To play dreidel, everyone puts one piece of gelt in the pot, then players take turns spinning. Land on nun and nothing happens, gimel takes the whole pot, hey takes half, and shin puts one in. The four letters also stand for Nes Gadol Haya Sham, "a great miracle happened there." Hanukkah begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, 2026.
What Do You Need to Play Dreidel?
Not much, which is a big part of the appeal. You need:
- A dreidel. A four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side. Plastic, wood, glass, and silver all spin the same.
- Game pieces. Chocolate gelt is the classic, but My Jewish Learning suggests anything small: pennies, nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, or matchsticks. Each player starts with the same amount, about 10 to 15 pieces.
- Players. Any number can play, from two cousins to a full table.
- A flat surface. A wooden table or a hard floor works far better than a tablecloth or carpet, which will swallow your spins.
No dreidel in the house yet? You can practice with our free online dreidel game, which keeps a running pot of gelt and applies the rules for you.
How Do You Play Dreidel, Step by Step?
- Step 1: Ante up. Every player puts one piece into the center pot at the start of each round.
- Step 2: Spin. Players take turns spinning the dreidel by its handle, one spin per turn.
- Step 3: Read the letter facing up. When the dreidel falls, the letter on top tells you what happens.
- Step 4: Follow the letter. Nun, nothing. Gimel, take the whole pot. Hey, take half the pot. Shin, put one piece in.
- Step 5: Refill when needed. When the pot is empty, or down to a single piece, everyone antes one piece again before play continues.
- Step 6: Keep going. A player who runs out of pieces is out. The game ends when one player has won everything.
That is the whole game. It takes about thirty seconds to teach a five-year-old, and about three rounds before that five-year-old is ruthlessly hoarding chocolate coins.
What Do the Four Dreidel Letters Mean?
Each letter does double duty. In the game, it is a Yiddish instruction. In Hanukkah tradition, it is the first letter of a word in a Hebrew phrase about the miracle.
- Nun (נ): In Yiddish, nisht, nothing. You take nothing and give nothing. In the Hebrew phrase, it stands for nes, miracle.
- Gimel (ג): In Yiddish, gantz, whole or everything. You take the entire pot. In Hebrew, gadol, great.
- Hey (ה): In Yiddish, halb, half. You take half the pot. In Hebrew, haya, happened.
- Shin (ש): In Yiddish, shtel, put in. You add a piece to the pot. In Hebrew, sham, there.
Put the Hebrew words together and you get Nes Gadol Haya Sham, "a great miracle happened there," a reference to the Hanukkah story of the Maccabees and the oil that burned for eight days. Chabad.org and ReformJudaism.org both explain the letters this way, so whichever kind of Jewish household you grew up in, the answer is the same.
Why Does a Dreidel From Israel Have a Different Letter?
Because in Israel, the miracle did not happen "there." It happened here. Israeli dreidels swap the shin for a pey (פ), which stands for po, here, so the phrase reads Nes Gadol Haya Po, "a great miracle happened here." The game still works: pey simply plays the same role shin does. If you have one of each in your house, you have a small, spinnable lesson in geography.
What If the Pot Has an Odd Number of Pieces?
This is the most common family argument at the dreidel table, and it deserves a ruling before the first spin. My Jewish Learning's rule is that on a hey, if the pot holds an odd number, the player takes half plus one. You can also round down and leave the extra piece in the pot. Either works. Just agree on it before anyone is holding a gimel and a grudge.
A few other house rules worth settling up front:
- What counts as a spin? Decide whether the dreidel has to spin upright before it falls, and whether a fumbled toss gets a do-over.
- Can you play with nothing left? Under the standard rules, no. If you cannot pay when you land on shin, or cannot ante, you are out.
- How long does the game run? Playing until one person has everything can take a while, so you can set a time limit and crown whoever holds the most pieces when it runs out.
How Do You Spin a Dreidel Well?
There is real technique here, and the kid who figures it out first tends to win a lot of chocolate.
