Who really has time to go out and purchase board games or round up friends to play when you instantly have Facebook games at your fingertips? Now Rummikub, one of the world’s most classic board games dating back to the 1930s, has entered the next generation of social games with a new Facebook application launched last week. Most people over the age of 30 have probably played this game or at least heard of it as it was the #1 board game in the USA and many other countries in the 70′s and 80′s. I played the game for the first time on Facebook and sensed it has already gained popularity given that it only takes about 10 seconds to start a game with numerous online players and that the other players were clearly experts evident in my amazing initial score of minus 100!

Rummikub is a tile based game that combines elements of rummy, dominoes, mah-jongg and chess. Â  Historically popular with an older crowd, the Facebook app aims to reach teens and 20-somethings. The app is visually similar to the board game though now has the added bonus of playing live with International Facebook players.

I had a chance to speak with Noam Ophir, CEO and founder of P-Kama – parent company of Rummikub.com, and ask him what the company’s success in Facebook has been so far and what’s in store for the application.

ST: How many board games are in global circulation and how does this number compare with the amount of online players?

Noam: Every year we sell about 3 million boxes and our top selling countries are Germany, Holland, USA, Spain, South Korea, Poland and Western Europe. Our website, www.rummikub.com , holds around 250,000 players and since our Facebook launch last week, we’re getting thousands of new players each day from countries like USA, Spain, England, Hong Kong, Poland, Brazil, Holland and Israel.

We expect the application to extend to half a million players within a few months.

ST: How is the Rummikub Facebook experience different than the website and physical board game?

Noam: The game was developed in-house and has a lot of unique social aspects. Players can chat with each other and send friend requests. We placed a huge emphasis on the visual experience. You can design your own playing room and choose the atmosphere: a beach, trendy bar, music room, a park and more. Soon we will launch even more customizable features where you can design the environment in full using uploaded pictures.

The virtual game options can do all sorts of actions that in the physical world take much longer such as ‘sorting’ and ‘running’. However, many aspects are quite similar. We tried to transfer the experience as much as possible in the virtual world with same animations, sounds and look of the rack and tiles.

ST: Are there monetization opportunities for Rummikub in the Facebook game?

Noam: Facebook players who want to enjoy an upgraded experience or play more games will have to buy game credits. We will also be advertising on the site in the future. Each new player receives 100 ‘welcome bonus credits’ and everyday that they enter the game they receive 20 more credits. Players can also get 10 additional credits when they win a game. Some things on the site cost credits. For example, starting a game costs 10 credits and some gifts can be sent through games that cost credits.

ST:Will you be translating to other languages and will you be adding additional games in the near future?

Noam: Given our sales figures, we know we sell hundreds of thousands of boxes yearly in both Germany and Spain so we are in the process of translating to German and Spanish. In the near future, we’ll be translating into more languages.

The Rummikub game is our anchor though we intend to add more social games to our portfolio. We strive to make meaningful games on Facebook with our company’s ‘family’ games orientation.

ST: Do you plan to make Rummikub apps for other social sites or mobile capacities?

Noam: We aim to expand the Rummikub game on Facebook, to launch more games and translate into other languages. Once we’ve reached those goals, we’ll move on to the mobile sphere.

Rummikub has made the necessary transition from a home family fun experience to the online social games battlefield and hopefully it will catch on in Facebook as well as it has in people’s living rooms.