Okey 101 Rules and Penalties: Opening, Laying Off and Finishing

How to play Okey 101: the short version

In Okey 101 four players with 106 tiles try to lay their tiles down as runs, sets or pairs, to finish the hand first and to score as few penalty points as they can. The lowest total at the end of the match wins.

1. Everyone is dealt 21 tiles. The player to the dealer’s right gets 22 and starts the hand by discarding a tile, without drawing.
2. On your turn, draw a tile from the stock in the middle or take the last tile your left-hand neighbour discarded; you may take that tile only if you can use it in the same turn.
3. To open your hand, lay down runs and sets worth at least 101 points in one go, or at least 5 pairs.
4. Once you have opened, you can lay tiles off on the melds on the table, put down new melds (only pairs, if you opened with pairs) and take an okey back from the table.
5. End your turn by discarding a tile. Discarding the okey or a playable tile costs +101.
6. The first to lay down all their tiles and discard the last one finishes and scores −101. Players who opened score the tiles left in their hand; players who never opened score 202.
7. The match ends when a player’s total reaches 1,000.

This page describes Okey 101 as oyna.app’s Okey 101 table plays it; points that other tables play differently are at the end of the page.

Tiles, the indicator and the okey

An okey set has 106 tiles: two of every number from 1 to 13 in four colours (red, yellow, blue and black), and 2 false jokers (★).

• The indicator (gösterge): a tile turned face up before the deal, which stays in the middle all hand. It is never a false joker.
• The okey: the next number in the indicator’s colour. If the indicator is Yellow 5, the okey is Yellow 6; if the indicator is Blue 13, the okey is Blue 1. Both okeys in the set are wild: each stands in for the tile a run, a set or a pair is missing.
• The false joker (sahte okey, ★): not wild; it plays as the okey’s own tile (below).
• The deal: Everyone gets 21 tiles and the player to the dealer’s right 22. That leaves 20 tiles in the stock (106 − 1 indicator − 85 tiles dealt). Each new hand is dealt by the player to the right of the previous dealer.
• The indicator rule: In oyna.app’s Okey 101 the indicator only decides the okey; showing it scores nothing. In Classic Okey (düz okey, the 14-tile game), showing the indicator’s twin makes each of the other players lose 1 point.

You combine your tiles in three ways. Runs and sets together are called melds (per); pairs are counted apart.

An okey stands in for the tile a run or a set is missing and counts that tile’s number. In the run Red 7 – okey – Red 9 the okey counts 8, and the run is worth 24.

How does a turn work?

On your turn you do three things:

1. Take a tile. Draw one from the face-down stock in the middle, or take the last tile your left-hand neighbour discarded (the rule for the tile on your left).
2. Play, if you want to. Open your hand. If you have opened, lay tiles off, put down new melds or pairs, or take an okey from the table.
3. Discard a tile. The player on your right may take it, and the turn passes to them.

The player who starts the hand does not draw on their first turn: they begin by discarding one of their 22 tiles.

Taking the tile on your left

In Okey 101 you may take the tile your left-hand neighbour discarded only if you can use it in the same turn, and you must use it before you discard. You cannot throw the same tile straight back, and you cannot finish by throwing it as your last tile.

Examples:

• You opened with runs or sets, and you hold Red 7 and Red 8. Your left-hand neighbour discards Red 9. You may take it and put down the run Red 7-8-9.
• You have opened; Red 5-6-7 is on the table and you hold Red 8. Your left-hand neighbour discards Red 9. You lay the 8 off on that run first, then the 9.
• You have not opened and cannot open this turn: with this tile you reach neither 101 points nor 5 pairs, and you cannot lay your whole hand down at once. You may not take it, so you draw from the stock.

Classic Okey has no such rule: there you may take any tile from your left, and throw it back if you like.

How many points do you need to open in 101?

To open in Okey 101 you lay down runs and sets worth at least 101 points in one go, or you put at least 5 pairs on the table. Runs and sets may be mixed in one opening; pairs do not mix with them.

Classic Okey has no opening and no laying off: the player whose 14 tiles on the rack (ıstaka) form runs and sets, or seven pairs, finishes by discarding the extra tile.

Opening with runs and sets

• Each tile counts its number. A run counts the sum of its numbers; a set counts its number × the number of tiles.
• An okey counts the number of the tile it stands for.
• The 1 is only the lowest tile, and it counts 1 (1-2-3 = 6).
• All 101 points must come from the melds you lay down in one move; an opening cannot be split over two turns.
• After opening you must still have at least one tile left to discard.

