World Rummikub Championship returning to Jerusalem after 27 years
Tournament for Israel-created game attracting contestants from 31 countries.
By AMY SPIROFirst world Rummikub championship in Jerusalem in 1991 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Twenty-seven years after the first-ever World Rummikub Championship was hosted in Jerusalem, the tournament will return once again to the capital next month.The four-day championship, to be held November 9-12, is set to bring competitors from 31 other countries to Israel. Most of the competitors have qualified by winning the national championships in their home country; Israel will be represented by Sasha Erlich.Holding the championship in Israel makes a great deal of sense considering the game was an Israeli invention. Rummikub, a game played with numbered tiles, was created by Ephraim Hertzano, a Romanian immigrant to Israel. He developed the game in his backyard in Bat Yam, and went on to found his own games company, which today is known as Lemada and run by Hertzano's children.Rummikub went on to be sold around the globe, distributed in more than 50 languages in 26 countries - and based in a factory in Arad.The championship - which is held every three years - premiered in 1991 in Jerusalem, with 12 countries participating. Israel has never won a championship; the Netherlands has won four times, Japan three times and Brazil and Egypt have each won once.Egypt will not be attending the 2018 World Rummikub Championship, but it did participate in the 2015 event in Berlin.The 2018 competition will host contestants from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel , Italy, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the UK and the US.
