score for each of the players. It is again seen that some players have plus scores, while others have minus scores, but the winner will have the highest plus score.
Again the value of the random number is not important as long as it makes all the primary scores greater than zero. The final score is the same, and it is only used to make the calculations easier. The final scores can be used to check the calculations. If they are added together they should total zero. If they do not then you need to check your calculations to find the error.