Opening with pairs: going for pairs

• You put at least 5 pairs on the table in one go, face up. No points total is needed.
• An okey can partner any tile in a pair, and two okeys make a pair as well.
• A player who opened with pairs cannot put down runs or sets in that hand, but can put down new pairs, lay tiles off on the runs and sets on the table and take an okey back.
• Once someone has opened with pairs, players who opened with runs or sets may put their pairs on the table too.
• Nothing can be laid off on a pair on the table.
• A pairs opener who finishes doubles the finish; one who loses scores their tiles twice (types of finish).
• If all four players open with pairs, the hand is void (below).

Going for pairs (çifte gitmek) in Classic Okey and at other tables: okey terms.

Finishing without opening

If you can lay your whole hand down at once as runs or sets and discard your last tile, the 101 minimum does not apply. You cannot finish this way with pairs.

Laying off and new melds

Once you have opened, you may add tiles from your hand to any meld on the table, yours or another player’s, on your turn after taking a tile: laying off (işlemek).

• A run grows only at its two ends. It never goes below 1 or past 13.
• The end of a run you put an okey on decides what the okey stands for: an okey at the end of Blue 4-5-6 is Blue 7, at the start it is Blue 3.
• You can lay off in the turn you open too, keeping a tile to discard.
• If you opened with runs or sets, you may later put down new runs and sets with no minimum. If you opened with pairs, the only new melds you may put down are pairs, never runs or sets.
• You cannot lay off before you have opened.

Taking an okey back from the table

Once you have opened, you may put the tile an okey on the table stands for in its place and take the okey; nobody is penalised. Until then the okey keeps standing for the tile it replaced when it was laid; it never shifts.

What does an okey stand for? In a run, the order of the tiles decides. In Blue 5 – Blue 6 – okey the okey is Blue 7; in okey – Blue 5 – Blue 6 it is Blue 4. On oyna.app that order is the order in which you line the group up on your rack. While you build the group, a note under it tells you, for example, “The okey stands for the Blue 7.”

Taking the okey back:

1. You must have opened, with runs or sets or with pairs (the turn you open counts).
2. On your turn, after taking a tile, put the tile the okey stands for in its place.
3. The okey comes to your rack.

• In a set, an okey can be taken only when the set is completed to all four colours. To take the okey from Red 9 – Blue 9 – okey you put down Yellow 9 and Black 9 together; one colour is not enough.
• You need not use the okey straight away. But if it is still in your hand when the hand ends, it scores 101.
• The tile an okey stands for in a run does not count as a playable tile for that run: with Blue 4 – okey – Blue 6 on the table you can discard Blue 5 free, unless another meld takes it. A set is different: a three-tile set with an okey can still take a fourth tile, so every colour missing from it is playable; in a set made up to four tiles with an okey, the colour the okey stands for is not playable (the penalty for discarding the okey).

What is the penalty for discarding the okey?

Discarding the okey costs +101. Thrown as your last tile, it costs nothing and doubles your finish instead: you score −202, and the other players’ hand penalties are doubled (after a pairs opening, −404 and four times).

Playable tile (işlek): a tile that a run or a set on the table could take. Discarding a playable tile costs +101 too, even if you have not opened. More examples: what does işlek mean?

Example: on the table are the run Blue 4 – okey – Blue 6 (the okey in the place of Blue 5) and the set Red, Yellow, Blue 8. Blue 3, Blue 7 and Black 8 are playable: discarding any of them costs +101. Blue 5 and Red 2 are not playable.

• These +101s are never doubled; they are added to your total at the end of the hand.
• The player on your right may take an okey you discard, if they can use it that turn (the tile on your left).
• On oyna.app a tile that would cost a penalty is marked on your rack, and you are asked before it is discarded.

Types of finish

The player who lays all their tiles on the table and discards the last one finishes the hand. How they finish decides what everyone scores.

To finish:

• Every tile except the last must be on the table: in a meld, in a pair or laid off.
• If you have not opened, you may lay your whole hand down at once as runs or sets; the 101 minimum does not apply.
• If you opened with pairs, pairs alone cannot finish your hand: after each discard you hold an odd number of tiles (21 to begin with), every turn you take one tile and discard one, and pairs go down two at a time. So you must lay off at least one tile on a run or set on the table, or take the okey from a three-tile set with an okey by putting down all its missing colours.
• You cannot throw the tile you took from your left as your last tile.

In the table below, H is the sum of the numbers on the tiles a loser has left in hand; okeys are not part of it.

Two items are added outside the table and are never doubled:

• +101 for each okey still in the hand of a loser who opened. A player who never opened scores only their fixed penalty.
• Every +101 a player was charged during the hand for discarding the okey or a playable tile.

Going out in one go (elden): finishing in the turn you open while nobody else has opened. The other three all score the same: 404, or 808 with the okey. If another player opened earlier, opening and finishing in the same turn is not going out in one go: it is scored as an ordinary finish or a finish with the okey. You cannot go out in one go with pairs. Some tables give this or another finish a name of its own (okey terms).

