Taiwanese player wins 2nd place at World Rummikub Championships

Taipei, Sept. 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Wu Chun-ying (吳俊瑩) recently won second place at the World Rummikub Championships (WRC) held in Gdansk, Poland, the best result ever by a Taiwanese player.

Held every three years since 1991, the 2024 WRC, or WRC11, took place from Sept. 6-9 and featured participants from 32 countries.

According to Wu, he was initially unhappy with the result because he sees things in extremes: either 100 points or zero. As such, a finish other than first place felt "not too different from last place."

However, as other participants came to congratulate him and take photos with him, he began to feel the appreciation and enthusiasm for Rummikub and gradually came to terms with second place.

Meanwhile, first place was won by Hungary's Máté Lechner, while third place and fourth place winners were Israeli Evgeni Shapiro and French national Marc Tastet.

Wu told CNA on Wednesday that he first encountered Rummikub at a board game gathering in 2015, but at that time mistook the game for the card game "Gin Rummy," and it was a skilled Gin Rummy player who first sparked his interest.

Despite this, he found Rummikub interesting because it requires simple arithmetic and quick reflexes, and the timed nature of Rummikub competitions really tests eye-hand coordination and responsiveness.

He continued playing Rummikub "wanting to see how far I could get," and participated in his first WRC in 2015.

Wu also shared with CNA that while at the airport on his way back to Taiwan, another WRC participant saw him and immediately invited him to play Rummikub, and the two ended up playing.

The joy and excitement of his opponent left a deep impression on Wu and made him think: "Maybe I don't need to be so upset (at getting second place) anymore." he said.

Rummikub was invented in the 1940s by Israeli board game designer Ephraim Hertzano and is also known in Taiwan as "Israeli Mahjong." It is currently played in 28 languages and available in over 70 countries and regions worldwide.