Give each player about 10 to 20 or more counters (pennies, buttons) to
play the game.
At the start, each player puts a counter in the
middle.
Take turns spinning the Dreidel.
The letter that
shows when the dreidel has stopped spinning tells you what to do.
If the spin shows a nun which means nothing, then the player
does nothing.
If the spin shows a gimel, then
the lucky player takes all the
gelt in the middle.
If the result is hay, then the player may take half of the
counters in the middle.
If there is an extra counter because the
counters in the middle are odd,
then the player may take that one also.
If the result of the spin is a shin,
the player must put
one of his counters into the middle.
One variation of this is to place two counters into the middle.
If there is only one counter, or if no counters in the middle,
then
each player must add one counter.
The game ends when one player has won all of the gelt.
Collect coins, preferably pennies for the gelt, and two
different silvery coins (a Quarter and a Nickel). To generate the Dreidel
spin, there are only four choices. Throw the two silvery coins.
If they come up two heads, the result was gimel, and the player takes
all coins in the middle.
If the throw was two tails, then the result
is hay, and the player takes half the coins in the middle.
If the throw is Quarter-head and Nickel-tail, the result is "nun",
and nothing happens.
But if the throw is Quarter-tail and Nickel-head then the result
is "shin" and the player must put two of his counters in the middle.
It doesn't take long to get used to this system.
