Okey — how to play

Tile rummy from Turkey, for 2 to 4 — four is the usual table. Nothing goes down on the table while you play: you build your own rack, out of sight, one take and one discard at a go, until all of it is sets and runs.

• 106 tiles: the numbers 1 to 13 in four colours — teal, plum, rust and slate — two of each, and two ★ false okeys.
• 14 tiles each, and 15 for whoever starts. Nobody else sees your rack. The rest is the stock, face down.

• At the start of each hand one tile is turned face up beside the stock. The okey is the tile of the same colour, one number higher — if the face-up tile is a 13, that colour's 1s are the okeys.
• The two okeys are wild: each one can stand for any tile you need.
• A ★ false okey is not wild. It plays only as the okey's own number and colour.
• The face-up tile is never drawn. The table names the okey at the top, for example "Okey: teal 8 — wild this hand".

• Take the top tile of the pile on your left (the tile your left-hand neighbour just threw away), or draw the top tile of the stock.
• Then throw one tile away onto your own pile. The player on your right may take it on their go.
• Whoever starts, holding 15, just throws one away on their first go.
• Only the top tile of each pile shows. You may look through your own pile and the one on your left.

• A set is 3 or 4 tiles of the same number, every colour different.
• A run is 3 or more numbers in a row, all one colour. The 1 can go low (1 2 3) or high (12 13 1), but never both at once: 13 1 2 is never a run.
• Seven pairs wins too: seven pairs of matching tiles, the same number and the same colour. An okey can pair with anything.

• When your other 14 tiles are all sets and runs (or seven pairs), throw away your last tile with Go out. Your 14 are shown to everyone.
• The app checks your rack, not you: Go out only lights up for a tile that leaves a winning 14.
• You don't have to go out the moment you can. If your hand uses an okey you may play on, hoping to go out by throwing an okey away — it's worth double, but someone else may go out first.

Holding the other copy of the face-up tile? Tap Show before your first draw (whoever starts: before their first throw) and everyone else loses 1 point. Only one copy exists, so it happens at most once a hand.

• Everyone starts on 20 points and counts down.
• When you go out, everyone else loses 2. Going out by throwing away an okey, or with seven pairs, costs them 4 instead — the two don't add up.
• When the stock is empty you can still take from your left. Whoever taps Draw on an empty stock ends the hand, and nobody scores.
• Then the next hand is dealt. The game ends when someone gets to 0 or below; the highest score wins.

Families play Okey their own way, so each of these is a setting on New game's Rules step. The usual way is first; you only pick if you want something else.

• Seven pairs — wins, or off.
• 12-13-1 — a run, or not a run.
• Everyone starts on — 20, or 10 for a short game.
• Going out with an okey — doubles, or a plain win.
• Going out with a false okey — a plain tile, or counts as an okey.
• Showing the face-up tile's twin — costs the others 1, or not played.
• A one-colour win — normal, or doubles what the others lose.
• At 0 points — the game ends, or that player leaves and the rest play on.
• Partners — off, or the two sitting opposite share one score (four players only).

Your first game, step by step →

Deal this game →