An online dreidel game you can actually play together
Search for a dreidel online and you mostly find a single spinner: it shows a letter and leaves the counting to you. That works when everyone is in one room with a pile of chocolate coins. It does not work when Grandma is in Florida, your sister is in Tel Aviv and the kids are on three different phones. This page is the multiplayer version: one room, one link, and a dreidel that spins on everybody’s screen at the same moment. The server deals the gelt, keeps the pot and tracks whose turn it is — you just spin and groan when it lands on Shin again.
It is free, runs in the browser on phones, tablets and laptops, and needs no account and no app. Two to ten people can sit at one table, and bots fill empty seats, so two cousins can still have a full game.
Dreidel rules: what the four letters mean
A dreidel is a four-sided top. Each side carries a Hebrew letter, and together they stand for Nes gadol haya sham — “a great miracle happened there”. Everyone starts with the same stack of gelt and puts one coin in the pot. Then you take turns spinning:
| Letter | Name | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| נ | Nun | Nothing. You neither take nor give; the next player spins. |
| ג | Gimel | You take the whole pot. Everyone still in the game then puts one coin back in. |
| ה | Hei | You take half the pot. With an odd number of coins the half is rounded up: from five you take three. |
| ש | Shin | You put one of your coins into the pot. |
- When the pot is empty, every player still in the game antes one coin, so there is always something to win.
- If you have to pay and cannot, you hand over what you have and you are out.
- The game ends when one player is left with gelt, or after the set number of rounds — then the player with the most coins wins. Equal stacks share the win.
How to play dreidel online with friends and family
- Open Dreidel and create a room. You get a link and a four-character code.
- Send the link to the family chat. Everyone opens it on their own phone, types a name and lands in the lobby. No sign-up, nothing to install.
- Seat 2 to 10 players. Short on people? The host adds bots; at least one real player is needed, so you can also practise alone.
- On your turn tap “Spin!”. The dreidel spins on all screens and stops on the side the server picked. A floating “+3” or “−1” shows who gained and who paid.
- Lost the connection? After a few seconds the dreidel spins for you automatically, and when you come back in the same browser you keep your coins.
- After the game the host taps “Rematch” — the next player spins first — or switches the same room to another game without sending a new link.
Shin or Pe: the Israeli dreidel
Dreidels made in Israel carry the letter פ Pe instead of Shin: the phrase becomes Nes gadol haya po, “a great miracle happened here”. The rule does not change — Pe also means “put one in”. In the lobby the host chooses which letter is drawn on the fourth side. Rooms created in Hebrew start with Pe, all others with Shin, and you can switch with one tap if half the family is calling from Jerusalem.
Lobby settings
- Gelt each: 5 for a quick game between candle lighting and dinner, 10 for the classic length, 15 for a long evening with comebacks.
- Rounds: 5, 10 or 15. A round is over when the dreidel has gone around the whole table.
- Turn timer: off, 15 or 30 seconds. With the timer on, the dreidel spins by itself if someone wandered off for more latkes.
- Fourth side: ש Shin or פ Pe.
Eight nights, one room
A four-player game with 10 coins and 10 rounds takes about ten minutes, which makes it an easy ritual: light the candles, call the relatives, spin. Because nothing depends on skill, a six-year-old can beat a grandfather, and nobody needs the rules explained twice — every side shows the letter, its name and what it does in the player’s own language.
Teachers use it the same way on a classroom projector: children take turns at the board and learn the four letters along the way. When the dreidel has had its turn, keep the same room and switch to Bingo, draw-and-guess in Pictioner, or try the dreidel’s Mexican cousin, the six-sided pirinola. More ideas for all eight nights are in our guide to Hanukkah games for adults and families.