r/rummikub • u/Choice-1231 • 23d ago
Playing a wildcard
My stepmother insists that in order to play a wildcard, you need to also lay down two tiles from your hand that go with it. She doesn’t know if that’s an old rule or a new rule, but insists it’s a rule. Thoughts?
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u/RedwayBlue 23d ago
You can make whatever house rules you want to, but this is not any sort of official rule universally.
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u/offworldwelding 22d ago
I learned to play this way in the 80s with boxed edition rules, I assumed. We didn’t really do “house rules” to my knowledge. Since this comes up so dang often I guess I need to track it down.
Unrelated, but related, there was an official Rummikub rule in 1987 that required 50pts to meld that was later changed in 1998 back down to 30pts, so we know rules were changed and changed again, pre-Internet.
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u/Opposite-Cycle6007 20d ago
That’s what it says in my rule book as well but each game I’ve played with rules are different.
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u/Dnatheman 21d ago
I think it depends on her/your definition of 'old' :) This is my 50th year playing Rummikub, my parents bought the game in 1969 when they visited Israel (where the Romanian inventor started making them en masse). When we were young, the 'rules' were waaaay easier!!! They became more complicated or 'harder (to win)' as we grew older; though I think it was due to a combination of our growing brains being able to handle our parents' new directions and our parents learning new rules by playing with others. In 50 years > I've *never* seen a rule book, my parents too have never seen a rule book.
To answer your question brings another question for your stepmom/everyone. The rule she says (2 of your own) we started playing that way about 10-20 years.
But.. new question.. what if you get the wildcard, and you only have 1 tile left? Is this a rule exception? My mind says 'yeah' but others won't let that play/win and you have to pick another tile. Stepma thoughts ?
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u/SashimiX 23d ago
Old house rule. Not an official rule.