Home / Okey / How to play

How to play okey

Okey is a four-player rummy game played with 106 numbered tiles. On each turn you take a tile (from the player on your left or the middle stack) and throw one away to your right. The first player to get all 14 tiles on their rack into sets and runs, or into seven pairs, throws a 15th tile and wins the hand.

By Emre Özen, updated October 9, 2026. These are the rules our free okey game uses. They follow the okey rules on pagat.com, and Wikipedia's okey article describes the same game. Where the two leave a choice, we say which way we went.

What you need

An okey set and four players. The set has 106 tiles:

Each player keeps their tiles on a rack, a wooden stand with two rows, so only they can see them. Pagat's full deal also uses one six-sided die. Both sources say two or three people can play, but neither gives rules for it, so this page sticks to four.

On our tiles each color also has a shape under the number: red has a circle, yellow a triangle, green a square and black a diamond. That's our addition, so nobody has to rely on telling colors apart.

The indicator and the okey

After the deal, one tile is turned face up in the middle. It's the indicator. The tile one number higher in the same color is the okey for this hand. There are two of them, and they're wild: each one can stand for any tile you need. If the indicator is a 13, the okey is the 1 of that color.

The two false jokers are not wild. Each one simply takes the place of the okey tile's own number and color. In the example above, a false joker is a yellow 7 that you can only use as a yellow 7, say in a run of yellow 6, 7, 8.

The deal

1. Pick the first dealer at random. After each hand the deal passes to the right.
2. The player on the dealer's right gets 15 tiles. Everyone else gets 14.
3. One tile is turned face up as the indicator. If it's a false joker, choose again.
4. The tiles left over, face down, are the middle stack.

Pagat describes a formal deal: the tiles are built into 21 stacks of five, and the dealer throws the die to pick the stack and then the tile that becomes the indicator. Pagat and Wikipedia both list the simple deal above as a variation, and that's what our game does, since a computer shuffle is already random.

Taking a turn

Play goes anticlockwise: from the player on the dealer's right, round to their right, and so on. The player with 15 tiles starts by throwing one, without taking anything. After that, every turn has two parts:

1. Take one tile. Either the tile the player on your left just threw, or the top tile of the middle stack.
2. Throw one tile face up to your right. It lands in front of the next player, who may take it.

So you always hold 14 tiles between turns and 15 for a moment during your turn. Nobody lays sets down on the table during play. Everything stays on your rack until you finish.

The thrown tiles build into four piles, one to the right of each player. You may look through the two piles next to you: the one on your left (tiles you could have taken) and your own. Of the two piles across the table, only the top tile shows.

Sets and runs

Pagat and Wikipedia agree on the 1: it can be low (1, 2, 3) or high (12, 13, 1), but not both in one run. Our game follows that. Wikipedia's section on Okey 101, a related game, says runs can't go from 13 to 1 there. If your table plays that way, just don't use the high 1.

Finishing a hand

You finish on your own turn. Take a tile, so you have 15, then throw your 15th tile and lay the other 14 face up. They must all be used, each tile once:

• all 14 in sets and runs (any mix, any sizes), or
• seven pairs. A pair is two identical tiles, same number and same color. An okey can pair with any tile.

In our game, a Finish button appears as soon as your 15 tiles hold a winning 14. It names the tile it will throw. Throwing that tile on the pile finishes too. When your winning hand uses an okey, a second button, Play on for an okey throw, lets you skip the win for now (see the okey throw below).

Scoring

Everyone starts with 20 points. Points only go down. When a player finishes, each of the other three loses:

Showing the indicator. There are two copies of every tile, so one more tile matches the indicator. If it's on your rack, you can show it on your turn any time before you first take a tile, and each other player loses 1 point. For most players that means the start of their first turn. The starter throws first without taking anything, so the starter can still show it at the start of their second turn. Once you've taken a tile, it's too late.

Throwing the okey to finish. If your winning hand uses an okey, you can try to finish by throwing the okey itself, which pays double. It almost never happens on the turn your hand comes together. For the okey throw, your other 14 tiles must win without the okey. But the okey can be any tile, so one turn earlier, with the okey standing in for the tile you just picked up, you already had a winning hand. That means you have to pass up a win first, keep the okey, and wait for a tile that completes your hand without it. Pagat points out the risk: someone else may finish while you wait.

The end of the game. As soon as anyone's score reaches zero or less, the game ends. The two players with the highest scores are the winners, and the two lowest are the losers. In our game a tie for second place counts as a win for both.

When the middle stack runs out

Pagat and Wikipedia both say the hand ends with no score if the stack is gone and the next player doesn't want the tile on their left. In our game you may take that last tile only if it lets you finish. Otherwise you tap End the hand, nobody scores, and the next hand is dealt. We made that choice so a hand can't go round and round with nobody drawing.

(In the formal deal the indicator sits on the last stack and is never drawn. In ours it's simply kept out of the middle stack, which comes to the same thing.)

Words you'll hear

Indicator

The tile turned face up after the deal. It decides which tile is the okey.

Okey

The tile one higher than the indicator in the same color. Both copies are wild this hand. It's also the name of the game.

False joker

One of the two tiles with no number. It's not wild: it counts as the okey tile's own number and color.

Rack

The two-row stand that holds your tiles out of sight of the others.

Set

Three or four of the same number in different colors.

Run

Three or more of one color in a row. A 1 may follow the 13.

Seven pairs

A finished hand of seven identical pairs. It scores double.

Middle stack

The face-down tiles left after the deal. You can draw the top one.

Showing the indicator

Showing the other copy of the indicator before you first take a tile, for 1 point from each other player.

Common variations

Agree on these before you start. All of them come from pagat or Wikipedia.

• One color wins double. A finished hand all in one color counts double. Some tables only allow it for all-red or all-black hands. In our game it's a setting, off to start with.
• Partners. Players across from each other play as a team. Pagat suggests each team starts with 20 points.
• Playing on after zero. A player who reaches zero drops out and the others carry on.
• Drawing the indicator. The indicator may be drawn as the very last tile once the stack is otherwise empty.
• No dice. Skip the formal deal and hand out 14 tiles each (15 to the first player), then turn a tile up. Our game does this.

Okey 101 is a different game played with the same tiles. You lay sets down on the table and need 101 points to open. Pagat covers it on its own page, and Wikipedia describes it in the okey article.

That's everything. Play okey online against three computer players, or read our okey strategy guide for what to keep and what to throw.

Sources

• John McLeod, "Okey", pagat.com (tiles, the deal and indicator, false jokers, taking and throwing, runs with a high 1, seven pairs, scoring from 20, the empty stack, variations).
• "Okey", Wikipedia (the same rules as pagat, the 12, 13, 1 run, showing the indicator, and variations).

Keep playing

• Play okeyAgainst three computer players, or with one to three friends.
• Okey strategyWhat to keep, what to throw and when to take a tile, with numbers from our test games.
• Gin RummyThe two-player card game of sets and runs: knock or go gin.
• Mexican TrainDouble-twelve dominoes against the computer or a friend.