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International Dreidel Gallery
How do you play dreidel?
It's really quite simple. Here are the rules:
Two or more players.
Every player receives a given number of coins, nuts or similar items.
Before spinning the dreidel each player deposits a fixed proportion of the amount received into a "kupah" or kitty.
One of the players spins the dreidel.
When the dreidel falls, it will fall on one of the 4 letters. According to the letter, the following will happen:
Nun - no win / no lose
Gimmel - take all (from the kitty)
Heh - take half (from the kitty)
Peh or Shin - lose (what you deposited)
The next round takes place with new deposits by each player.
The next player in the circle spins the dreidel, and so the game proceeds.
The game continues until players have run out of 'funds' or it is agreed to stop. Anyone losing all funds is out of the game.
Hey! Is playing dreidel a Jewish thing to do?
Since children have been receiving Chanukah 'gelt' (money) during Chanukah, and since the lighting of the candles caused children to be diverted from their studies, the young ones are told: "While you relax, don't forget the miracles wrought for you..." And so the letters on the dreidel teach that even while at play, the remembrance of God's bounty should be in one's mind.
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