Okey

Compete against 3 opponents. Arrange your tiles to Win!

How to play Okey - game rules

Gameplay

106 tiles in 4 colors, numbered from 1 to 13 are used in the game, including two unnumbered special tiles, so called false jokers.
The false joker is a tile with a clover leaf. It can replace only the tiles which are jokers during the game.
The jokers are the tiles of the same color and one number higher than the tile laid face up in the middle of the table when the game is started.

The basic appearance of the card game of Okey and rules joker.

In the game shown above the joker is red 5. That tile replaces any other tile.

The false joker (clover) always replaces the joker tile and only that tile.

Four players play the game in counter-clockwise direction.

Each player gets 14 tiles, except the player starting the game, who gets one tile more and starts the game by discarding one useless tile.

At the beginning you should rearrange your tiles so as to gather the tiles which can create melds and decide which tiles are not needed.

The object is, by drawing and discarding tiles, to be the first to form a hand that consists entirely of sets of equal numbered tiles, and runs of consecutive tiles of the same colour.

Winning hands

The object of the game is to collect 14 tiles forming a winning hand.
The winning hands are:

  • 14 tiles, formed entirely into sets and runs
    e.g. two sets of 3 and two runs of 4, or a run of 6 plus a run of 4 plus a set of 4.
    No tile can be used as part of more than one combination (set or run) at the same time.
    • A set consists of three or four tiles of the same number and different colours.
      So for example a black 7 plus two red 7's would not form a valid set.
    • A run consists of three or more consecutive tiles of the same colour.
      The 1 can be used as the lowest tile, below the 2, or as the highest tile, above the 13, but not both at once. So red 1-2-3 or black 12-13-1 would be valid runs, but green 13-1-2 would not be valid.
  • or seven pairs. Each pair must consist of two tiles of the same color and having the same number.

To be accepted, the meld must consist of adjacent tiles, whereas each meld must be separated from one another. Beside the above limitation, the way in which the tiles ore organised on the shelves is up to the player.

Example sorted dice in Okey. Additionally, to mark selected tiles (joker for example), player can reverse them by double clicking on them. In any moment of game, players can classify all tiles by colors or values by using the buttons on right side.

Sample layouts winning the game Okey.

In the first round every player should check if he has the same tile as the one laid in the middle of the table. If he has such a tile, by putting it on the revealed tile in center of the table, he takes away one point from his opponents.

During their turn, players can take the following actions:

  • Draw a tile – players can draw tiles from the stack in the center. A player can also draw an exposed tile from his left side that was previously discarded by an opponent. It is on the left side of the table.
  • Discard a tile – after drawing a tile a player must put back one tile onto the stack on the right side. These tiles may be drawn by one's opponent sitting on the right.
  • Winning notification – in the case of all tiles (except one) are combined in melds, a player can notify winning. To notify winning, the last tile must be discarded not to the stack, but put on the revealed tile placed in the center of the table.

In the moment of winning notification, the discarded tile can not be an element of any meld.

Scoring

At the beginning of the game, all players have the same numbers of points. The limit of points is determined in setting up a table.

The minimum is 5 and maximum is 21.

After each round, every player who does not win, receives negative points:

  • Winning notification by completed sequences and the same value melds. Every opponent loses 2 points.
  • Winning notification by completed sequences and the same value melds and putting back joker as the last tile. Every opponent loses 4 points.
  • Winning notification by completed 7 pairs of tiles in the same value and color. Every opponent loses 4 points.

The appearance of information on the player winning the game Okey.

If all tiles from the central stack will be used, and no one notifies winning, then no one gets negative points.

The game ends when one or more players descend to zero or less points. In this situation, the two players with best high score win.