Jewish Children's Games

Dreidel

• Dreidel is one of the best known Jewish children's games. Played to celebrate the festival of Hanukkah, dreidel uses a four-sided top of the same name to gamble, usually for pennies, matchsticks or some other marker. The dreidel has four Hebrew letters on it: nun, gimmel, hey and shin. Each round, the players ante in with a penny or some other pre-arranged amount. One player spins a dreidel. If he gets a nun, he gets nothing and play passes to the next child. If he gets a gimmel, he takes the whole pot. If he gets a hey he takes half the pot. If he gets a shin, he has to put one more coin in the pot. Everyone then antes in again, and the next player spins the dreidel.

Hiding the Afikomen

• Hiding the afikomen is another Jewish game that revolves around a Jewish holiday. On Passover, the leader of the Seder wraps a piece of matzo in a napkin to save for after dinner as a dessert. He then gets up and washes his hands somewhere out of sight of the table. While he is gone, the kids "steal" the afikomen and hide it in another room in the house. The person conducting the Passover Seder pretends not to notice until it is time to eat the afikomen and finish the ritual. When it is and he discovers the children have stolen it, he has to bargain with them for it, usually giving them presents or a bit of money.

  In other versions of this Jewish children's game, it is the person conducting the Seder who hides the afikomen. The children then have to find it in the house. A Passover Seder can take several hours, so the children are usually quite eager to find the hidden matzo and end the service.

Purim

• Although Purim is not associated with one particular game, it does involve a carnivalesque atmosphere and a wide range of merrymaking for children. One of the most popular Purim games involves the reading of the Megillah, the story of Purim. When the reader says the name Haman (the villain of the Purim story), all the children spin noisemakers called gragers to drown out the sound of his name. Purim is also an occasion to go in costume, and many synagogues will have costume contests or beauty contests to celebrate the holiday. Children will also put on plays and enjoy carnival games as part of the celebration.