Each player begins with an equal number
of game pieces (usually 10–15). The game
pieces can be any object, such as
chocolate gelt, pennies, or raisins.
* At the beginning of each round, every
participant puts one game piece into the
center "pot". In addition, every time
the pot is empty and sometimes if it has
one game piece left, every player puts
one in the pot.
* Each player spins the dreidel once
during their turn. Depending on which
player side is facing up when it stops
spinning, they give or take game pieces
from the pot:
o a) If נ (nun) is facing up, the player
does nothing.
o b) If ג (gimel) is facing up, the
player gets everything in the pot.
o c) If ה (hei) is facing up, the player
gets half of the pieces in the pot. (If
there is an odd number of pieces in the
pot, the player takes half of the total
plus one.)
o d) If ש (shin) or פ (pei) is facing
up, the player adds a game piece to the
pot.
* If the player is out of pieces, they
are either "out" or may ask another
player for a "loan".
