‘Okey’ dokey!
Their delayed honeymoon took them to exotic Turkey, and when I finally met up with Karan and Suni many months later, it was over a session of Okey. The four solid wood double layered racks were set up. The 106 ceramic-like tiles were spread out face down between the racks. And after a very professionally succinct rendition of play rules by Karan, I played my first ever round of Okey!
Karan and Suni spoke of coffee houses in Turkey where the coffee is free, and playing Okey is charged! They learnt the rules from a waiter, and since they returned to India, have logged in serious time at the game. Trying rule variations and building a case book and bragging rights about their winning plays.
An elaborate set up process makes a veritable ritual of shuffling tiles, selecting the ‘joker’ (okey), and dealing 14 tiles to each player. Four players compete in a 10 round session, whittling down individual 20 starting points, in each successive round. Each time someone won a round, I lost a couple of points. If someone won by discarding a joker, I lost four points. If at the start of play, someone showed a tile that matched the face up tile, we all lost a point. There are many little rules to soak in, and I slowly figured it’s easy to lose quickly, if you aren’t fully engaged!
Suni patiently sat beside me through my first hapless round. With no experience with Rummy, I struggled to grasp the simple requirement of the game – make sets (same number in different colours), and sequences (serial runs of consecutive numbers in the same colour). With barely concealed exasperation, she urged me to keep track of what others played. And was appalled at my un-intelligent discards, that invariably ensured victory for the person on my right.
Some six rounds later, I won my first game. The hour was late and the session wound up. Harsha had a football match early in the morning. Without him guiding my every move, I’d never have pulled it off! Okey! I must add this game to my collection!!
— The author may be contacted at arup_kavan@yahoo.com
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