Rummikub

Rummikub was invented by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian-born Jew, who emigrated to Israel after World War II.

Hertzano sold these sets door-to-door and on a consignment basis at small shops.

Over the years, the family licensed it to other countries and it became Israel's best-selling export game.

In the 1970s it was brought to the United States by Irv and Arline Kossoff to sell in their New York's Gift, Games, and Luggage store.

Arline translated the rules from Hebrew to English and by 1977, it became a bestselling game in the United States.

[5] Hertzano's Official Rummikub Book, published in 1978, describes three different versions of the game: American, Sabra, and International.

[6] In Turkey, the game is known as Okey[citation needed] and is widely played by families at gatherings or at local cafes.

The number tiles range in value from one to thirteen in four colors (blue, red, orange,[4][7] and black).

Play begins with the starting player and proceeds in a clockwise (for modern variants) direction.

If a player cannot make an initial meld, they must pick up a single tile from the pool and add it to their rack.

Once a player has made their initial meld, they can, on a separate turn, play one or more tiles from their rack, making or adding to groups and/or runs.

Once a winner has been declared, the losing players must add up the values of the tiles remaining in their racks (their score for the game).

Game play continues until a player has used all of the tiles in the rack, at which point they should call out "Rummikub," and are declared the winner.