Play Dreidel

Dreidel is a traditional game of chance, and one of the most well-known symbols of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a four-sided top with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The game dates back at least to the time when the Greek King Antiochus IV (175 BCE) had outlawed Jewish worship. Jews who gathered to study the Torah would play dreidel to fool soldiers into thinking they were just gambling. Now, it's usually played to see who can win the most gelt (chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil). With a dreidel and some tokens, you can take part in this holiday tradition, too. We'll show you how!

Steps

  1. Get a dreidel. The dreidel you will get will depend on where you live. Outside of Israel, the four letters on the sides of the dreidel are Nun, Gimmel, Hay, and Shin, which stand for "A Great Miracle Happened There," referring to the miracle of the oil. In Israel, where the miracle happened, the dreidel has the letters Nun, Gimmel, Hay, and Pey, which means "A Great Miracle Happened Here."
  2. Gather friends. You can play with as few as two, but the more the merrier!
    • Distribute tokens evenly among all of the players. The tokens can be any little thing: pennies, nuts, raisins, matchsticks, etc. A lot of people use gelt.
  3. Ante up. Before each spin, players put one token in the middle of the circle to create "the pot."
    • Every time the pot is emptied, or there's only one token left, every player should put a token in the pot.
  4. Take turns spinning the dreidel. When it's your turn, spin the dreidel once. The letter which comes up once it stops spinning determines whether you win, lose, or draw. According to the letter appearing, the player should perform the following action:
    • Shin ("shtel" or "put in" in Yiddish) - Put one more token in the pot.
    • Nun ("nisht"or "nothing" (in Yiddish) - Do nothing.
    • Gimmel ("gantz"or "everything" in Yiddish) - Take all tokens from the pot.
    • Hay ("halb"or "half" in Yiddish) - Take half of all tokens lying in the pot. In case of an odd number of tokens, round up.
    • If you run out of tokens, you are either "out," or you may ask another player for a loan.
  5. Pass the dreidel on to the next player.
  6. Keep playing until someone wins by collecting all the tokens.



Tips

  • A fun variation is to use chocolate instead of coins, so you can eat your winnings when the game ends.
  • If there are no tokens in the pot, everyone puts one in.
  • Don't have a dreidel? Download the pattern and make one for yourself! Many websites offer free patterns you can print out and use to make your own dreidel.
  • If a player runs out of tokens, he either leaves the game or takes a loan of tokens from another player.
  • In Israel, the letter shin is usually replaced with the letter peh for the word "poh" to create the phrase "a great miracle happened here."
  • In Yiddish, the dreidel is also called "fargle" and "varfl." In Israel, the Hebrew term "sevivon" (from the root meaning "turn around or spin") is used.
  • In a popular variation of the game, any player whose dreidel lands on Nun loses and is out of the game.
  • In one variation of the game, you may match the pot when Shin appears, and put one token in when Nun appears.

Things You'll Need

  • Dreidel
  • A few dozen tokens: buttons, coins, or small candies
  • You can also use a bunch of gelt (chocolate coins)

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Sources and Citations

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