Keep the Okey or discard it? Avoiding the playable-tile penalty

01The Okey's three prices

The Okey stands in for any tile; in the opening it counts as the tile it replaces. At a penalty table the Okey has three separate prices:

At a no-penalty table the first two rows and the last one do not exist; the doubled Okey finish applies at every table. So the Okey is worth saving for the last tile even without penalties.

02When to use the Okey

In the opening: in place of the missing tile, but choose the number

In the opening the Okey counts as the tile it replaces. Add it to a 9-10-11 run as a 12 and it is worth 12 points; add it as an 8 and it is worth 8. When you are three to five points short of 101, putting the Okey at the high end of a run gets you there. Same in a set: an Okey completing four 13s counts as 13.

After opening: keep the Okey in a meld, not in your hand

For an opened player an Okey left in hand is 101 at the end of the hand. Using it in a meld removes that risk and lowers your remaining sum. If you have no meld of your own for it, add it to a meld on the table: it goes on the end of a run or into a set's missing colour. There is one exception: if you are one tile from finishing, discard the Okey as your last tile; you write −202 instead of −101 and unopened opponents write 404 instead of 202.

For an unopened player: never discard the Okey, save it for the opening

An unopened player who discards the Okey pays 101 and throws away their chance to open; the Okey is the shortest road to 101. There is no sensible case for an unopened player to discard an Okey: even with two Okeys in hand, both go into the opening (two Okeys alone do not make a pair, but they go into two separate melds).

03The false Okey and Okeys on the table

The false Okey is the tile the real Okey replaces: if the Okey is the blue 8, a false Okey is played as a blue 8 and cannot stand in for anything else. Its score is the blue 8's score; left in hand it writes 8, with no Okey penalty. Do not "save" a false Okey like a real one; it is an ordinary tile, play it if it has a place, discard it if not.

An Okey on the table can be taken. If you hold the real tile an Okey stands for in a meld, you put the tile in and take the Okey; you must use the taken Okey in a meld that same turn. At a penalty table the player who placed the Okey writes 101 (no penalty if you take it from your partner at a partners table). So choose where you add your Okey: put it where the missing tile has already shown up twice in the middle and it becomes hard for an opponent to take. Do not fear having your Okey taken too much, though: the 101 penalty is not cheaper than keeping the Okey in hand, it is the same price.

04Playable tiles: reading the table

A playable tile is one that can be added to a meld on the table. Discarding a playable tile at a penalty table costs 101; the penalty applies whether or not anyone takes the tile, because the measure is whether the tile fits the table.

You can tell whether your discard is playable by looking at the table. Before every discard, ask three questions:

1. 1

   Is there a run in the same colour, and does my tile go on its end? With blue 5-6-7 on the table, blue 4 and blue 8 are playable. If the run ends at 1 or 13, that end is closed.

2. 2

   Is there a three-tile set of the same number missing my colour? With red, blue and black 9s on the table, the green 9 is playable. A four-tile set is closed.

3. 3

   Is there an Okey in a meld, and is my tile the one it stands for? That tile is playable too; an opponent puts it in and takes the Okey.

As the table fills up, safe tiles get scarcer. Safe tiles: 1s and 13s (one open end), the numbers of four-tile sets, colours with no run on the table, and tiles whose both copies have already appeared in the middle. Keeping one or two tiles in hand as "safe discards" is the cheapest insurance against eating 101 in the final turns.

Okey Masters 101 checks the playable-tile penalty against every meld on the table; there is no "two tiles were already added to that end this turn, it would not have fit" defence. If the tile fits the table, it is playable.

05Not feeding the player on your right in Challenge

In Challenge, if the player on your right takes your discard and uses it in a meld, you pay for it: the tile's value × 10 (you discarded a 12 and it was used: 120), × 20 if it went into a pair, Okey × 20, × 40 in a pair. This comes on top of the playable-tile penalty and applies only at penalty tables.

• Discard low tiles. Given two equally safe tiles, discard the lower one: a used 3 costs 30, a used 12 costs 120.
• Watch the player on your right. Look not at what they take but at what they do not: colours they passed on two turns ago are relatively safe.
• Mind the player who is Going Pairs. A player who declared Going Pairs may take your discard only for a pair; discarding a tile whose twin has not shown up yet risks feeding a pair, and the pair penalty is doubled (× 20).
• Never discard the Okey in Challenge. An Okey discarded mid-hand is the 101 playable penalty plus × 20 if used (160 if the Okey is the blue 8). An Okey discarded as your last tile is not a penalty but a −202 finish.

06Before you discard

1. 1

   Does this tile go on the end of a run or into a set's missing colour on the table? If so, 101.

2. 2

   Is this tile the one an Okey in a meld stands for? If so, 101.

3. 3

   Am I discarding the Okey? If it is not my last tile, 101; if it is, −202.

4. 4

   Challenge? The chance the player on my right uses it × the tile's value × 10. Discard the lower one.

5. 5

   Do I still hold a safe discard? If not, plan to add tiles to melds next turn and shrink the hand.

Previous article: When to open in 101. To play with the numbers yourself, the score calculator; the complete rules are on the 101 Okey Rules page.