How to play Nertz

Nertz (also spelled Nerts, and often called Pounce or Racing Demon) is a fast, chaotic card game: everyone plays at the same time. There are no turns. The first player to empty a personal 13-card pile wins the round.

Polar Pounce is a free iOS game in this family. If you already know Nertz, you already know the race. Download Polar Pounce.

The idea in 20 seconds

• Each player has their own deck and their own side of the table.
• A 13-card pile (Nertz / Pounce pile) is the clock: empty it first.
• Shared piles in the middle are where everyone slams cards at once.
• Work piles beside you are your personal solitaire row.
• Flip through the rest of your deck when you are stuck.

Classic Nertz setup

Traditional Nertz uses a standard 52-card deck per player (Ace through King, red and black). Each deck should have a different back so you can sort the middle at the end of the round.

1. Deal 13 cards face-down as the Nertz pile; turn the top card face-up.
2. Deal four work piles (one card each, usually face-up).
3. Hold the remaining cards as your stock / draw pile.
4. Someone counts down. Everyone plays at once.

How a round plays

Classic Nertz: work piles usually build down in alternating red and black (like Klondike solitaire), and the shared center piles start with Aces and build up in suit to King. Anyone can play on any center pile. First to empty the 13-card pile calls Nertz (or Pounce).

In Polar Pounce, it works differently: each work pile holds just one card and refills from your Pounce pile. Nothing builds on your work piles. Only the shared Foundations in the middle build, from 1 to 14 in the same color.

🃏 Practice a round in your browser

Scoring is usually +1 for each of your cards that made it to the center, and −2 (house rules vary) for each card still in your Nertz pile.

How Polar Pounce is different

Polar Pounce keeps the race: 13-card Pounce pile, four work piles, no turns, shared foundations. The deck is not a poker deck.

• 4 colors × ranks 1–14 (56 cards per player), not Ace–King.
• Only the shared Foundations in the middle build, going up in the same color from 1 to 14, closer to Dutch Blitz / Ligretto than to red-black Nertz.
• Each work pile holds just one card. Nothing stacks on it. When you play it, the slot refills from your Pounce pile (automatically in the app; at the table you move your own top Pounce card over).
• Stuck? Flip the top 3 cards together as one group onto your bin; only the top card can be played.
• Play solo vs bots, or with friends via a room code on iPhone and iPad.

Same adrenaline. Different cards. See also Dutch Blitz and Nertz vs Dutch Blitz.

Play Nertz on your phone

Polar Pounce is free on the App Store. Invite a friend with a room code after your first wins. That is the same energy as yelling Nertz across the kitchen table.