Rummikub History

The history of Rummikub is one that started almost 70 years ago in Romania. Ephraim Hertzano had the brilliant idea of substituting traditional cards used in popular card games, with colorful cubes. He had the faith and the passion for this wonderful game and set on a long journey of getting it out to millions of people around the world. He wanted it to be the number one game in the United States to play as well as in his hometown of Romania.

It was the 1940’s when Ephraim and his wife Hanna thought this game up. Ephraim was a merchant by trade, and earned his living from manufacturing toothbrushes. He also sold cosmetics and manufactured plastic accessories. At that time, playing cards were not allowed in Romania which made family game times very difficult because there were few games they were actually allowed to play.

That is when Ephraim started to rack his brain for an original game that he could play with his family. His visualization included tiles with colorful numbers along with slotted wooden boards to hold the tiles. He knew the rules would need to be similar to card games that they had all heard about, and he also knew that it would need to be fairly easy to play to get people to actually play it.

Since circumstances financially were very difficult for Ephraim, he wondered if his dream could ever become a reality. Plastic was expensive, and even wood was out of his budget. Then he traveled to a manufacturing shop in Romania that recycled Perspex airplane cockpit canopies into toothbrushes, and he quickly realized that it was the material that he needed for his game.

The very next day the first rummy tile was born, and he immediately set forth in inviting his friends for an exciting evening playing a completely legal card game, without cards. Word of the game spread quickly, and the demand began to grow. His friends asked for games for themselves, and store owners were looking to sell it. Ephraim refined his game over time to better the colorful tiles and the rules, and then named it Rummikub.

In the 1950’s Ephraim moved his family to Israel, and continued the dream of getting this game to millions of people around the world. Ephraim spent many hours assembling each game by hand, by sawing small plastic pieces, painting each tile by hand, and assembling the wooden game boxes. He started distribution to small retailers in his area.

Only a few dozen games sold over the next year, but Ephraim continued on with his dream. He invited shop owners and their wives over to play as well as retailers, neighbors, and anyone that would enjoy a nice way to pass a Saturday evening. It became a tradition in his home, and when the evening was over, he saw quite a few people take home their own games to start their own traditions. Demand for the game grew until Ephraim had to expand his small workshop to make room for more games to be sold. Eventually his tiny workshop because what it is today; one of the most advanced game production facilities in the world.

In 1977, Ephraim’s dream was realized when Rummikub became the best selling game of the year. Today, the game is one of the top 5 selling games in the world, and even though the game has been tweaked over the years, it still has all the nostalgia of the original game. Over 30 million Rummikub games have been sold to date in 48 countries, across 4 continents and printed in 24 languages. The dream that Ephraim imagined for so many years has now become reality.