Content

• To step
• Tips
• Necessities

Dreidel is a traditional game of chance and one of the most famous symbols of Hanukkah. The dreidel is a four-sided spire with a different Hebrew letter on each side. The game dates back to the time when the Greek king Antiochus IV (175 BC) forbade the Jewish faith. Jews who gathered to study the Torah played dreidel to deceive soldiers and make them feel like they were gambling. Today it is usually played to see we can win the most "gelt" (coins wrapped in chocolate wrapped in gold foil). With a dreidel and a few tokens, you too can participate in this festive tradition. We explain how!

To step

1. Get a dreidel. The dreidel you get will differ depending on where you live. Outside of Israel, the four letters on the sides of the dreidel are "Nun", "Gimmel", "Hay" and "Shin", which stands for "There Happened a Great Miracle," which refers to the miracle of the oil. In Israel, where the miracle happened, the dreidel has the letters "Nun", "Gimmel", "Hay", and "Pey" meaning "A Great Miracle Happened Here".
2. Get together with friends. You can play with two, but the more the better!
   • Divide the tokens evenly among all players. The tokens can be anything; pennies, nuts, raisins, matches, etc. Many people use gel.
3. Up the ante. Before each spin, players must place a token in the center of the circle to make "the pot".
   • Whenever the pot is emptied, or when only one token remains, each player must put one token into the pot.
4. Each turn the dreidel in turn. When it's your turn to spin, make the dreidel spin once. The letter that appears when the spin stops determines whether you win, lose or draw. Depending on the letter that appears, the player must complete the following action:
   • "Shin" ("htel" or "bet" in Yiddish) - Place 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 jar.
   • "Hay" ("halb" or "half" in Yiddish) - Take half of all tokens in the pot. In case of an odd number, you may round up.
   • If you run out of tokens, you are "out". You may also try to borrow from another player.
5. Pass the dreidel to the next player.
6. Keep playing until someone has all tokens.

Tips

• In one variation of the game, you get to take the pot when Shin appears and put a token when Nun appears.
• In a popular variation of the game, any player whose dreidel lands on Nun must leave the game.
• A nice variation is to use chocolate instead of coins, so that you can eat your winnings after the game.
• Everyone has to put in a token when the pot is empty.
• Don't have a dreidel? Download the pattern and make one for yourself! All kinds of websites offer free patterns that you can print to make your own dreidel.
• When a player runs out of tokens, he must either leave the game or take out a loan from another player.
• In Israel, the word "poh" is usually replaced by the letter "shin" with the letter "peh" to form 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 "spinning or spinning") is used.

Necessities

• Dreidel
• Several dozen tokens: buttons, coins or small candies
• You can also use gelt (chocolate coins)