We love game nights in our house and have plenty of board games, tabletop games and card games to choose from, including classic games such as Monopoly, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit and The Game of Life amongst our collection. Game nights are an excellent fun way to spend quality family time together, without the need for screens or phones, enabling us to not only play together but to talk to each other as well.
We do play quite a variety of games, but another game that has been around for decades is Rummikub. Rummikub is now celebrating 70 years of classic family fun. To help celebrate this milestone, Rummikub have released a giftable version of the game called Rummikub Black – a quality stylish version with premium black tiles with the numbers in primary colours, black racks, black playing mat and black fabric tile bag, all housed in a black tin.
What is Rummikub? Rummikub is a tile-based strategy game combining elements of Mah-jong and Rummy and looks similar to Scrabble, just with numbers instead of letters. The idea of the game is to get rid of all your tiles on your rack by building number groups (a group of 3 or 4 tiles with the same numbers but in different colours) or runs (a set of consecutive numbers in the same colour). It is suitable for 2-4 players, aged 7+ and is great fun for all the family.
Rummikub is very simple to learn, and whilst it is easy to learn and play, but don’t be fooled, it takes a bit of brain power and cunning strategy to win.
Contents
- 106 Rummikub Tiles (Numbered 1 to 13 in 4 different colours plus 2 jokers)
- 4 Rummikub Curved Tile Racks
- Tile Mat (4 pieces that slot together)
- Cloth Bag
- Black Tin
- Rules
Setting up is extremely easy. All players receive 14 tiles, which they place on their tile rack. The rest of the tiles are placed face down on the table (although we did leave the rest of the tiles in the fabric bag and picked new tiles from it when required). Once each player has their tiles on their rack, each player selects a new tile and the player that has the highest number goes first.
To start, the first player has to lay down a group or run on the table. On the first round players must lay down tiles that are worth 30 points or more (adding up all the numbers placed will give you your points total). If a player is unsuccessful in trying to lay down their initial 30 point run or group that player must select a new tile and add it to their rack, and that players turn ends. The next player then has to lay 30 points etc…
After the initial run, going forward each player on their turn must lay at least 1 tile from their rack, either adding a new group or run or manipulating one that has already laid (i.e. adding a 4 to a sequence of 1, 2, 3 already on the table). If a player can’t place a tile, they must take one from the pile and add it to their rack.
The game continues around the table until one player has laid all their tiles on the table and called out ”Rummikub”. If you are playing more than one match, the losers add up the values of their remaining tiles and the total of all players is given to the winner as a positive score, while each loser receives a minus score to the value of their own remaining tiles. After a few games, the player with the overall highest number of points is the winner.
Overall, Rummikub is a very simple yet addictive game to play, a great game of thinking and strategy, combined with a small helping of luck.
It can be quite a slow game to play, firstly when initially building up sets and groups and then waiting for players to work out permutations in their head for their next move. You can speed this up with the use of a timer, although depending on who is playing, we feel that if playing the game with children it would ruin the game by adding in too much pressure for them to try and work out their number combinations (although it does work well with older teenagers and adults).
It is very simple to understand and once you start playing makes complete sense. It is a fun game that gets you thinking and trying to outsmart your fellow players. It will keep your family and friends entertained during the cold winter nights.
It is a game that is quick and easy to set up and play, and just as quick to pack up and put away back into its tin. The rules are very straightforward and easy to understand. As well as being addictive number fun, Rummikub is also very good for children to learn basic counting and recognising patterns. And the addition of the playing mat is excellent (we found that the tiles didn’t slide around as easily as they do on just the table).
Rummikub Black is a premium set, supplied in a good-looking black tin, but it is heavy. The only thing we think let down the quality of this set was the tile racks; they just feel a little bit flimsy and not as premium quality as the rest of the set.
Whilst it is an expensive set (SRP of £49.99, although can be purchased for around £40) it has the quality and game play fun to make it worth the outlay.
An excellent fun and addictive game that can be played by the whole family, just the kids or just adults – it really is a fun game for everyone. The quality, feel and look of this set is excellent and really does make an excellent giftable version (especially with Christmas coming up).
Rating: 4.5/5
RRP: £49.99
For more information, visit www.johnadams.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
