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, and a false Rumbaroo call costs a tile.
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 it out 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; Party mode (5–8 players) deals 11 at 5–6 players and 10 at 7–8. 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. In Big Red, calling too early costs too: if your turn ends with more than one tile (pouch included), you draw 1.
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), plus a flat +10 going-out bonus (no bonus when a blocked or lap-capped round goes to the lowest hand). First to 50 points wins by default; you can raise the target (up to 5000) in setup or the room lobby. The daily challenge is that same Joey board for everyone each UTC day: you against one computer, first to 50, unlimited retries. Only a win clears the day. That calendar streak is separate from the win streak in your stats. Solo and computer games save after every turn, so you can close the app and tap Continue game later. Signed in, your saved game and daily streak follow your account to your other devices (the newest save wins); as a guest they stay on this device. Leaving offers Save and exit, or Abandon (which counts as a loss and does not clear the daily). The host of an online table can pause it for up to 7 days and resume the same board, hands, and turn.
Party tables (5–8 players)
Pick Party on the setup screen or in a room lobby. 2–4 player games are unchanged.
- Bigger box: numbers and Wilds are doubled (208 numbers, 8 Wilds) and action tiles are 1.5×: 6 of each 4-color tile, 3 Dust Storms, 3 Didgeridoos, 6 Billabongs (Joey 18 actions, Wallaby 36, Big Red 54).
- Hands: 11 tiles at 5–6 players, 10 at 7–8.
- Snap Stack: a snapped player always gets to answer: a Croc Snap (+3), a Boomerang of any color (sends the whole pile back the other way), or a 3+ tile meld (+2, passed to the next player). Otherwise take the tiles.
- Hop Pair: play two Hops together and the next two players miss a turn.
- Stampede (Big Red, once per round, 3 or fewer tiles): play a Croc Snap as a Stampede and every opponent draws 2; it can't be snapped back.
- Didgeridoo makes players without the number draw 2.
- Pouch: you can't stash on the turn right after someone else stashed.
- Big Red false call costs 2 tiles.
- Lap cap: if three full laps pass with nobody playing a tile, the round ends and the lowest hand wins.
- Online clock: 20 s a turn, +10 s once you start melding, 5 s to answer a Croc Snap. Run out and you draw 1 and pass (or take the Snap). Opponent moves play at Fast speed by default.
Names
A room name and a leaderboard name are typed by a player. Report sends that name to Rumbaroo’s own server, onto a private page a person reviews. The other player is not contacted, and the report itself does not change the table. If a person later suspends that player, the name is removed from the table, the house plays their remaining turns, and the room continues for everyone else. Hide name on this device only changes what you see. Names have to follow the Terms.
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.