here are four Hebrew letters on the dreidel. They are: Nun (נ), Gimmel (ג), Hey (ה) and Shin (ש). Together they form a Hebrew sentence: נס גדול היה שם Nes gadol hayah sham, which means: “A Great Miracle Happened There!” In Israel, the “Shin” ש is replaced by the letter “Pay” פ which stands for the Hebrew word “Here”: פה נס גדול היה Nes gadol hayah po, which means, “A Great Miracle Happened Here!”
RULES FOR HOW TO PLAY: Each player gets 10 play pieces (these can be pennies, M&Ms, paper clips), and each person puts one of their pieces in the middle. Everyone goes around and spins the dreidel. Depending on which letter the dreidel lands determines how many pieces one collects from the middle.
• When the dreidel stops on Nun, everything remains the same.
• When the dreidel lands on Gimmel, you collect the whole pile, and everyone has to put one into the middle again.
• When the dreidel lands on Hey, you get half of the pile.
• Finally, when the dreidel lands on Shin, or if you are playing with an Israeli dreidel and it lands on Pay, you put one in.
The game continues until one person is left with all of the play pieces.
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