Also known as Pounce. You build down in alternating colours on your own columns and up by suit on shared foundations, but there are no face-down cards to uncover and you’re not trying to clear your board. Everyone races at once to empty a 13-card Nertz pile, and the first player to do it ends the match for everyone.
How to play
- Every player deals from their own 52-card deck at the same time. There’s no turn order at all.
- Everyone builds toward the same shared foundation piles in the middle of the table (Ace up to King, by suit). Anyone can play to any pile, the instant they have a legal card.
- Your goal: empty your personal Nertz pile first. Every card you get off it and onto a foundation is worth a point; every card left in it when the match ends costs you.
- Racing for the same foundation slot is normal. Whoever’s move actually reaches the server first gets it, and a beaten opponent just tries the next legal play.
- The match ends the instant someone empties their Nertz pile. If the table’s genuinely stuck, it ends once every player has flagged themselves stuck.
Good to know
- 1 to 12 players. Solo play works too, since there’s no opponent required for the mechanics to work.
- Host settings: Live scoring (show opponents’ progress mid-match), Work piles (4 or 5 tableau columns), and Recycle stock when stuck (give the whole table a fresh look instead of ending in a stalemate).
- This is the fastest-paced game here. Reflexes matter as much as planning.