Dreidel facts for kids

A wooden dreidel

A dreidel (pronounced DRAY-del) is a special four-sided spinning top. Jewish people play with it during the holiday of Hanukkah. It's a fun game of chance, where players use small items like candy, chocolate coins (called gelt), or other small tokens.

How to Play the Dreidel Game

Playing dreidel is easy and fun! Here’s how it works:

Getting Started

• Each player starts with about 10 to 15 tokens. These can be candies, pennies, or chocolate coins.
• Everyone puts one token into a central pot. This pot is sometimes called the "kupah."

The Dreidel's Sides

The dreidel has four sides, each with a different Hebrew letter. Each letter tells you what to do:

• נ (Nun) – This letter means "nothing." If your dreidel lands on Nun, you don't do anything. It's the most common outcome!
• ג (Gimel) – This letter means "all." If your dreidel lands on Gimel, you get to take all the tokens from the pot!
• ה (Hei) – This letter means "half." If your dreidel lands on Hei, you take half of the tokens from the pot. If there's an odd number, you round up. For example, if there are 7 tokens, you take 4.
• ש (Shin) – This letter means "put in." If your dreidel lands on Shin, you have to put one of your own tokens into the pot.

Playing a Round

• Players take turns spinning the dreidel.
• After each spin, the player follows the action of the letter it lands on.
• If the pot becomes empty, every player puts one token back into the pot to keep the game going.
• If the pot has an odd number of tokens and someone takes half (Hei), one player adds an extra token to make it an even number for the next Hei spin, or you can just round up.

Winning the Game

• A player is out of the game if they run out of tokens.
• The game continues until only one player is left, or until everyone decides to stop.
• The player with the most tokens at the end wins!

Images for kids

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  Dreidels for sale at Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem, Israel, with Israel specific lettering on blue dreidels (נ ג ה פ) and diaspora lettering on orange dreidels (נ ג ה ש).

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  Ancient Middle Eastern top resembling a dreidel

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  Photo of the world's most valuable dreidel, valued at $70,000 in 2019

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  Antique Russian enamel dreidel Zolotniki silver

See also

In Spanish: Dreidel para niños