About The Kalooki Game

The Kalooki game is very popular and common in England, also in clubs where players are gather for big Kalooki Rummy tournaments and also in private gatherings with family and friends.

It seems that most of the players in England are Jewish players.

The game is suitable for all ages and combines skills and luck together. Some claim that the Kalooki game was born in Jamaica, but apparently the game was never played there at the time of its creation. It is known however that the rules of the game are known all over the world, but they change from time to time depending on where you play the game and with whom you play it.

Most people know the European version of the Kalooki game, but the Jamaican version is also considered a popular version. In Jamaica you play mainly for fun and practice and less for real money.

In North America the game is played with 2 – 4 players when they object to playing the game in groups as it is more common In Clubs and casinos in Europe. Another difference is that in North America they use to deal 15 cards to each player unlike 13 cards which are dealt for each player according to the traditional game which is common in Europe. The Ace card in North America is valued at 15 points unlike 11 points in Europe.

The Kalooki game is known in Israel as the traditional Rummy game 51, whenever a player wants to reveal his cards to the other players he needs to gather up series with the some of 51 and up, and only then he is allowed to reveal the cards. In this version the Wild cards are also participating in the game and the Jokers.

These cards allow to raise the game level and give several options to combine the Jokers in series and other combinations.

The value of the cards is very simple, the cards 2-10 have their own value, 7 equals 7 points. The cards J, Q and K equals 10 points each, the Ace equals 11 points and the Joker 25 points.

This version of Rummy is also different than the Gin version, the game is played with 2 decks of 52 cards each and 2 Jokers, so its played with 106 cards total. The fact there are 106 cards gives the players the opportunity to run into each card twice including the Jokers.

You can win this game in 2 ways: 1. A player who reveals all of his cards on the table in series at once – this is called a Hunt.

2. Another way is to reveal the cards in series, and the rest of the non matching cards to other series which were unveiled on the table.

In the Kalooki game the player has to be as mysterious as possible during the game, this will increase his chances to win the game. When the player draws a card from the Deck and not from the Discard Pile, he remains unpredictable to the other players who don't know and can't guess which cards that player has in his hand. This is something which increases the player's mystery and increases his chances to win. Also as mentioned before in this version you must create series with a sum of 51 and up in order to Meld and reveal the cards. This is why it's important to create series with a high value at the beginning in order to get high values of the series.

Since only in the Kalooki game the Jokers participate in the game, it's important to use them wisely when you run into them during the game. For example: in order to create a series with the Joker, it would be best for you to place the Joker in a series of a Set and not a Run, because your competitors will have less options to come up with a card instead of the Joker.

Differently from the Gin, In the Kalooki game, the Ace can be used in Running series of 1,2,3 and also in a Running series of Q, K and A in each of the series the value of the points changes – 1 or 11.

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