How to Play Okey (Turkish Tile Rummy)

Learn the rules of this classic Turkish tile game, plus fun variations to try

Co-authored by Luke Smith, MFA

Last Updated: February 26, 2026 Fact Checked

Setup

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Playing the Game

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Scoring & Winning

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Variations

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Video

Okey is a Turkish variant of rummy, played with tiles instead of cards. Players focus on making runs and sets of tiles, aiming to be the first player to complete a full hand, causing other players to lose points. If you reach 0 points, the game is over! We’ll show you how to set up the game, how to play each round, and how to win and score the game. Plus, we’ve got some fun variations you can try!

Getting Started with Okey

Number of players: 2-4
Gameplay: Form a complete hand of sets (3 tiles of the same number but different colors) or runs (3-4 tiles in ascending order of the same color).
Scoring: Start with 20 points, and make other players lose points by winning a round.
Winning: When a player reaches 0, the player with the most points wins.

Section 1 of 4:

Distributing Tiles & Choosing Jokers

Okey is best played with 4 players, but it’s still a good time with just 2-3. Once your group is gathered around the table, give each player a tile rack to help keep tiles organized during the game.^{[1]
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Shuffle the tiles face-down and choose a dealer with the dice. Make sure the tiles are all upside-down so the players can't see the colors or numbers. Use your hands to shuffle the tiles about, making sure they're thoroughly mixed up. Then, each player throws a die, and the player who rolled the highest number is the dealer for the first round. After the first round, the next dealer is the player sitting counter-clockwise from the most recent dealer.^{[2]
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- Okey is played with 106 tiles. Tiles are printed with the numbers 1-13, and come in 4 colors, with 2 copies of each number in each color. Two additional tiles, often with clovers on them, are “false jokers.”
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Arrange the tiles in 21 stacks of 5 tiles. Once you've stacked the tiles, you’ll have 1 tile left over, which the dealer sets aside. Then, distribute all of the stacks between the players and the dealer. It doesn't matter how many stacks each player has in front of them, although it's helpful for the dealer to have at least 6. Each player lines up their stacks in front of them in a horizontal line.^{[3]
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- Each player, except for the dealer, gets an even number of stacks. If the stacks won't divide evenly, give the extra stack or stacks to the dealer.
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Throw a die twice to choose a stack, then a tile in the stack. The dealer casts a single die twice. The first number that comes up indicates which stack in front of the dealer they’ll work with to find the round’s joker. Count the stacks from left to right, and place the extra tile that was set aside face down on top of this selected stack. The second throw determines which tile in the stack is the joker, counting up from the bottom.^{[4]
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- If the number is higher than the number of stacks in front of the dealer, continue counting into the other players' stacks, moving counterclockwise.
- For example, say the dealer rolls a 4. They count the stacks in front of them, starting on the left, until they hit the fourth stack. Then they roll a three. The selected tile is 3 tiles from the bottom of the fourth stack.
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Display the selected tile as the round’s joker, or wild card. The tile that the dealer selects helps choose the joker (or okey) for this round. The joker acts as a wild card. Take that tile and place it face-up on the stack. The joker for the round is the same color and 1 number higher than the tile pulled.^{[5]
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- For example, if the tile pulled is a blue 8, the joker would be the blue 9.
- If you pull the false joker, or a clover tile, roll the dice again, twice, to choose a different tile.
That player to the right of the dealer takes the stack to the right of the stack with the joker displayed on top. Then the next player to the right takes the stack to the right of the stack that the first player took. Continue taking stacks counterclockwise until each player has 2 stacks, meaning they each have 10 tiles.^{[6]
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Distribute leftover tiles after everyone has 2 full stacks. Once each player has 2 full stacks, the player to the dealer's right takes the whole stack to the right of where the previous player took their last stack. The next player, moving counterclockwise around the table, gets 4 tiles from the next stack to the right. The player to their right gets the last tile in that stack, plus 3 from the next. The dealer takes the last 2 tiles in that stack, and then another 2 from the next stack.^{[7]
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- Each player will end up with 14 tiles, except for the first player, who will have 15.
- Arrange your tiles on your rack however you like. It’s usually a good idea to arrange in ascending order, by color, at the start of the game.
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Move the remaining tiles to the middle of the table. Once all of the players have their tiles, move the rest of the tiles to the middle of the table, lining up the stacks in a horizontal line in front of the dealer. These are the tiles that players will draw from throughout the game. Place the stack with the face-up joker tile all the way to the right.^{[8]
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- At this point, check to see if you hold any tiles that match the face-up tile that determined the joker. If you do, reveal the tile and immediately score 1 point, before the game even starts! The tile stays in your rack, or hand.

