Last month, CHCSA organised this year’s national Rummikub Convention, bringing together the elderly from centres across Singapore in a battle of skills.
In 2019, City Harvest Community Services Association made a bold move to organise the first ever Rummikub Convention in Singapore, inviting Rummikub players from senior activity centres in the Mountbatten area to gather and compete for the championship title.
Rummikub is a board game that combines elements of gin rummy and mahjong. Players each draw tiles, and try to play a set (running numbers of the same colour or same numbers of differing colours). The first player to use up all his or her tiles announces “Rummikub” wins. A game that encourages brain work, Rummikub is played at a number of senior activity centres across Singapore.
“It is an accessible game because it involves just colours and numbers, so any senior is able to learn it quickly,” explains Jerry Kow, centre manager of CHCSA’s senior activity center House Of Joy. “It also fulfils a ‘strategy itch’ for seniors who want to compete against good players. It’s a fun game because each round is short and engaging.” At HOJ, Rummikub games are played two afternoons every week.
Many seniors take their game of Rummikub seriously—so seriously that different opinions regarding how the game should be played is one of the reasons the Convention was created.
Players from seven eldercare centres gathered to compete for the top prize
“The Rummikub Convention came about because House of Joy wanted to create a social activity that bonds seniors from different centres at Mountbatten,” Jerry says. “We noticed for a number of years that seniors at various activity centres have been playing Rummikub with different rules, resulting in players challenging what the actual rules are.” There were three different sets of rules as stated in the original Rummikub guide, but now only one version is stated in the Rummikub set.
“We saw there was an opportunity to gather all the centres and get their Rummikub players to come and play according to the accurate rules, so that more seniors can learn to play and benefit from this great game,” he explains.
MUCH MORE THAN WINNING
On Saturday, 24 September, 144 registered Rummikub players from seven eldercare centres turned up at Katong Community Club, ready to battle. This year, the participants came not only from the Mountbatten centres but also House Of Joy in Tampines Greenweave, Bethesda Care Service and Goodlife! Bedok by Montfort Care. The competition was supported by 56 CHCSA volunteers.
CHCSA’s House of Joy collaborated with partner organisations to open the competition to more seniors this year
The HOJ team began planning for the convention in May this year, and reaching out to existing and new partners to collaborate on the event.
“While gathering our partners, we invited new partners such as Bethesda Care Service and Goodlife! Bedok by Montfort Care,” Jerry says. “We conducted structured training sessions with the staff and clients of the partner centres to familiarise everyone with the gameplay and convention.” The partners also collaborated on other aspects of the convention such as food and transport with the aim of making it a fun and fulfilling event for the seniors.
In each round of the game, the seniors at one table played four games, and the highest scorer would be earmarked to progress to the next round. “In the first round, eight high-scoring players emerged from 80 players to enter the semi-finals,” describes Jerry. “During the semi-finals, the top four players with the highest scores were selected to play in the finals. The winner of the tournament was the highest scorer among these final four.”
The top four were awarded trophies and vouchers from NTUC for their performance in the competition. But it wasn’t just the winners who had fun. The organisers had made sure that there was plenty for the seniors to enjoy. “We had new programmes this year that encouraged greater participation from the seniors and the partner centres, including a games bazaar,” Jerry adds.
The second Rummikub Convention was not only a success for the organisers and the participants. Volunteer Joy Tan, a student care teacher and CHC member from IC Zone, shares her experience.
“I chose to participate in this event as a volunteer together with my cell group as I felt like it would be a different volunteering experience,” she says. “I had no prior experience with Rummikub and I was initially worried about how I was going to host the game for the elderly. Fortunately, there was training before the event day.
“On the day of the competition, I was assigned to a table with three seniors, who were so understanding and pleasant, especially when I needed more time to count the points. I was surprised by the fact that despite it was a competition, the elderly were playing it in a relaxed manner, talking among themselves, and forming friendships with one another since they came from various centres. In addition to serving as the competition’s game host, volunteers got to interact with the elderly participants in the activities after they exited the competition. Having the freedom to sit and play with them made this volunteer experience even more meaningful for me as I got to understand these elderly on a more personal level.”
Joy (second from left) training to understand the gameplay and rules of Rummikub before the event
She adds, “From this whole experience, I truly learned what it means that the Kingdom of God is inclusive. Despite the language barrier—most of the elderly spoke Mandarin or dialect—we were able to put aside our backgrounds and age difference to serve and love the elderly. Volunteering at the Rummikub Convention also enabled me to see what it is like to run this race with other believers, bringing the strengths that we have together and serving with a common purpose of loving the community that we are in. All said, I would gladly do it again!”
