Okey instructions and rules
In Turkey, Okey is a very popular game for 2-4 players and comes from the rummy family. For Okey – Turkish Rummy and Rummikub the game pieces are almost identical and interchangeable.
Okey lost instructions?
Download the instructions as a PDF for free
Contents of the game pack
- 4 game boards
- 106 game pieces (made of wood or plastic)
Rules of the game of Okey – Turkish Rummy
Game preparation
Each player receives 14 game pieces and his game board, on which he places his pieces only visible to himself. The numbers 1-13 are printed on the pieces in four different colors. Each number is available twice in its color. Then there are two correct and two incorrect jokers. The remaining pieces are placed face down in the middle of the table. Now everyone has the goal to form a “hand”. This consists exclusively of groups with the same numbered stones but different colors and ascending numbering. This “hand” is reached by throwing and pulling the game pieces. The first player to complete his hand wins.
Okey rules of the game
Okey is played counter-clockwise and mostly with four players. At the beginning a giver is chosen randomly. To the right of the opponent, the player begins to discard one of his stones that he does not need with the number side up. Then the game continues in turn. You can now either take the discarded stone from the previous player or a covered stone from the middle of the table. If he has done that, he then has to put down a stone from himself. The game continues until a player has a winning hand.
Thrown stones
The stones that each player throws off are piled on each player's right. So only the last stone is always visible.
goal of the game
The aim of the game is to collect groups and series. A group consists of 3 or 4 pieces with the same number, but the colors are different.
Valid group
- 7 blue, 7 black and 7 red
Invalid group
- 7 black, 7 red, 7 red
The series
A series is when you have three or more connected pieces of the same color. The 1 can be used here as the lowest stone below the 2 or as the highest stone above the 13th.
Valid series
- 1-2-3 in blue or 12-13-1 in blue
Invalid series
- 13-1-2
Series and groups
The 14 game pieces are combined in groups and series.
For example:
- Two series with 4 stones and two groups with 3 stones
- A series of 6 stones, a series of 4 and a group of 4 stones
Each stone can either be used for a series or for a group. It is not possible to do both at the same time.
Special winning hand in Okey – Turkish Rummy
The special winning hand consists of seven pairs and each pair must consist of two identical pieces. So number and color have to match.
If you have a winning hand, you can end the game. To do this, you lay out all 14 stones openly after the last stone is thrown onto the middle of the table. No stones are revealed until the end of the game. Only the discard piles are visible or the last stone thrown by the winner. Also, no series or groups are revealed during the game.
joker
Real jokers
At the beginning of each round you determine the real jokers. To do this, you uncover a stone in the middle of the table. This then determines that the two stones with the same color and one number higher than revealed are the real jokers.
Wrong joker
There are two game pieces with a shamrock on them. These are the wrong jokers and are only used as lost numbers
If you have put together a winning hand from series and groups and have used at least one joker, you do not have to reveal your pieces directly upon completion. You can also continue to play in order to be able to replace the joker and then discard it. Because if you succeed in doing this, you get double the number of points. Of course, it can happen that another player reveals his stones until then. That would be a risk as you don't get anything for your hidden winning hand.
Awarding of points at the tournament
At the beginning of the game each player receives 20 points and loses points if someone else wins:
- Every player loses 2 points with a normal win
- 4 points are lost for everyone if he throws the joker last
- 4 points are also deducted if someone breaks up with seven pairs
- No points are awarded if the player can no longer draw a stone from the middle and cannot complete his hand with a stone from the discard pile
The game continues until the first player has 0 or fewer points. The losers are the two players with the lowest score and the winners are the two players with the highest scores.
Download the instructions as a PDF for free
A mobile version of the game was developed by Lite Games and is playable on Android and IOS. You can find more information about the game and the downloads on Google Play or the App Store here .
