Dreidel Game - December 2005

A favorite Chanukah tradition is to play the "dreidel" game. A dreidel, or sivivon, is a four-sided top. On each side is a different Hebrew letter: (nun), (gimel), (heh) and (peh), corresponding to the words in the sentence "nes gadol haya po" ("A great miracle happened here"). Of course, the miracle happened in Israel, so outside of Israel, the letter (peh) is replaced by (shin) for "nes gadol haya sham" ("A great miracle happened there"). We use the dreidel for a gambling game in which each letter represents a different amount of money (or whatever...) won or lost.

Here is one version of the rules:

You win nothing, lose nothing

You get half the pot

You get the whole pot

You put one in the pot

Each player starts with ten pennies, nuts or gelt, and puts one into the pot.

Each player spins in turn clockwise. You decide what amount wins a game.

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