How to play okey
Okey is a four-player tile game where a turn is one tile drawn and one tile discarded, and the hand ends when every tile in front of you sits in a run or a set. Kaptirik carries three answers to when you are allowed to lay those groups down: classic okey, 51 and 101.
Okey is a four-player tile game and a single turn contains the whole of it: you take one tile, then you throw one away. The hand ends the moment every tile in front of you belongs to a run — tiles of the same colour in number order — or a set, the same number in different colours. Almost everything else in okey is a rule about when you are allowed to start putting those groups on the table, and Kaptirik ships three different answers to that question in one app: classic okey, 51 and 101.
One turn, start to finish
On your turn you draw a tile and you discard a tile, so the number of tiles in front of you at the end of the turn is the number you started with. The tile you draw comes either from the pile in the middle or from whatever the player on your left has just thrown away, which is why that one seat matters more to you than the other two: it is the only hand at the table you are fed from. In classic okey a tile you pick up from the left is yours to keep for as long as you like. In 51 it is not — a tile taken from the player on your left has to be used in the same turn. That single line decides how greedy you are allowed to be with a tile that only half fits what you are building.
How a hand ends
A hand ends when one player has the entire hand arranged into runs and sets and throws the last tile away. A run is three or more tiles of one colour in consecutive numbers; a set is the same number held in different colours. Every rule set in Kaptirik finishes this way. What changes between them is the price of admission: how much your groups have to be worth before you are allowed to open at all, and whether anyone keeps a score once the hand is over.
Three rule sets, one table
| Rule set | Opening | What is different |
|---|---|---|
| Classic okey | No threshold at all | Draw, discard, and finish the hand with sets and runs. The standard game. |
| 51 | At least 51 points — or four pairs, which open with no threshold | The bar rises with every player who opens after you, the okey can be swapped, and a tile taken from the player on your left must be used the same turn. |
| 101 | Fixed at 101 points, and it stays there | 22 and 21 tiles are dealt, the score runs across several hands, and the lowest total wins. |
Classic okey: learn it here
Classic okey is the version to start with because nothing stands between you and the finish. You draw, you discard, and you end the hand with sets and runs — there is no threshold to clear before you are allowed to open. That leaves a hand about the two things okey is actually about: reading which tiles have already gone past you, and deciding which of your two half-finished runs to give up on. If you have never played, this is the mode where the rules teach themselves in a few hands instead of being explained.
51: the bar that keeps moving
51 is the rule set the game is named after — Kaptirik is a variant of 51 Okey and uses the same rule set. Here you cannot put anything on the table until your groups are worth at least 51 points, and that number does not stay put for the rest of the hand: it rises with every player who opens after you. Three further rules give 51 its own feel rather than making it classic okey with an entrance fee:
- Pairs are the exception. An opening built from four pairs has no threshold to clear at all, which makes a hand full of duplicates worth something instead of worth nothing.
- The okey can be swapped. 51 allows okey swapping, so the okey tile is not simply parked in whoever drew it and forgotten for the rest of the hand.
- A tile taken from the player on your left has to be used in the same turn. You cannot pick it up now and find a home for it three turns later, which makes taking from the left a decision rather than a reflex.
101: the long form
101 is okey measured in hands rather than in one hand. The deal is 22 and 21 tiles, the opening threshold is fixed at 101 and does not move as players open, and the game keeps a running tally across several hands until the match is done. The lowest total wins, which quietly changes what a bad hand means: it becomes something you survive with as little damage as possible rather than something you lose outright. Because the threshold never shifts, you always know exactly what you are working towards — the pressure in 101 comes from the score sheet, not from the other players' openings.
Which one to sit down with
If you are learning, classic okey first: the finish is the same in all three, so everything you learn there carries over. If you already know how a hand works and want the version most Turkish players mean when they say they play okey, that is 51. If you have an evening rather than ten minutes, 101 — a running score rewards playing the whole match well rather than winning one lucky hand.
Offline, or a table with three other people
Kaptirik has an offline mode against bots that needs no internet connection, which is the honest way to learn a rule set without holding up three other people while you work out what a threshold is. Online, quick match seats you at a four-player table; if you would rather choose the company, you can open a private room for friends. A table that does not fill is completed by bots, so a game does not sit waiting for a fourth player who never arrives. There is a chat box at the table.
What the game asks of you
The game is free, shows no advertising — there is no advertising SDK in it — and sells nothing inside itself. Playing offline against bots collects nothing and needs no account. Online play does need one, and by default that is an anonymous account created for your installation: no e-mail address, no password, no phone number. Signing in with Google is optional and exists so the same profile follows you across devices and reinstalls; if you set a profile photo, that photo is uploaded to the game's storage. The privacy policy on this site says exactly which of these applies to which mode, and it was written by reading the app's own dependency list rather than from a template.
Where to get it
Kaptirik is on Google Play and on the App Store, free in both, and the interface is in Turkish. The game page at /games/kaptirik/ has the screenshots, which version is live on each store, and the links to both listings.