How to Make and Play a Wood Dreidel Game
Imaginative Crafts, Do-It-Yourself Projects and Video Tutorials by Robert Mahar, robert-mahar.com
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Materials and tools:

1″ square wood beads
1″ diameter split/half wood balls
wood dowel (diameter should match the diameter of the hole in the bead)
wood circles/discs to use as gelt game pieces
paint & paint brush OR markers
wood glue

Instructions:

1. Paint or write the four Hebrew letters on four side of a 1″ square wood bead. Allow to dry.

2. Using wood glue, adhere a split/half wood ball to the underside of the wood bead. Allow to dry.

3. Cut a 1″ piece of wood dowel, the same diameter as the hole in the bead. Place the dowel piece into the wood bead’s top hole and press it in securely.

How to Play Dreidel:

1. Any number of people can play. Each player begins the game with an equal number of wood gelt (money) game pieces (about 10-15).

2. Each person puts one piece of gelt into the center pot at the beginning of each round.

3. Every time it’s your turn, spin the dreidel once. Depending on the Hebrew letter shown on top of the stopped dreidel, you give or get game pieces from the pot:

a) Nun נ means “”nothing”” [in Yiddish]. The player does nothing.

b) Gimel ג means “”everything””. The player gets everything in the pot.

c) Hey ה means “”half””. The player gets half of the pot.

d) Shin ש means “”put in”. The player adds a game piece to the pot.

4. When one person has won everything, that round of the game is over!