Finishing with a false joker: throwing a false joker as your last tile is not a finish with the okey, because the false joker is not wild.

Scoring and the score sheet

The points on this page are okey’s own penalty points on the score sheet; they have nothing to do with the credits of an oyna.app account.

After every hand the points go on the score sheet: the finisher’s total goes down, the others score penalties. Everyone starts on 0. When a player’s total reaches or passes 1,000, the match ends and the lowest total wins. If the lowest total is shared, more than one player wins.

The tiles left in hand: each counts its number (H); a false joker counts its face, 6 if the okey is Yellow 6. Okeys are not part of H: a player who opened scores 101 more for each one. A player who never opened scores the fixed penalty whatever they hold: 202, or 404 or 808 after a doubled finish.

A worked hand. The okey is Yellow 6. You opened with a run and are finishing by discarding your last tile. The other players at the table:

• East opened with a run and has Red 3, Black 4 and Blue 9 left (H = 16).
• North opened with pairs and has Blue 2 and Blue 5 left (H = 7).
• West never opened.

Had East been left with an okey instead of the Blue 9 (Red 3, Black 4, okey; H = 7), they would score 7 + 101 = 108 after an ordinary finish and 2 × 7 + 101 = 115 after a finish with the okey. With a false joker instead of the Blue 9 they would score 3 + 4 + 6 = 13.

These figures follow the rules above and were checked one by one against oyna.app’s own end-of-hand scoring. On oyna.app the Score sheet shows each hand’s points and marks the hands finished after a pairs opening or with the okey.

If the stock runs out

If the stock in the middle runs out, the hand ends when the player who drew the last tile discards; nobody may take that tile. Nobody scores −101, and everyone scores what they hold:

• A player who opened scores the sum of the tiles in their hand (twice that after a pairs opening) and 101 for each okey left in hand.
• A player who never opened scores 202. If nobody opened, everyone scores 202.
• The +101s charged during the hand are added as well.

The hand counts as played, and the next player deals the next hand.

A void hand: all four players go for pairs

If all four players open with pairs, the hand is void: it ends the moment the fourth pairs opening is made. Nobody scores points or penalties, and the +101s charged in that hand are wiped as well. The same player deals again. So in any hand, at most three players can go for pairs and play on. On oyna.app the table then says: “All four players opened with pairs — the hand is void and dealt again.”

The 1 is only the lowest tile: 12-13-1

In Okey 101, 12-13-1 is not a run: the 1 is only the lowest tile, and a run ends at 13. In oyna.app’s Classic Okey 12-13-1 is a run; 13-1-2 is not a run in either game.

• If you try to make 12-13-1 into a meld, oyna.app does not accept it and tells you why: “In 101 the 1 is only the lowest tile: 12-13-1 is not a run.”
• A 1 of the same colour cannot be laid off on an 11-12-13 run on the table. So that 1 is not a playable tile because of that run.

The false joker

The false joker (★) is not wild: it plays as the okey’s own tile and nothing else. If the okey is Yellow 6, every false joker is a Yellow 6.

• In the run Yellow 5 – ★ – Yellow 7 it stands like a real Yellow 6.
• Left in your hand, it counts 6.
• Thrown as your last tile, it is not a finish with the okey.
• Discarded, it costs +101 only if it is playable.
• Two false jokers make a pair.
• If you have opened and an okey on the table stands for Yellow 6, you can put the false joker in its place and take the okey.

Examples: the false joker in okey.

Rules vary from table to table

Okey 101 is not played the same way everywhere; agree on the rules before you sit down. On oyna.app they are the ones on this page. Elsewhere you may meet different rules on points like these:

• The length of the match: In some written descriptions of the rules, a match lasts a number of hands agreed in advance, and the lowest total wins. On oyna.app the match ends when a player’s total reaches 1,000.
• An okey on the table: In some written descriptions, an okey laid on the table stays where it is until the end of the hand and is never taken back. On oyna.app a player who has opened may take it.
• When the stock runs out: In some written descriptions, only a player left holding an okey scores 101, and the same player deals again. On oyna.app the hand is scored as described above, and the deal passes to the next player.
• The indicator: At some tables, once the stock is empty, the indicator may be taken if it would finish a player’s hand. On oyna.app it is never taken.

Learn by playing

The rules soon sink in at the table. Start a game of Okey 101: if a move breaks a rule, the table tells you why, and before a discard that would cost +101 it asks you first. Classic Okey (14 tiles) and Team Okey, Classic Okey for two teams of two, are there too. For all the terms, see the okey terms glossary. After okey, you could also try Tavla (Turkish backgammon).