The cost of waiting
The most expensive thing in 101 Okey is not opening. When the hand ends, a player who has not opened writes 202 on a normal finish, 404 on an Okey or pairs finish, 808 on a pairs-and-Okey finish. A player who has opened writes only the sum of the tiles left in hand; getting caught with four or five tiles is usually 30–50 points.
So postponing your opening means asking, every turn: "if someone finishes now, would I rather write 30 than 202?" There are three opponents at the table; when one of them is close to finishing you will see the signs: melds already open, few tiles left, no interest in the discard, quick discards. As soon as those signs appear, the cost of waiting climbs fast.
As a rule: you need a clear reason not to open in the turn you reach 101. If there is none, open.
What opening at once gives and takes
It gives
- The right to add. Once open, you add tiles to every meld on the table: the end of a run, the missing colour of a set. Your loose tiles melt away and your remaining sum drops every turn.
- Okey safety. An opened player puts the Okey into a meld; the 101 for an Okey left in hand disappears. An unopened player either keeps the Okey or discards it and eats 101.
- A path to finishing. You must have opened before you can finish. The earlier the opening, the earlier the chance to finish.
It takes
- Your melds are open to everyone. Opponents add to your melds too: their two-tile leftovers melt into your runs.
- You cannot rearrange opened melds. Taking them back costs 101 at a penalty table. Finish arranging your opening before you lay it down.
- The playable-tile penalty kicks in. The more melds on the table, the more likely your discard fits somewhere; discarding a playable tile costs 101. At an opened table every discard needs care. (Details: Okey and playable tiles.)
In most hands the arithmetic favours opening: the right to add and Okey safety are worth more than opponents adding to your melds. The one big thing waiting can win you is a straight-out finish.
Straight out: when is it worth it?
A straight-out finish means opening and discarding your last tile in the same turn while nobody else has opened. You write −202 and all three opponents write 404; finish with an Okey and you write −404, they write 808. More than 1,200 points of swing in a single hand: the biggest blow in 101 Okey.
It has a price. To go straight out you must arrange every tile into melds, which takes a long time with 21 tiles; if an opponent opens meanwhile, straight out is gone and you are left unopened with a crowded hand. And before opening you can take a discard only if you open with it that same turn; going straight out, that means opening and finishing with the taken tile in one turn, otherwise you draw only from the middle.
| Outcome | You | Three opponents |
|---|---|---|
| You finished straight out | −202 | 404 · 404 · 404 |
| Someone opened, you opened at once, they finished | remaining sum (~30–60) | finisher −101, others 202 or remaining |
| Someone opened, you kept waiting, they finished | 202 (404 with an Okey) | finisher −101, others 202 or remaining |
Going straight out is worth it when three things hold at once: (1) you have at most two or three loose tiles left, (2) nobody at the table has opened yet, (3) your opponents' hands are still crowded (they keep taking discards and are not discarding quickly). The moment someone opens, the plan is over: open in that turn too and switch to shrinking your remaining sum.
At a partners table a straight-out finish is worth even more: the opposing team writes 808 and your partner 0. But your partner must not have opened either; a partner's opening also spoils straight out.
Timing in Rising and Challenge
In Rising every first opening must beat the highest opening on the table by at least 1. That rule turns timing on its head:
- The first opener sets the floor. Open with 101 and opponents can open with 102. Open with 140 and an opponent needs at least 141; with 21 tiles that is often impossible, and they end the hand unopened at 202 each.
- The big opening bonus. A first opening of 150 or more earns −101, 180 or more earns −202. A 150 opening both sets a 151 barrier for opponents and hands you the equivalent of a finish.
- Pairs are a separate path. A melds opening does not bind a player opening with pairs; with 140 on the table, 5 pairs still open. The pairs floor rises separately: if someone opened 6 pairs, you need 7.
The rule in Rising: if you can open but nobody has, waiting a turn or two to raise the floor makes sense; the moment someone opens, open just above their threshold, because the threshold rises with every opening and you drift toward the unopened side.
Challenge uses the same opening rules and adds two things. If you declare Going Pairs you may open only with pairs that hand; fail to open and the not-opened penalty doubles (404 instead of 202, 808 on an Okey finish). Declare it with at least 3 ready pairs and a tile or two that can become pairs; declaring on 2 pairs is very risky. Second, if the player on your right takes your discard and uses it, you pay (tile × 10, × 20 in a pair, Okey × 20 / × 40). In Challenge an early opener puts melds on the table and raises the chance that opponents can add to them, but can also choose discards accordingly. More on that in Okey and playable tiles.
Opening in 51
51 is played with 14 tiles (15 for the starter), the melds floor is 51 and every first opening beats the previous one by at least 1. Pairs need 4 and the pairs floor does not rise. With few tiles hands end quickly, so waiting is rarely right in 51: open the moment you reach 51, because the next threshold quickly passes 60 and 70, and finding that with 14 tiles is hard. There is no big opening bonus in 51, so there is no reward for waiting either.
Decision checklist
- 1
Has anyone opened? If so, straight out is gone; if you have 101 (the threshold in Rising), open this turn.
- 2
How many loose tiles do you hold? Fewer than two and nobody has opened: try straight out; more: open.
- 3
Rising or Challenge? If nobody has opened, wait a turn or two and aim for 150; the moment someone opens, open above the threshold.
- 4
Are your opponents' hands crowded? If they keep taking discards you have time; if they discard quickly and shrink, do not postpone.
- 5
51? Do not wait. Open.
To play this hand yourself, pick a straight-out finish in the score calculator and look at the numbers. Next article: Keep the Okey or discard it?