How is the dreidel game played?

Answer 1

Dreidl is a very simple game but, like most games that involve gambling on a chance outcome, can be extremely addictive. The beauty of it is that it require no skill, making it the perfect family game in which very young children can play with great grandparents celebrating their 90th Hanukkah.

First, you'll need a dreidl and something to bet with - few people play for real money, so chocolate coins (known as chocolate or shokolad gelt, "chocolate gold"), dried beans, beads and so on are used instead.

Here's the rules, from Wikipedia:

Each player begins with an equal number of game pieces (usually 10-15). The game pieces can be any object, such as chocolate gelt, pennies, or raisins.

• At the beginning of each round, every participant puts one game piece into the center "pot". In addition, every time the pot is empty and sometimes if it has one game piece left, every player puts one in the pot.
• Each player spins the dreidel once during their turn. Depending on which side is facing up when it stops spinning, they give or take game pieces from the pot:
  • a) If נ (nun) is facing up, the player does nothing.
  • b) If ג (gimel) is facing up, the player gets everything in the pot.
  • c) If ה (hei) is facing up, the player gets half of the pieces in the pot. (If there is an odd number, they round up)
  • d) If ש (shin) or פ (pei) is facing up, the player adds a game piece to the pot.
• If the player is out of pieces, they are either "out" or may ask another player for a "loan".[4]