How to Play Okey

Tiles

Okey is played with 106 tiles. There are 13 numbers across 4 colors (yellow, blue, black, red), and every tile exists twice. That makes 104 numbered tiles. The remaining 2 are special tiles called fake okey.

Distribution

Each player receives 14 tiles at the start of a round. The starting player gets 15 and begins the round by discarding one tile. The starting position shifts to the right (counter-clockwise) each round.

Indicator Tile

Before tiles are dealt, one random tile is drawn from the pile and placed face up. This is the indicator tile. It determines which tile becomes the okey for that round.

If a fake okey is drawn as the indicator, it is set aside and another tile is selected instead.

Okey Tiles

The okey is the tile one number higher than the indicator in the same color. For example, if the indicator is red 5, the okey is red 6. If the indicator is 13, the okey wraps around to 1.

Okey tiles work as jokers. They can substitute for any tile when forming valid groups. This makes them the most valuable tiles in the game.

Fake Okey Tiles

The 2 tiles with the special symbol are called fake okey. They share the same number and color as the okey tile, but they cannot be used as jokers. A fake okey can only be used as a regular tile in groups or doubles, representing its own face value.

Valid Groups (Pers)

A valid group is called a per. Every per needs at least 3 tiles. There are two types:

• Sets: Same number in different colors. No repeated colors allowed. For example, red 7, blue 7, black 7.
• Runs: Consecutive numbers in the same color. For example, yellow 4, 5, 6, 7.

In runs, the sequence 12-13-1 is valid, but it cannot continue further. 12-13-1-2 or 13-1-2-3 are not valid.

Playing a Turn

The starting player begins by discarding one tile from their 15 tiles. After that, every turn follows the same pattern: draw one tile, then discard one tile.

When drawing, a player can either take the last tile discarded by the previous player or draw the next tile from the pile. Play continues counter-clockwise.

Finishing a Round

To finish, all 14 tiles on your rack must form valid pers. Since you always need to discard a tile to end your turn, the math works out to specific combinations. For example, four pers of 3 tiles plus one per of 2 tiles is not possible because 2 tiles is not a valid per. Common valid finishes are two pers of 4 and two pers of 3, or one per of 5 and three pers of 3.

When your hand is complete, you discard your last tile and the round ends.

Going for Doubles

Instead of forming pers, a player can try to collect 7 pairs of identical tiles. This is called going for doubles. Pairs and pers cannot be mixed when finishing with doubles. It has to be exactly 7 pairs.

Finishing with doubles scores higher than a regular finish. See the scoring page for details.

Single Color Straight

If a player forms a single color sequence of 1 through 13 plus another 1 (14 tiles total, all the same color), the game ends immediately. That player wins outright. No more rounds are played. This is sometimes called "kafa atmak" in Turkish.

Empty Round

If the pile runs out and nobody finishes, the round ends with no score changes. Nobody gets penalties and nobody gets rewards.