How to Play Dreidel: Rules, Letters, and Better Scoring

To play dreidel, everyone puts one token in a pot, then takes turns spinning a four-sided top. The letter that lands face up tells you what to do: nun means nothing happens, gimel means take the whole pot, hei means take half, and shin means put one in. Play until one person holds everything, or until you agree to stop.

That is the whole game. It takes a minute to teach, which is why dreidel is the first game many kids learn at Hanukkah. It also has a reputation for dragging on, and that part is fixable.

The quick answer: Give each player 10 to 15 tokens, ante one each, and spin in turn. Nun: nothing. Gimel: take the pot, then everyone antes again. Hei: take half. Shin: add one. To keep it short, set a timer or a fixed number of rounds and count tokens at the end.

Hanukkah 2026 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, and ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12, according to Hebcal. If you want a game for every night, see our plan for eight nights, eight games.

What do you need to play dreidel?

Very little.

• A dreidel. Any four-sided top with the Hebrew letters nun, gimel, hei, and shin (or pe, see below). Plastic and wooden dreidels cost a few dollars at most grocery and big-box stores in December.
• Tokens. About 10 to 15 per player. Chocolate coins, often called gelt, are the classic choice. Pennies, nuts, raisins, buttons, or wrapped candies work too. My Jewish Learning’s guide suggests the same range and the same kinds of tokens.
• A flat surface. A bare table or a hard floor. Tablecloths and carpet kill a spin.
• Two or more players. Four to six is the sweet spot. More than that and the wait between spins gets long.

If you are playing with chocolate, agree up front whether people can eat their winnings during the game. Eating your stack is a fast way to go out.

What do the letters on a dreidel mean?

Each side carries one Hebrew letter. In play, each letter is an instruction. The instructions come from Yiddish words, which is why the letters line up the way they do.

Together the four letters also stand for a Hebrew phrase, nes gadol hayah sham, “a great miracle happened there.” That refers to the Hanukkah story. In Israel, dreidels swap shin for pe, and the phrase becomes nes gadol hayah po, “a great miracle happened here.” Both My Jewish Learning and Chabad.org explain the phrase and the pe swap. In play, pe works exactly like shin.

The Hebrew word for a dreidel is sevivon, from a root meaning “to turn.” “Dreidel” is the Yiddish name.

How do you play dreidel, step by step?

1. Split the tokens. Give everyone the same number, 10 to 15 each.
2. Ante. Each player puts one token in the middle. That is the pot.
3. Spin. The first player spins the dreidel by its handle. If it falls off the table or hits something, spin again.
4. Read the top letter. Do what the letter says: nothing, take all, take half, or put one in.
5. Re-ante when the pot runs low. After a gimel empties the pot, everyone puts one in. Many families also re-ante whenever the pot has one token or none.
6. Pass to the left. The next player spins.
7. Run out, and you are out. If you owe a token and have none, you leave the game (or take a loan, if your table allows it).
8. Win. The last player with tokens takes everything. Or, more often, play to a time limit and count stacks.

That is the game as most families learn it. Rules do vary from home to home. Chabad.org’s version, for example, has everyone ante again right after a gimel, which is the rule we use above.

Why does dreidel take so long, and how do you fix it?

Dreidel has no decisions in it. Every spin is a one-in-four chance (roughly, since real dreidels are rarely perfect). Gimel keeps refilling and emptying the pot, so stacks drift up and down without anyone pulling away. With six players and 15 tokens each, a game played to the last token can run well past the point where anyone is having fun.

The fix is to decide in advance how the game ends. Pick one:

• Play to a timer. Set 15 or 20 minutes. When it rings, the biggest stack wins.
• Play a set number of rounds. Ten spins each, then count.
• Start smaller. Five to eight tokens each makes players go out much sooner.
• Raise the cost of shin. Shin means put in two, or put in one for every player still in. Stacks shrink faster.
• Ante every turn. Each spinner puts one in before spinning. The pot grows, and gimel matters more.

Any of these turns dreidel from an endurance test into a lively 15-minute game. That is long enough for younger kids and short enough to leave room for something else.

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What are some fun dreidel variations?

Once the basic game is familiar, these keep it fresh. All of them work with the same dreidel and tokens.

Longest spin

Skip the pot entirely. Everyone spins at once, or one at a time with a stopwatch, and the longest spin wins a token. This is a good warm-up for little kids who cannot read the letters yet. Upside-down spins (flipping the dreidel onto its handle) can be a bonus round.

Letter bingo

Each player picks a letter before the round. Spin ten times. Whoever picked the letter that came up most wins the pot. It is fast, and it gives kids something to cheer for on every spin, not just their own.

Team dreidel

Split into two teams with a shared stack each. Teams alternate spinners. Good for a big family gathering where some players are too young to track their own tokens.

The challenge spin

When you roll shin, you may instead challenge any player to a spin-off. The higher-ranked letter wins one token from the loser. (Chabad.org ranks the letters nun, gimel, hei, then shin for its tie-breaker; use that order or invent your own.) This adds a tiny decision, which is more than the base game has.

Gelt auction

At the end of a timed game, players can spend their chocolate on small prizes: first pick of the next game, choosing dessert, or skipping a chore. This gives the tokens a reason to matter after the last spin.

Where did the dreidel come from?

The honest short answer is that the history is debated, and the popular story is not the best-supported one.

A legend often told at Hanukkah says that when Torah study was outlawed, Jews studied in secret and pulled out tops to look like they were gambling if soldiers came by. Historians have not found an early source for this story. Rabbi David Golinkin, writing for My Jewish Learning, traces the explanation to a 19th-century rabbi and calls such stories explanations invented after the fact.

The better-documented line runs through a European spinning-top game. A four-sided top called a totum or teetotum was played in England and Ireland, often around Christmas, from about 1500 on. Its letters stood for instructions: take all, half, put down, nothing. In the German version the words were Nichts, Ganz, Halb, and Stell ein. Those map neatly onto the Yiddish nisht, gants, halb, and shtel, and from there onto nun, gimel, hei, and shin. Golinkin’s article, linked above, walks through this history in more detail.

None of that changes what the dreidel means to the families who spin it each year. It does make dreidel a nice example of how games travel: a top from one culture’s winter holiday became a beloved part of another’s.

Is dreidel a good game for kids?

Yes, for young kids especially. It teaches turn-taking, simple counting, and halving. A four-year-old can play with a little help reading the letters, and older kids can be the official pot counter.

It also gives kids a gentle way to practice losing, since nobody’s skill is on the line. If that is a work in progress at your house, our guide to teaching kids to lose at games has a few ideas. For older kids who want a real decision to make, follow dreidel with a short family game from our list of the best family board games.

Whatever you play, a game is an easy way to keep everyone at the table a little longer after the candles are lit. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

FAQ

What do nun, gimel, hei, and shin mean in dreidel?

Nun means nothing happens, gimel means take the whole pot, hei means take half the pot, and shin means put one token in. Together the letters also stand for nes gadol hayah sham, “a great miracle happened there.”

Why do dreidels in Israel have a different letter?

Dreidels made in Israel swap shin for pe, so the phrase becomes “a great miracle happened here.” In the game, pe works the same as shin: put one in.

How many tokens does each player start with?

About 10 to 15 each is common. Start with five to eight if you want a shorter game.

How do you make dreidel shorter?

Decide the ending before you start. Play to a 15-minute timer or ten spins each, then count stacks. Making shin cost two tokens also speeds it up.

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