Okey vs Rummikub: same tiles, different game

Same box, two games

The two tile sets are all but identical: two copies of every number from 1 to 13 in four colours, 104 numbered tiles, plus two special ones for 106 in all. In both games you line your tiles up on a rack and race to finish your hand first.

The groups look the same too: three or four of a number in different colours (a set) and three or more consecutive numbers in one colour (a run). Both belong to the rummy family. That's where the likeness ends.

The differences at a glance

The Okey column follows the common rules; the Rummikub column follows the maker's official rulebook. How a hand of Okey is scored varies more than anything else from table to table; the details are in the Okey guide for the classic game and the 101 Okey guide for 101.

The joker: in the box, or picked by the indicator?

In Rummikub the jokers come in the box. The two special tiles are wild all game long, taking the colour and number of whatever tile a group is missing. You can win a joker back from the table by swapping in a tile that keeps its group valid — but you have to play it in a new group that same turn, and put down at least one tile from your rack while you're at it. No taking jokers before your initial meld. Get caught with a joker on your rack when the hand ends and it costs you 30 points.

In Okey the indicator picks the joker. Each hand a tile is turned face up; the next number up in the same colour becomes the okey, and both copies of it are wild. The two special tiles in the box are false okeys, and they aren't wild at all: they only stand in for that hand's okey. So the tile that's a joker in Rummikub is the okey's understudy in Okey, and the real wild tile is a different numbered tile every hand.

Discarding: the heart of Okey, missing from Rummikub

Every turn in Okey has the same beat: draw, discard. You take a tile from the pile or the one your left-hand neighbour just threw, then throw one yourself, and it lands in front of the player on your right. Under the common rule, 101 adds a catch: a tile you take from your neighbour has to go into a group on the table that same turn. Since classic Okey never puts anything on the table, that's how you read your opponents: what they throw, and whether they pick up what lands in front of them.

Rummikub has no discards. On your turn you either play tiles from your rack to the table or draw one from the pool, and that's your turn done; a tile you've just drawn has to wait until next time. Nobody passes anybody a tile — new tiles only ever come from the pool. The official rules give you one minute per turn; run over and you draw a tile and play moves on.

The table: can you break up a group?

Rummikub's real fun is on the table. Your first meld has to be worth at least 30, made only from your own tiles; after that, every group on the table is fair game. Split a run in two, pull the fourth tile off a set to start a new run, take one tile from each of two groups to build a third. The only condition: when your turn ends, the table holds nothing but valid groups, with no loose tiles. Run out of time halfway through and you put the table back as it was, take your tiles back and draw three as a penalty.

In classic Okey the table stays empty: the hand is finished on the rack, and the player going out discards the last tile and shows their hand. In 101 the table fills up, but differently: to lay your hand down, your sets and runs must reach the opening threshold of at least 101, or you need 5 pairs. Once you're down, you add tiles to the groups on the table — that's laying off. The common rules have no splitting or rebuilding groups the way Rummikub does; the table only grows. The 101 Okey guide has the full rules for opening.

Which one's for you?

If you trust your memory and like reading people, Okey's your game: the real skill is keeping track of who threw what and what nobody picked up. If you love rearranging the table in your head, Rummikub: every turn is a little puzzle. And if you play both, watch out for habit — reaching for a discard in Rummikub, or trying to split a run in Okey.

Which one can you play at Masabaşı?

At Masabaşı you can play Okey and 101 Okey — not Rummikub. This article only covers Rummikub to compare it with Okey. Fancy a game of Okey? Set up a table, fill the empty seats with bots or send the code to your friends.