Nertz rules: how to play Nerts and keep score
Nertz is solitaire played by everyone at once, on the same table, at full speed. Each player races to empty a 13-card Nertz pile while building on shared piles in the middle that anyone can use. It is loud, quick and easy to learn. Below: the layout, the rules that cause arguments, the scoring, and a keeper that adds up each hand for the whole table.
Nertz in 30 seconds
- Everyone has their own deck, each with a different back. There are no turns: all players play at the same time.
- Your layout: a Nertz pile of 13 with the top card face up, four face-up work piles, and the rest as a stock you turn three at a time.
- Aces go to the shared center as soon as they appear. Anyone can add the next card of the same suit to any center pile, up to King.
- Work piles build downward in alternating colors, like Klondike.
- When your Nertz pile is empty you may call "Nertz!" and the hand stops. Score +1 for each of your cards in the center and -2 for each card left in your Nertz pile. First to 100 wins.
Setting up
Each player needs a full 52-card deck, and the backs must be different so the cards can be sorted out again after each hand. Sit around a table with a clear space in the middle that everyone can reach.
Everyone deals their own layout:
- Nertz pile: count out 13 cards, 12 face down with the 13th face up on top.
- Work piles: deal 4 cards face up in a row next to it. These are your four work piles.
- Stock: hold the remaining 35 cards face down.
When everyone is ready, someone says "go" and all players start at once.
How a hand is played
The shared center
Any Ace you can reach goes straight to the center to start a pile. From then on, anyone may play the next card of that suit onto it: the 2 of spades on the Ace of spades, then the 3 of spades, all the way to the King. It does not matter whose Ace started it. If two players hit the same pile at once, the card that got there first stays; the other player takes theirs back.
Your work piles
Build downward in alternating colors, so a red 8 goes on a black 9. You may move a card from one work pile to another, along with everything on top of it, if it fits. When a work pile empties, fill it with the top card of your Nertz pile, your waste pile or another work pile. Filling a space from the Nertz pile is usually the best use of it, since that is the pile you are racing to empty.
Your stock
Turn cards from your stock three at a time onto a face-up waste pile. You may play the top waste card to the center or to a work pile. When the stock runs out, turn the waste over to make a new stock and keep going. If one or two cards are left, put them on the waste first rather than tucking them under; that is how both Bicycle and Pagat describe it.
When everyone is stuck
Sometimes nobody can move. When all players agree they are stuck, each picks up their waste to re-form the stock and moves the top card to the bottom. That shifts which cards come up in each group of three, and play starts again. If you are stuck but others are not, you wait for them.
Calling Nertz
Once your Nertz pile is empty you may shout "Nertz!" and everyone stops immediately. You do not have to call it right away: Pagat notes that a player may keep going to add more cards to the center first. That is a gamble, because everyone else is still playing too.
Teams
For a big group, partners can share one layout and one deck, sitting side by side. Two pairs of eyes help, and it lets you seat more people around the table than you have decks.
Nertz scoring
After the call, sort the center piles back into decks by their backs. Each player then scores:
- +1 for every one of their own cards in the center, and
- -2 for every card still in their Nertz pile.
Keep a running total. The game ends when someone reaches the target, usually 100, and the highest total wins. Totals can go below zero early on, which is normal.
Here is one hand for three players with the standard scoring, and the same hand with a 10-point bonus for the caller:
| Player | In center | Nertz pile left | Standard | With bonus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ana (called) | 15 | 0 | 15 | 25 |
| Ben | 11 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Cal | 6 | 8 | -10 | -10 |
Scoring house rules
This is where tables disagree most, and the sources say so:
- With a 10-point bonus for calling Nertz (Wikipedia: common).
- With a 25-point bonus for calling Nertz (Pagat: some tables).
- Gentler penalty: -1 per Nertz card (Pagat: some tables).
- Some families treat every hand as its own game and skip the running total.
The keeper below has each of these as a setting. Pick one before the first hand and stick to it.
Nertz score keeper
Nertz strategy
- The Nertz pile is worth three points a card. A card stuck there costs you 2 at the end; the same card played to the center earns 1. Whenever you have a choice, play from the Nertz pile first.
- Keep a work pile space ready. An empty work pile is the fastest way to dig into your Nertz pile. Do not fill it from the waste unless that card unlocks something better.
- Get Aces and 2s out at once. They only help you in the center, and every center pile you start is one more place for your cards to go.
- Turn the stock without stopping. The center changes every second. A waste card that was useless a moment ago may play now, so keep flipping and keep looking up.
- Call when you are ahead, gamble when you are behind. If you lead the game, call Nertz the moment your pile is empty. If you are well behind, a few more seconds of center plays can be worth the risk of someone else calling first.
Play Nertz online or at home
Play at home: one deck per player with different backs, a table everyone can reach, and the score keeper above.
Nertz questions
How do you score Nertz?
After each hand, every player gets 1 point for each of their own cards in the shared center and loses 2 points for each card still in their Nertz pile. Play continues until someone reaches the target, usually 100. Bicycle and Pagat both give this scoring.
Is it Nertz or Nerts?
Both. Nerts is the spelling Bicycle, Pagat and Wikipedia use; Nertz is how many families write it. The same game is also called Pounce, and in Britain a close version is Racing Demon.
Do you have to call Nertz as soon as your pile is empty?
No. Pagat notes that you may keep playing for a while to get more cards into the center before you call. Once anyone calls, everyone stops at once.
How many people can play Nertz?
Bicycle lists 2 to 4. Wikipedia says the limit is really the number of decks and the size of the table, and teams of two can share one deck to fit more people in.
What if everyone is stuck?
When nobody can move, each player turns their waste pile over to make a new stock and moves the top card to the bottom, which changes which cards come up in threes. You must wait until everyone is stuck before you do this.
Where does Nertz come from?
According to Wikipedia, the game began in England in the 1890s as Racing Demon, while the National Nertz Association suggests it dates from the 1940s in the US. Either way, it is a race built on solitaire moves, so anyone who knows Klondike solitaire already knows half the rules.