How to Play Nertz

What you need

• 2–6 players. Everyone for themselves. No partners. Two is this game. Three is a real table. Four is typical. Five is a real table.
• One standard 52-card deck per person. No jokers. A big table — the middle is shared. Hands off other people's cards.
• No pad for night one. First to empty the Nertz pile yells Nertz and wins the hand. Optional rematch: first to 3 hands.

Sit, pick a dealer, agree on the house

Sit where everyone can reach the middle. A calm person — often whoever brought the extra decks — is the floor for collisions. After each hand, someone else can start the next "go."

Say these out loud before the first card:

1. One 52 each. 13-card Nertz pile. 4 work piles. Rest is stock. No partners. Everyone sets up at the same time. Play is simultaneous — no turns.
2. Aces start shared foundations. Build up in suit, A through K. Any number of foundations. Four people can put four aces of hearts in the middle. Play onto any matching-suit next rank.
3. Work piles build down, alternating color. Night one: one card at a time, not whole runs. Empty work pile: fill from your Nertz pile (the face-up card), or from stock if the Nertz pile is empty.
4. First to empty the Nertz pile yells Nertz. Everyone stops. That person wins the hand. Cards mid-air go back. Not solitaire. Not Dutch Blitz.

Setup: each person, same time

Shuffle YOUR deck. Nobody shares a pack. Deal 13 face-down as your Nertz pile. Turn the top card face-up. Deal 4 cards face-up in a row in front of you — those are work piles. The rest is your stock, face-down.

Two people: two decks, two Nertz piles. Three: three decks. Four: four. Six is the usual ceiling tonight — still one 52 each, still the same 13. If someone is short a deck, this is not the game. If a Nertz pile is not 13, throw that person's cards in and they deal their 13 again.

The middle: shared foundations

Anyone may start a foundation by playing an Ace into the middle. Build up in suit: A, 2, 3, …, K. Once a foundation is started, anyone may play onto it. A completed king stays.

House tonight: any number of foundations, each A through K in suit. Four people means four aces of hearts are possible. Play onto any matching-suit next rank. You do not wait for "one hearts pile." That is not solitaire.

If two people play the same foundation at once, the card that landed first stays. The other takes it back. The floor person settles it. Do not argue over a 2.

Work piles, Nertz pile, and stock

Work piles build down, alternating color — a red 8 on a black 9. Night one: move one card at a time, the top card only, from work to work or to a foundation. Not whole runs. That keeps the first night teachable.

Empty work pile: fill from your Nertz pile (the face-up card), or from stock if the Nertz pile is empty. Filling from Nertz is how you get through the 13.

Nertz pile: only the face-up card is playable — to a work pile or to a foundation. When you play it, turn the next one up. You are racing this pile, not the stock.

Stock: flip three at a time into a waste pile. Only the top waste card is playable. When the stock is gone, turn the waste over (do not shuffle) and go through again. Unlimited passes tonight.

Play is simultaneous

No turns. When the table says go, everyone plays at once. Hands off other people's cards. You may play from your Nertz pile, your work piles, or the top of your waste, onto your work piles or onto any legal foundation.

First player to play the last card of their Nertz pile yells Nertz. Everyone stops. That person wins the hand. Cards mid-air go back. The floor person is the floor.

You can still have cards in work piles and stock. Those do not have to be gone. The race is the 13.

Optional score for a rematch night

Night one: no pad. Yell Nertz, that person wins, deal again if you want. Optional rematch: first to 3 hands.

Count only after someone yells Nertz. Cards mid-air do not count. If you do not want arithmetic, skip the pad and play first to 3 hands.

Walk through one first-night hand

Four people. You each have a 52. You deal 13 into a Nertz pile, turn the top up: A♣. Your four work piles: 9♥, 5♠, K♦, 2♣.

Someone says go. You play A♣ to the middle — a new clubs foundation. Turn the next Nertz card up: 8♠. Your 9♥ is red; 8♠ is black. You put 8♠ on 9♥. That emptied a Nertz card. Turn the next up.

Your 2♣ can go on the A♣ you just started. Empty work pile. Fill it from the Nertz pile — the new face-up card. That is the whole motion: Ace to the middle, empty a work pile from Nertz, keep going.

You flip stock three at a time when the Nertz card will not play. You steal a 3♣ onto that clubs foundation before East does. East's 3♣ goes back. Keep racing. When you play the 13th Nertz card, you yell Nertz. Everyone stops. You won the hand. Nobody compared this to solitaire. Nobody pulled a Dutch Blitz deck.

Night-one habits

• Play is simultaneous. No turns. Hands off other people's cards.
• The race is the 13-card Nertz pile. Stock is just fuel.
• Aces to the middle. Any number of foundations, each A–K in suit.
• Work piles: down, alternating color, one card at a time tonight.
• Two people is a real Nertz table. Three is a real table. Five is a real table. Deal.

You know enough to deal. Keep this page beside the table. Four people is a tonight pick. Three people is a tonight pick. Two people is a tonight pick. Five people is a tonight pick. There is no Nertz trainer on CardPractice — this how-to is the product. If you wanted one shared 52 and a slap pile, that is Egyptian Rat Screw. If you wanted match suit or rank and 8s wild, that is Crazy Eights. Just me: Nertz needs at least two. Open this how-to anyway — there is no solo trainer.