how many of you actually play dreidel?

Jughead

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 12:31 am

we used to play with chocolate chips. last year we used Mike & Ikes - the kids are requesting the same this year.
we don't play every night. usually friday night and maybe one other night. after that the novelty has worn off for e/o other than the youngests.

greenfire

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 12:40 am

greenfire wrote:

I DO I DO ... with chocolate chanuka gelt - of course!!! Drunken Smile

my answer was going to be the same ... so I guess I still do like a dreidel - not to mention chocolate gelt ... now they have colourful aluminum packaging Colors

DrMom

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 12:52 am

I think it's boring. I am reminded of the South Park song (slightly off-color lyrics):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnzVq2t7bi4

Quote:

|| C: Jews, play stupid games..
|| Jews, that's why they're lame.
|| K: Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel
|| I made you out of clay
|| Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel
|| With Dreidel I shall play.

ElTam

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 3:07 am

My girls play for a few minutes. We played more when my girls were younger, but now it's "babyish." My DS likes to have dreidels and spin them, but he doesn't want to pay the game yet. Maybe next year.

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 3:31 am

The traditional dreidel rules --- at least the ones that I learned as a kid --- are seriously flawed. There's too much taking (all for Gimmel; half for Heh) and not enough giving (one in for Shin). You very quickly wind up with a tiny or non-existent pot of pennies or nuts, or whatever you use.

So a few years ago, I came up with --- or more likely, reinvented --- a version of dreidel poker, where each player spins four dreidels, and there are a set of predefined "good hands" like the "straight" (one each of Gimmel, Heh, Nun, or Shin) or the "royal" (all Gimmels and Hehs), and the winning four-spin gets the pot. You set aside enough stuff for several pots. You don't have many rounds, but each round is long and exciting. You need lots of dreidels (four for each player) to make this work, but I've been collecting dreidels for a long time, so I do.

I started when DS was three or four. It was a great way to teach matching, sequences, and probability.

amother

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 4:48 am

I know it was an old post, but someone wrote they play on shabbos chanukah, I always thought dreidels were muktza on shabbos, am I wrong?

to answer the question...

me and my dh played dreidel last night with chocolate coins and we added our own little twist to the game to make it more fun..evrytime u get a gimmel the other person has to take off a piece of clothing the game ended with both of us in bed, it was his idea of course and he called it strip dreidel Silly

yo'ma

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 6:28 am

amother wrote:

me and my dh played dreidel last night with chocolate coins and we added our own little twist to the game to make it more fun..evrytime u get a gimmel the other person has to take off a piece of clothing the game ended with both of us in bed, it was his idea of course and he called it strip dreidel Silly

Great game, but shouldn't it be every time you get a shin, you take off a piece of clothing?

amother

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 10:21 am

yo'ma wrote:

amother wrote:

Great game, but shouldn't it be every time you get a shin, you take off a piece of clothing?

thats another option, I think when my dh orignally suggested it he was thinking u get to choose between taking the chocolate in the pot or getting the other to take something off whenever u get a gimmel, we ended up doing both (otherwise id have all the chocolate and no clothes by the end- id choose chocolate and he'd choose me stripping)

pause

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 10:35 am

Jughead wrote:

we don't play every night. usually friday night and maybe one other night. after that the novelty has worn off for e/o other than the youngests.

I see another poster mentioned this, but I just want to point it out again. AFAIK, dreidels are muktza.

We play dreidel, usually the first night of Chanuka - either with pennies or with beans.

greenfire

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 5:01 pm

yo'ma wrote:

amother wrote:

Great game, but shouldn't it be every time you get a shin, you take off a piece of clothing?

who cares which way they did it ... the end result was the same ... naked chocolate ~ sounds fun

Savta012

Thu, Nov 28 2013, 10:12 pm

It is always the highlight of our Chanuka party. My husband plays with my grandchildren and they had a fantastic time this afternoon. My husband puts in quarters and gives the kids dimes to put in. Even the 3 year old had a great time playing.