Section 2 of 4:

Playing the Game

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Discard a tile as the first player. The player with 15 tiles to the right of the dealer goes first. This player looks at their tiles and then discards 1. As you play and take turns, place your discarded tiles face-up to the right of your tile rack so others can see them.^{[9]
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- The goal of Okey is to make sets of the same number or runs of ascending numbers. Discard the tile least likely to help you accomplish this.
- Only the first player discards a tile at the start of their first turn.
As each player takes their next turn, they draw a new tile from the stacks in front of them, starting with the stack on the far left, then moving to the right once that stack is exhausted. Or, take the most recently discarded tile from the player to your left.^{[10]
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Once you've selected your new tile, discard another, so that you have 14 tiles at the end of your turn. When you discard the tile, place it face-up to the right of your rack.^{[11]
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Aim to form a rack of sets and runs to win. To win the round, you need to reveal a winning hand: any combination of sets and runs, where every tile on your rack is part of a set or a run. A set is a collection of 3 or 4 tiles with all the same number but different colors. A run is comprised of 3 or more consecutively numbered tiles with the same color.^{[12]
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- For example, you could form a set of 7s, where you have one green, one red, and one black 7. But you can't make a set of two black 7s and 1 green 7!
- A run might be a blue 1, 2, and 3, for example. You can also use 1s as the lowest or highest tile, but not both in the same run. So 12, 13, and 1 or 1, 2, 3, in the same color is a valid run, but 13, 1, and 2 is not.
- You can also lay down pairs as your sets, but only if you have a hand of all pairs—two tiles of the same number and same color. This winning hand causes other players to lose points!
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Reveal a winning hand to win the round. On your turn, once you have all 14 of your tiles arranged in runs or sets, reveal your hand to win the game. Don't reveal your runs or sets before you have a full winning hand, though!^{[13]
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- Do this after you have discarded a tile.
- Sometimes, there may be no more tiles to draw, and no player has a winning hand yet. In this case, the round ends, nobody wins or loses, and a new round begins.
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Discard a joker on your final turn for a bonus win. Players must discard a tile before revealing their winning hand. If you have a joker in your hand, try to discard it last. Discarding a joker on your winning turn lands you a double win, and other players lose even more points.^{[14]
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- Some players make a risky move by waiting for a joker on a future turn, even if they already have a winning hand. It’s dangerous, since another player might win before you, but sometimes worth it.

Section 3 of 4:

Scoring & Winning the Game

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Start the game with 20 points, and subtract points when another player wins. At the beginning of each game, each player starts with 20 points. After each game, points are deducted, rather than being added. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. Here’s how points are deducted at the end of each round:^{[15]
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- Each player loses 2 points if another player wins. This is an ordinary game.
- If the winner has 7 pairs in their winning hand, each other player loses 4 points.
- If the winner discards a joker as their last move, double the amount of points each other player loses.
Once one or more players get down to a score of 0 (or less), the game is over. The player with the highest score at that point wins the game!^{[16]
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Section 4 of 4:

Variations of Okey

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Okey 101 Okey 101 is a game unto itself, where each player starts with 21 tiles (and 22 for the first player). In addition, players may meld tiles onto the table, rather than keeping them on their racks the entire round. As soon as you have a set, run, or pair, you may place it face-up on the table. Anyone who’s already played a meld can add one like tiles to any meld (known as “laying off”) on the table on their turn.^{[17]
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- Players compete to have the lowest score by the time someone reaches 1,001 points.
- Players gain points based on the tiles left in their hands at the end of the round. Each tile is worth its numerical face value, except for jokers, which are 50 points, and 1s are 25 points.
- The round ends when there are no more tiles to draw, or when a player “knocks,” or announces they have no unmatched tiles left on their racks. If they knock incorrectly, they gain 101 points, and the round continues.
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Elimination In elimination games, once a player reaches 0 points, they’re out of the game and sit out while other players continue to play additional rounds. The game ends when there’s only one player left standing. If the final players go out at the same time, the player with the higher negative score wins.^{[18]
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- In this case, a score of -4 is higher than a score of -7, for example.
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Teams In team games, players who sit opposite each other are on a team, and their score is shared, but otherwise the game is played as normal.^{[19]
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Solid color win With this additional rule, if a player wins with all tiles of the same color on their rack, additional points are deducted from other players: 4 points on a normal discard, and 8 points on a joker discard. Sometimes, this variation is only played as valid with red or black hands.^{[20]
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Simple setup For a quicker game, skip the stacking and counting part of the setup. Instead, choose a joker simply by dealing 14 (and one hand of 15) tiles to each player. The leftover tile is the joker indicator.^{[21]
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Last draw This is another way to simplify the joker setup. Instead of stacking and counting each new round, the last tile discarded becomes the joker indicator.^{[22]
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