The Art of Playing Nertz

What is Nertz you ask?



Before the game started....

Nertz is a fast moving card game that acts a lot like Solitare. You have a pile of 13 cards to the very left that you are trying to get rid of and four cards next to it that you can play on. Every one throws their Ace's out to the middle and you can play on anyone's Ace. First one that gets rid of their 13 cards is the winner. Everyone gets back their cards. What ever you have left in your 13 pile is doubled and you have to subtract your "middle" cards from them. Whatever is left over is your points. First one to 100 is the winner.

I LOVE this game. I learned how to play when I was a young chicken and actually learned how to shuffle due to playing the game. My mom and her friends would have game nights and allowed me to join in. It taught me to pay attention, be fast and show no mercy.

After the round ended....

You can play with just two players or as many players as you have. The more players the sloppier the end results gets. Sometimes if you have too many players you have to team up. That can get way confusing.

When my mom was visiting we played a lot of Nertz. My step dad and my husband don't like to play so my mom and I try to get as much Nertz action in as we can.

I'm not sure how it happened but I went from totally sucking at Nertz to winning.... A LOT.

This trip in for my mom was met with me beating her 95% of the time.... It was fun! Well for me....

While we were playing we discussed that playing Nertz does take skill and was kind of an art form. It gets complicated, heated and plain out messy!

Here is what we came up with:

1. You must be able to pay attention no matter who is talking or what they are talking about. Getting lost in conversation will leave you with a huge pile left over and make you go into the negative. DO NOT GET SUCKED INTO CONVERSATION!

2. Be able to hold a conversation that sucks people in but doesn't require much thought so you can play your cards while everyone else is distracted.

3. Get steps 1 and 2 down like the back of your hand.

4. Learn how to cuss. Don't be afraid to call your mom a %^$#* or call out ^%$@... this is Nertz. Its serious. It requires cussing. It scares your oppents and gives you a boost.

5. Move FAST. You are looking for that one card so you can lay down 4 cards.... don't be afraid to break fingers, hands or sprain your ankle to get that card on the table.

6. Don't be afraid to break other player's fingers, hands or faces.... you want to win don't you!

7. Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention. You need to know what suits are on the table and which ones are growing fast and which ones are growing slow. This helps you decided what you are looking for and how to plan you attack strategy.

8. Have fun! Remember its just a game. This keeps you from getting mad if you start loosing. Once you get mad you can't focus and loose.