Dutch Blitz
Encyclopedia
Dutch Blitz is a fast-paced, family oriented, action card game
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...

 played with a specially printed deck. The game was created by Werner Ernst George Muller, a German immigrant from Bucks County, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

. The game is very popular among the Pennsylvania Amish
Amish
The Amish , sometimes referred to as Amish Mennonites, are a group of Christian church fellowships that form a subgroup of the Mennonite churches...

 and Dutch community, and among Christian groups in the United States and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 (primarily in Dutch and German communities). The game is essentially the same as Nertz
Nertz
Nertz is a fast-paced, real-time, multiplayer card game involving multiple decks of playing cards. It is often described as a combination of the card games Speed and Solitaire....

, with the essential difference being that Nertz is played with four standard playing decks, but Dutch Blitz must be played with specialized decks.

It is similar to and possibly derived from the European game of Ligretto
Ligretto
Ligretto is a card game for two to twelve players. The aim of the game is to get rid of all your cards faster than all the other players by discarding them in the middle of the table. Instead of taking turns, all players play simultaneously. Play is fast and lively, and demands attention to the...

manufactured in Germany.

Deck contents

  • 160 cards total:
    • 4 decks; Pump, Buggy, Plow, and Bucket.
      • Each deck includes 10 red, 10 blue, 10 green, and 10 yellow cards.

Game terminology

Blitz Pile: This pile of 10 cards is the most important pile of cards to each player since it is the key towards "Blitzing" the other players when all cards from this pile have been cleared.

Dutch Piles: Stacks of cards in each of the four colors - 1 through 10 an ascending sequence - placed in the center of the table and played upon by all players. Each player accumulates scoring points here.

Post Piles: Groups of cards placed to the left of both the Blitz and Wood piles in descending sequence For each player, the Post Piles serve as a "trading" or replacement area during the game. There are generally three post piles but in a two person game four or five post piles are often used to prevent the game from stalling.

Wood Pile: Stack of cards built to the right of a player, from cards held in that player's hand.

Objective

The objective of Dutch Blitz is to score points by playing as many cards as possible on Dutch Piles, and by emptying the Blitz Pile as quickly as possible. This is done by playing cards from the Blitz Pile, Post Piles, and Wood Pile on the Dutch piles.

Game end and point scoring

The game ends when a player plays all 10 of the cards out of his/her Blitz Pile and yells "BLITZ!". Each player scores points at the end of each hand as follows:
  1. Add one point for each card that had been thrown out in the Dutch Piles.
  2. Subtract two points for each card the player has left in his/her Blitz Pile.

Usually more rounds are played until one player reaches 100 cumulative points, yet some games have gone on for days at a time.

Variations

A variation of the game relies on larger sized cards and can be called "Full Contact Dutch Blitz", "Running Dutch Blitz" or "Life Size Dutch Blitz". The larger cards must be physically ran to the their respective pile. This can also be a team game and is a popular activity at church retreats.
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