THE DREIDEL GAME

Since we post so many pictures of dreidels... here is a little background!

A dreidel is a 4 sided top, each side has a Hebrew letter on it. In Israel, the letters are an anagram for A great miracle happened here (Nun, Gimel, Hay, Pay). Outside of Israel you find the letters Nun, Gimel, Hay, Shin - for a Great miracle happened there. The word dreidel is in Yiddish. In Hebrew its called a Sevivon, which means turn around. 

Here are the quick instructions for how to play dreidel!

1. Everyone gets an equal amount of playing pieces (gelt, pennies, candy whatever!). 

2. At the beginning of every round, every player puts one piece in to the pot (also every time the pot is empty or there is one piece left, everyone puts one in the pot).

3. The first player spins the dreidel and follows the letter they land on:

Gimel - Player gets the whole pot

Nun - Player gets nothing

Hay - Player gets half the pot

Shin - Player adds 2 to the pot

4. The game continues and players drop out as they run out of pieces. The player with all the pieces at the end wins!

This fun game can be played by children of all ages. Protip - if playing with little kids unwrapped chocolate candy like m&ms is not recommended... they start melting in their little hands very quickly!

Gift idea: Checkout the matching Dreidel earrings and necklace set below!