Counting tiles in okey

Counting tiles in okey means remembering the tiles you have already seen — the discards that went past you and the groups other players laid down when they opened — so you know which of the tiles you are waiting for can still reach you. It never tells you everything, since nothing shows you what is left in the pile, but it turns hoping for a tile into choosing between runs you can still finish and runs to let go. It is not a separate rule, just the habit the basic turn rewards, and it works in all three rule sets of 101 Okey Masası — classic okey, Kaptırık (51) and 101.

What you can see, and what you cannot

Okey is a four-player game, and part of the table is always out of sight. Your own hand stands on your ıstaka — the rack that holds your tiles — and you know it completely. Everything else falls into one of these groups:

• Seen: every discard that goes past you, and, in 51 and 101, the groups a player lays down when they open.
• Seen in a different way: a discard somebody picks up — in 51 especially, because a tile taken from the left has to be used the same turn.
• Unseen: every tile that has not passed in front of you or landed on the table — what is left in the pile in the middle, and what the other three are holding.
• Unseen until it opens: in 51 and 101 a hand short of the threshold stays hidden until it clears the bar.

A discard you did not take is gone

Counting is worth the effort because of where a draw can come from. On your turn the tile you take comes either from the pile in the middle or from what the player on your left has just thrown away — nothing older. A tile that went past two turns ago is not coming back to your hand through the discards; if you needed it, only the pile and your left neighbour's next throws remain. Every needed tile that goes past you is a route that has closed. You do not have to memorise the table, only the handful of tiles your hand is waiting on.

Runs, sets and the tiles they wait on

A run is three or more tiles of one colour in consecutive numbers; a set is the same number held in different colours. Each half-finished group is waiting on particular tiles, and those are what you count. A run with a gap in the middle can only be finished by the number that fills the gap; two tiles side by side can grow from either end, unless one already sits at the end of the numbers. A set needs the same number in a colour you are missing. When the tile a group is waiting on goes past you, or turns up inside someone else's opened group, that group has lost a way in. Classic okey puts this at the centre: once the turn is familiar, what is left is reading which tiles have gone past you and deciding which of two half-finished runs to give up on. Counting turns that decision from a guess into a reason.

Your own discards are information too

You draw from the player on your left, so the player on your right may take from you: every tile you throw is one they could pick up. A discard also says what its owner did not want, so the habit works in reverse — watch what your left neighbour keeps throwing and you learn which colours and numbers they are not building with. In 51 a pick-up says more. A tile taken from the left has to be used in the same turn, so when the player on your right takes your discard, it fits something they can use straight away. In classic okey a tile taken from the left can be held as long as its new owner likes, and the same pick-up tells you less.

Counting in 51: openings and pairs

51 adds two things to count besides tiles. The first is openings. The threshold starts at 51 points and rises with every player who opens after you, so the openings around the table help set your price, and clearing the bar early means clearing it at its lowest. Each opening is also a burst of information: a hidden hand lands on the table all at once, and every tile in it can be crossed off. The second is pairs. Four pairs open with no threshold, so a hand collecting duplicates has a second road to the table, and on that road the tiles to watch are the twins of your singles. Then there is the okey — in this game both the name of the game and of a particular tile. 51 allows okey swapping, so that tile can change hands during the hand, and knowing where it is belongs in the count.

Counting in 101: more tiles, a bar that stays put

In 101 the deal is 22 and 21 tiles, so you start with more in front of you. A larger hand is waiting on more tiles at once, which makes counting harder. The fixed threshold makes it easier: it is 101 for the whole match, so a player who opens ahead of you costs you tempo, not price, and your count is about tiles rather than the bar. You choose a match of 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11 hands, and every hand starts from a new deal — the tally carries over, what you counted last hand does not. Because the lowest total wins, the payoff of counting in 101 is steadiness: fewer hands spent waiting on a tile that already went by.

What to watch in each rule set

A routine for every turn

• Before you draw, look at your left neighbour's discard — the only one you may take. In 51, take it only if you can use it this turn.
• After you draw, check which of your waiting tiles have gone past since your last turn.
• When somebody opens, read everything they laid down. Those tiles are out of reach.
• Before you discard, remember the player on your right may take it.
• Give up first the half-finished run whose tiles you have watched go by.

Practising the count with nobody waiting

Counting is a habit, and habits form faster without three people waiting on you. The offline mode against bots needs no internet connection, so you can take your time before every discard. Once the routine runs on its own, quick match seats you at a four-player online table, or you can open a private room for friends; a table that does not fill is completed by bots. The screenshots of each mode are on the game page at /games/kaptirik/.

Where to get it

101 Okey Masası is free on Google Play and on the App Store, and the interface is in Turkish. Which version is live on each store, and the links to both listings, are on /games/kaptirik/.