Any Way You Add It Up Rummikub Is A Winner
Written: Feb 23 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: educational, fun
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: Fun for the whole family. If you like Rummy, you will love the game Original Rummikub.
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| bmcnichol's Full Review: Original Rummikub |
I always liked playing Rummy. I remember playing Rummy with my pappy for hours. When I read some epinions on the Original Rummikub, I knew it was a game I “had to have”.
The object of Rummikub is to be the first player to rid yourself of all your tiles from your rack. You get rid of tiles by forming them into sets of groups or runs. Groups consist of all similar numbers of different colors. For example, three or four 7’s. Runs consist of three or more tiles, numbers in a row of the same color. For example, red 4, red 5 and red 6.
Out of the box the game comes with 106 tiles and four playing racks. The tiles come in four colors: red, blue, black and orange. These tiles are numbered one to thirteen. There are also two Jokers.
Before playing you will need to place all the tiles face down in the center of the table. Each player picks one tile. The player with the highest number goes first. Each player chooses fourteen tiles and puts them on their rack. The remaining tiles remain in the center of the table. You also need to decide how many points will be needed to win the game. We always play to 500.
The number on the tile determines the point value of each tile. For instance, 10 is worth ten points. The joker is worth the number that it is used to replace. So if you us the joker in place of a 9, the joker is worth nine points. But do not get caught with the joker on your rack because you will deduct thirty points.
Play begins with the first person either laying down tiles or pulling a tile from the table. In order to play your tiles, you initially have to have a group or run worth more then thirty points. If you can not play your tiles and must draw from the pile, your turn is over and the next person proceeds.
Once the initial sets are made, you can play on these sets. A few ways to manipulate the sets would be to add one or more tiles from your rack to extend a run. Let’s say the run consists of black 5, 6 & 7. You have the black 4. You can place it on this run to make it black 4, 5, 6, & 7.
You can also remove a fourth tile from a group and use it to form a new set. 4, 5, 6, & 7 were played. You have two 7’s on your rack. You can take the 7 from the above run and add it to your group.
Another move would be to add a fourth tile to a set and remove one tile from it to make another set. Again you have 4, 5, 6, & 7. You have the 3 and two 7’s in your rack. You can add the 3 to the run and take the 7 for your group of 7’s.
A run can also be split. You have 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 down. You have a 5 in your rack. You can split the run into two and have 3, 4, & 5 and 5, 6, & 7.
You can also combine splits or have multiple splits.
Here’s where they throw in the monkey wrench. There is a two-minute time limit on each play. If a play isn’t made within this limit, a tile must be pulled. Also if a player tries to manipulate tiles and fails, they must pull three tiles from the pool.
Sounds a bit confusing but it’s not once you start playing. It is similar to Rummy except you are using tiles and not cards. Rummikub is more thought provoking.
A round ends when someone either plays all their tiles or there are no more tiles in the pool and all plays have been made from the rack.
At the end of each round, you will add up your score. The tiles in your rack are subtracted from the tiles you have laying on the table. Depending on the tiles in your rack, you could have either a positive or negative score.
The game is made by Pressman and requires two to four players to play. The recommended age is 8 and up. It encourages number recognition, color recognition, strategy, and creating numerical groups and fun.
My son is nine and we have been playing this game for about a year. It did take him some time to catch on to some of the plays that could be made. But soon, he was beating mom! Rummikub is a game the whole family will enjoy.
This is an educational game that both mom and son love to play. If you are looking for a new game for your game collection, Original Rummikub is a must have. Any Way You Add It Up Rummikub Is A Winner.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 9.99
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: Whole Family
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Epinions.com ID:
bmcnichol
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Member: Bonnette
Location: Dover, PA
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Without God, we are just "one nation under"
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