Whenever we get a new board game, the first thing anyone will do will be consult the rule page/book on how to play the game. The first time I lifted Rummikub to play it, I felt the rules were, to use the popular cliché, as clear as mud. However, this was one board game that we picked up very quickly, and it has gone on to be a favourite in our house, and with many of our extended family as well.
At the start of each game, each player will pick up fourteen tiles, which will either have any of the numbers 1-13 in 4 colours – red, blue, orange and black, or they could also pick up one (or both) of the two jokers in the set. The aim of the game is to get rid of all the tiles in your rack, by putting down runs of consecutive numbers, all in the same colour, or else groups of 3 or 4 of the same number, provided they are all different colours.
Before players pick their tiles, however, they will each draw one tile to determine who gets to start, with the owner of the highest value tile being he/she who gets to start. NB if a player picks up a joker in that move, it is worth no points, so guarantees that that player will not be starting first. In the opening move, which they refer to as the ‘meld’, players must put down a total of 30 points or more, otherwise he/she will be forced to pick up a tile from the draw pile. This is one of the uncertainties with the rules, and the different interpretations. Some of my friends consider that a player cannot make any move, at all, until they have 30 points or more, whereas we interpret it as 30 points or more in that opening ‘round’, after which the limit no longer applies.
How to play
The numerical value of the tiles in play constitute the total points, which is only of any significance in that opening meld, or at the very end for adding up scores. Every set of tiles on the board must be at least 3 in number, and can be anything up to 13 in length. If a player, on their opening move, has a 9, 10 & 11, all in the same colour, they can play these three tiles, as collectively they add up to 30. If the same player only had 3 tiles totalling 27, but then also had 3 1’s, for example, in different colours, these can all be played totalling 30. There is no upper limit on how many tiles can be played at any one time, provided any moves made by the player fit with what is on the board.
Once that opening round has taken place, the fun really begins, because anything that is played on the table is now ripe for manipulation. If there is a run of numbers, for example all in blue, 2,3,4,5,6,7, and another player has a red 7 and a black 7, he/she can take the blue 7 from the run on the table, and add their other two 7s to it to form a run of 3 x 7s. This is a perfectly acceptable move, because the existing run has 5 in it (always must be at least 3), and another player can manipulate further by removing the 6 to suit their own needs at another point in the game.
The 2 Jokers in the pack are, as the name suggests, wild, and if a player is in possession of a joker tile, he/she can set it down either as part of an existing run, or to get rid of some of their own tiles and get closer to victory themselves. If the joker is added at the front of the aforementioned run of blue tiles, it will become a blue ‘1’, but if another player has a blue ‘1’ in their rack, they can replace the joker with their tile, and the joker is now theirs to become something else, of their own
choosing. A joker cannot be taken from any run or sequence unless the player can replace it with exactly what it is, and that player must then use the joker on that same turn. No harbouring of jokers allowed, but when it comes to the endgame scoring, it will become clear as to why nobody would want to hold on to it regardless.
When a player cannot go, he/she must pick up a tile from the draw pile, and that is their turn officially over – no such thing as pick and play in this game.
When the manipulation is taking place, if a player is planning on making sweeping changes to the board, it might be wise to take a photograph of the board before any moves are made, because if the move doesn’t work out, everything will have to be put back where it was before the transfers were made, and that is much easier when there is a photograph to consult, as my previous experiences will attest.
The game finishes when a player has played all their tiles, and one of my favourite parts of the game is the scoring system. Everyone totals up the remaining score on their rack, and adds a minus sign to the front of it. This is their score for the round. The winner can be laughing all the way to the bank, because the accumulated negative scores from the losing players will become a positive score for the winning player. If Player A is victorious, and Players B, C & D have scores of -13, -27 & -14 respectively, Player A’s score will be +13+27+14, thus +44. If a player also has a joker on their rack at the end of the game, it is worth -30 points to the player, so definitely not a good idea to cling on to it longer than necessary. It sucks to be the person who picks one up on what proves to be their final turn, before someone else clears their rack!
Scores
Overall, I would rate this game 85-90 out of 100.
· Artwork 4/5
· Complexity 4/5
· Replayability 5/5
· Player Interaction 5/5
· Component Quality 5/5
What I enjoy most about this game are:
· The scoring system
· Manipulation of the tiles
· Its strapline is ‘Brings Families Together’, and I have introduced it to many in our family circle, all of whom enjoy the game immensely
What I dislike about the game
· It is only for 4 players – we played it one time with 6 people and 2 sets of tiles, but it didn’t really work in all honesty
· The instructions being as clear as proverbial mud
