Jennie sez, "My husband and I have solved a problem plaguing Jews for hundreds of years: the boring, yet ubiquitous Dreidel Game. We've created a new game, fun for adults, that crosses dreidel with Texas Hold'em poker: No Limit Texas Dreidel."
No Limit Texas Dreidel combines the traditional dreidel game with Texas Hold'em poker. The objective is for each player to create the best dreidel "hand" by combining dreidel spins. You will combine dreidel "spins" in your shaker, which only you will see, with other Community Spins, which will be seen by all players. Players bet in rounds using poker betting rules. The game is best played with chocolate gelt (coins), as is the traditional wager for the Dreidel Game. No Limit Texas Dreidel is an entertaining adult party game and is family fun for everyone ages 9 to 99.
No Limit Texas Dreidel on Amazon,
No Limit Texas Dreidel homepage
(
Thanks, Jennie!)
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If only I could remember what each symbol means... it's been years since I broke out the ol' dreidel.
In the spirit of cultural centric gameplay, the new Hollywood Loteria will be available just in time for Xmas. Featuring your favorite latin stars, including Eva Longoria-Parker as La Sirena, Salma Hayek as La Dama, Javier Bardem as El Diablito and Antonio Banderas as El Catrin.
For ease of learning the rules of the game, the instructions will be provided through a tabloid format, to include grainy pictures of the characters in various scandalous poses and situations.
But seriously folks, I think the NLTxD is a great idea.
P. Bear
Thanks for the post! Listen to me talk about No Limit Texas Dreidel on NPR's Only A Game Holiday Gift Guide (it's about half way through)
http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/330/510052/98202844/WBUR_98202844.mp3
or cut to the chase and listen only to the clip:
http://www.bu.edu/wbur/storage/2008/12/onlyagame_1213_gift7.mp3
Go all spin,
Jennie
Shalom, y'all.
I've been working on the rules for a dreidle drinking game for a few years now. It would be the perfect addition to my Latke Vodka parties.
What would Chanukah be if Uncle Moshe didn't drink too much manishevitz and bet the kibbutz on a bad roll of the dreidel?
"Look out, the Mohel's got a very small knife!"
This can only lead to ugliness...
L'chei-im
They should hire Kinky Friedman as a spokesperson.
Anonymous @#1 - Each side of the dreidel is a letter (nun, gimel, hei, shin) that stands for a word in the sentence "Nes Gadol Haya Sham," or "A great miracle happened there" (or more literally, "A big miracle was there"). Apparently in Israel, the shin is replaced with a peh, so that it stands for "A great miracle happened here." I have been to Israel, but I did not see any dreidels while there, so I cannot attest to this personally. And of course the letters also stand for Yiddish words that are instructions for losing or winning gelt, but I don't remember those specifics. It's been a long time since I spun a dreidel as well, and I don't speak any Yiddish.
PapaBear @#2 - Good idea. I'm thinking Gael Garcia Bernal for La Chalupa.
There's also the origami and Tootsie Pop dreidl:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oschene/sets/1550899/show/
Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made you out of clay.
And when we start to gamble, with dreidel I get paid!
Those shaker cups look a lot like those kids stacking cups from Ikea...
People talk about the consumerism of Christmas, but I guess it's happened to the Jewish holidays, too. I've seen a LOT of products like potholders that look like matzoh, and all kinds of stuff for Hanukkah and some other holidays. I mean, I can't blame anyone for trying to capitalize, and if people are buying and enjoying, what do I care? I'm just saying...
@ Pollyannacowgirl:
I think people who object to the commercialization of Christmas do so primarily because the "spirit of Christmas" is, rightly or wrongly (the Magi had to get that fancy stuff from somewhere,) perceived to be the very antithesis of commerce. You're supposed to give presents away, lay out a feast, give to the poor, etc.
Hanukkah commemorates a miracle associated with an armed rebellion; the reason it's become what it is today (in America at least) is that secular Jewish parents wanted a Christmas alternative for their kids.
It bears considering that not all cultures have an identical relationship with money. The traditional Hannukah gift is chocolate coins in gold foil, after all. The Chinese have several holidays where they offer up various forms of faux-cash, and I'm sure we've all been in a Chinese restaurant with a gold Laughing Buddha figure laden with offerings of dollar bills.
#1, #9,-
I refuse to fact check myself, but IIRC:
Nun- You get nuthin'.
Hay- You get half the pot.
Gimmel- You get all the pot.
Shin- Umm... you put 1 gelt into the pot?
I believe you also ante 1 gelt every spin, but I may be wrong.
Two words I've been saying for years:
STRIP DREIDEL
Not quite so fit for the 9 to 17 portion of 9 to 90. 18 to 80? Though you probably don't want to include your weird uncle. Come to think of it, I am someone's weird uncle. Dammit.
Strip dreidel: More fun or less fun than strip mining?
There needs to be a championship series with Adam Sandler, Leonard Nimoy, the Beastie Boys, etc.
"STRIP DREIDEL
Not quite so fit for the 9 to 17 portion of 9 to 90. 18 to 80? Though you probably don't want to include your weird uncle"
"Oy vey! Ike really *IS* a Canadian Jew!"
Dreidel by its original rules is indeed lame-- but the brilliance of the game is that it inevitably leads to the players making up, arguing over, and testing out new rules in order to make it more interesting.
Anyway, that's my theory about why the game has lasted.
They need to get an endorsement from Kinky Friedman! Yeeehaw!!