There is real technique here, and the kid who figures it out first tends to win a lot of chocolate. A few pointers:
- Pinch the handle. Hold the stem between your thumb and middle finger, with the point of the dreidel just above the table.
- Snap, do not push. A quick twist of the fingers gives more spin than a slow turn of the wrist.
- Go low. Dropping the dreidel from too high makes it bounce and tip before it gets going.
- Pick the right surface. Hard and smooth beats soft and textured every time.
- Try it upside down. A dreidel can also be flipped and spun on its handle. Settle whether that counts before anyone tries it in a tie game.
Is Dreidel a Good Way to Teach Kids Hebrew Letters?
It is one of the easiest. Every spin makes a child read a Hebrew letter and act on it, and four letters is a manageable start. Nun, gimel, hey, and shin show up constantly in Hebrew, and shin is the first letter of Shabbat and of shalom. Once kids know the game, you can ask what each letter stands for in Nes Gadol Haya Sham, and the conversation turns naturally to the Hanukkah story itself. For younger players, use small pieces of fruit or crackers instead of chocolate, and shorten the game to a set number of rounds so it ends before the attention spans do.
Where Did the Dreidel Come From?
The dreidel has two origin stories, one traditional and one historical, and it is worth knowing both.
The traditional story, as Chabad.org tells it, goes back to the Maccabean era itself. When Greek-Syrian rulers outlawed Torah study, Jewish children studied in hiding, and when a patrol approached, they pulled out spinning tops and pretended to be playing a game.
The historical story is plainer. Historians trace the dreidel to the teetotum, a spinning top used in gambling games across Europe for centuries. ReformJudaism.org notes that the word dreidel comes from a German word for spinning top, and that the Hanukkah game was adapted from an old German gambling game. The Yiddish game letters, nisht, gantz, halb, and shtel, line up with that origin. The Hebrew reading, "a great miracle happened there," gave the same four letters a Hanukkah meaning. ReformJudaism.org also points out that Hanukkah was one of the rare occasions when rabbis permitted games of chance, which helps explain why the top found a permanent home in the holiday.
The name travels well, too. Dreidel comes from the Yiddish for "to turn," and the Hebrew name, sevivon, also means to turn around.
Is There a Hidden Meaning in the Letters?
Jewish tradition loves a number, and the dreidel delivers one. In gematria, the system that gives each Hebrew letter a numerical value, nun is 50, gimel is 3, hey is 5, and shin is 300. Add them up and you get 358. As Chabad.org notes, that is the same numerical value as Moshiach, the Messiah. The same piece reads the four letters as four kinds of days: days when everything goes your way, days when half of it does, days when nothing happens, and days when you have to give something up. For a game played with chocolate coins, that is a lot of philosophy per spin.
How Did the Dreidel Become an American Hanukkah Icon?
A lot of the credit goes to one song. "I Have a Little Dreidel" was written by Samuel E. Goldfarb and Samuel S. Grossman, and an original recording dates to 1927, according to ReformJudaism.org. Goldfarb grew up on New York's Lower East Side and became a Jewish music educator, part of a family effort to present Jewish songs in a modern American style.
It did not catch on right away. The same article notes that the song took off in the early 1950s, as Hanukkah grew more prominent in American life. By then the dreidel had become one of the holiday's most recognizable symbols, right next to the menorah and the latke. Today you will find dreidels on wrapping paper, sweaters, and greeting cards in places that have never seen a game of gimel-takes-all.
When Do You Play Dreidel During Hanukkah?
Any night of the eight. A natural time is right after lighting the candles, while the menorah burns. If you need a refresher on that part, our guide to how to light a Hanukkah menorah covers the candle order, the blessings, and where to place it. In 2026, the first candle is lit on the evening of Friday, December 4, and the holiday ends at nightfall on Saturday, December 12, per Hebcal.
For the rest of the holiday, from the story to the full candle schedule, our Hanukkah holiday guide has everything in one place. Stock up on gelt, clear off the table, and remember: whoever gets gimel first is buying the next bag of chocolate coins.