Hold the handle between your thumb and middle finger, stand the point on a hard, smooth surface, and snap your fingers apart fast. A quick, clean twist with the dreidel standing straight up gives you the longest spin.
The basic spin
- Pinch the handle between your thumb and middle finger. Some people use thumb and index finger. Use whatever feels natural.
- Stand it straight up on its point. If it's tilted when you let go, it'll wobble and fall early.
- Snap. Slide your fingers past each other quickly, like snapping your fingers. That's what gives it speed.
- Hands off. Let it spin until it falls over on its own.
Kids who can't snap yet can twist it with their whole hand. It won't spin as long, but it counts.
How to make it spin longer
- Use a hard, smooth surface. A bare wooden table, a cookie sheet, or a hard floor. Tablecloths, carpets and placemats eat up the spin.
- Start it straight. Most short spins come from letting go at an angle.
- Snap, don't push. Speed comes from a fast twist, not from pressing down.
- Keep your fingers clean. Chocolate fingers slip. Ask anyone who's been playing with unwrapped gelt.
- Pick a good dreidel. A dreidel with a short handle and most of its weight down low spins longer and steadier. Our page on types of dreidels gets into materials.
Why a dreidel stays up while it spins
A spinning dreidel has angular momentum, which is a fancy way of saying it wants to keep spinning around the same axis. That's what keeps it upright, the same reason a bicycle is easier to balance when it's moving.
Friction at the point slowly steals that spin. As it slows down, the dreidel starts to wobble in a circle (physicists call it precession), the wobble gets wider, and eventually it tips over onto one side. Whatever side ends up facing up is your letter.
Trick spins to try
- Upside down. Many dreidels can be flipped and spun on the handle. It's hard. It's also very satisfying when it works.
- On a plate. Spin it on a dinner plate and it'll circle around the rim.
- Two at once. Spin two dreidels and play both results. Chaos, in a good way.
- Longest spin contest. Everyone spins, someone times it. Longest spin goes first in the next game.
That last one has a big-league version. Major League Dreidel, started in New York City in 2007, holds competitions where the longest spin time wins, on a spinning arena they call the Spinagogue.
What counts as a spin?
Agree on this before you play. Our suggestion: if it flies off the table, leans on something, or falls over after a turn or two, spin again.
Updated October 2026