How to play Rumbaroo
Match the discard pile, meld runs and groups, and be first to empty your hand.
Pick your difficulty
Joey Easy: Hop, Boomerang, Pouch. 120 tiles, 12 action tiles (10%).- Wallaby Intermediate: adds Dingo, Billabong, Mob. 132 tiles, 24 action tiles (18%).
- Big Red Pro: adds Outback Swap, Dust Storm, Croc Snap, Didgeridoo. 144 tiles, 36 action tiles (25%). Action tiles left in hand cost 30.
Tiles
- Numbers 1–13 in red, blue, green and yellow, two of each (104), plus 4 Wilds, in every mode.
- Action tiles: 4 of each one in play, one per color (the 4 Billabongs are colorless). Dust Storm and Didgeridoo are rarer: 2 each (red + yellow Dust Storms, blue + green Didgeridoos).
Action tiles
- Hop The next player misses a turn.
- Boomerang Turn order reverses, and the tile played just before it flies back to whoever played it (never another Boomerang). With 2 players it works like a Hop.
- Pouch Tuck one tile from your hand face-down into your pouch (max 1). It is safe from Mob, Outback Swap, Dust Storm, Didgeridoo and Dingo, and on a later turn you can Take out it and play it as if from your hand. It still counts as one of your tiles.
- Dingo Steal one tile from any table meld into your hand, as long as the meld left behind stays valid.
- Billabong Colorless. Goes on anything and you choose the next color (discard pile only, not a meld joker).
- Mob Everyone passes one tile to the next player in turn order. You pick yours; the others pass their least useful tile.
- Outback Swap Pick an opponent: you each hand over one random tile, sight unseen.
- Dust Storm Everyone buries one random tile at the bottom of the draw pool and draws a fresh one.
- Croc Snap The next player draws 3 and loses their turn, unless they snap back with their own Croc Snap, which passes it on +3 (6, 9…). While a croc is waiting you can only snap back or take the tiles.
- Didgeridoo Call a number 1–13. Every other player holding that number must play one (onto a table meld if it fits, otherwise under the discard pile); anyone without it draws 1.
Setup
Everyone draws 12 tiles. One number tile is flipped to start the discard pile; the other tiles form the face-down draw pool.
Your turn — do exactly one
- Discard: play one tile that matches the top tile's color or number. Action tiles go on their color or the same action. A Wild or Billabong can go on anything and you pick the new color.
- Meld: lay down new melds and/or add to or rearrange table melds. A run is 3+ consecutive numbers of one color (no wrapping 13→1); a group is 3–4 of the same number in different colors. Every table meld must be valid when you confirm, and at least one tile must come from your hand. Action tiles never go in melds.
- Draw one tile. If it can go on the discard pile you may play it right away.
The twist: free actions
Meld 3 or more tiles from your hand in one turn and you get a free action: pick an opponent who either misses their next turn or draws 2 tiles.
Wilds
A Wild stands in for any tile in a meld. Swap a Wild on the table for a real tile it could stand for and the Wild goes into your hand (select your tile, then tap the Wild). That swap counts as a meld turn.
Rumbaroo!
When you are about to drop to one tile, press Rumbaroo! before you finish the move. End your turn on one tile without calling and you draw 2.
Scoring
The first to empty their hand (and pouch) wins the round and scores what's left in opponents' hands and pouches: numbers at face value, Wilds 30, action tiles 20 (30 in Big Red). First to 300 wins.
Controls
- Tap tiles to select (from your hand or the table), then tap a meld (or any tile in it), ＋ New meld, the discard pile, or your hand to move them. On desktop you can drag and drop.
- Tiles you placed this turn have a dashed outline and can go back to your hand. ↺ Revert turn undoes all table changes.
- Press ✓ Confirm melds to finish a meld turn.