How to Play the Dreidel Game

“Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay…” Even if you’re not Jewish, the odds are that this catchy little song has gotten stuck in your head at least once—and even if you are Jewish, you probably weren’t aware that the word “dreidel” is derived from the German “dreihen,” meaning “to spin,” and that dreidels originated in a popular Yiddish gambling game. Here’s how to spin your dreidel the modern way.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Raisins
• Dreidels
• Candies
• Nuts

1. Assemble a kitty. The stakes in a dreidel game aren’t money, but tasty snacks—Hershey’s Kisses, raisins, M&M’s, or (traditionally) Chanukah gelt, that is, foil-wrapped chocolate coins. Distribute the kitty equally among the three, four, or more players in the game. Each player puts one of his “tokens” in the center of the table, creating the dreidel “pot.”

2. Have each player spin the dreidel in turn. If you look closely at the dreidel, you’ll see that each of its four sides is decorated with a different Hebrew letter: nun, gimel, hey, and shin—which supposedly stand for the Hebrew phrase meaning “A great miracle happened there.” (Actually, these letters derive from the words inscribed on the Yiddish precursor of the dreidel, but there’s no harm pushing this myth on kids.)

3. The rest of the game proceeds as follows: if the player spins a “Nun,” he collects nothing (“Nisht” in Yiddish) and yields to the next player. If he spins a “Gimel,” he wins the entire pot (Gimel stands for “Gesht,” which is Yiddish for “get.”) If he spins a “Hey,” he gets half the pot (“Halb” in you-know what), and if he spins a “Shin” he has to put one of his own pieces in the pot (“Shin” derives from the Yiddish “Shtel,” meaning “set.”)

4. If a player manages to collect all the items in the pot, she is the winner. However, it’s possible to prolong a dreidel game indefinitely (or at least until dinner is ready) by giving other players candy "loans."

Tips & Warnings

• Playing the dreidel game with real money is generally discouraged, but occasionally adults will agree to fund the kitty with dimes and quarters if the players agree to contribute all of their winnings to charity.
• Despite what you saw on that episode of “South Park”, the biblical figure Moses is not shaped like a giant psychedelic dreidel. (Then again, if you’re watching “South Park” to brush up on your Jewish culture, you have bigger problems than not knowing how to play the dreidel game. Try taking a course at your local synagogue or Jewish community center.)

[ShouldBeCleanin]

on 12/15/2008 Good point Creampuff.

The letter that looks a bit like a weird W is Shin.

The one that looks like a broken lower-case N is Hey.

The last two Hebrew letters look almost alike, except that one has a flat base and the other has a little wedge taken out of the bottom right.

The one with the flat base is Nun.

The one with the wedge in the base is, of course, Gimel.

Hope this helps!

[creampuff]

on 12/15/2008 the transliterated letters are great but without explaining which Hebrew letter is which how would someone be able to play?