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dgc30's Nerts (Other)
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| [January 21, 2009 10:07:32 PM]
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Nerts: (also know as Nertz, Nirts, Nerf, Gluck, Peanuts, Popeye, Pounce, Solitaire Frenzy, Scrub, Stop, Squeal, Squeak, Squid, Speed, Squinch, Swish, Racing Demon, Race Horse Rummy, Lucky Thirty, Grouch, Hell, Hallelujah, Mertz, Moofles and Nerds )
Nerts is a multiplayer card game with elements resembling Solitaire. The minimum number of players is 2. The maximum is how many players you have room for, though at about 8+ players, the game gets prohibitively large.
== Requirements ==
A distinct (i.e. different backed) deck of generic playing cards for each player.
A surface to play on.
== Rules ==
= Dealing =
Each player is dealt 13 cards from their deck faced-own in a pile. The top card in this pile is flipped over. The object of the game is to get rid of this pile, called the Nerts pile.
Each player is also dealt four face-up cards. These four cards form the players private playing area. In this area, cards may be stacked Solitaire style. An empty slot in this area can be filled by any playable card.
Depending of the variant of the game, these 4+13 cards may be dealt in different orders and by different people. In the variant I played, each player's cards were dealt by the person to the player's right. The cards were dealt three face down in the Nerts pile, and one card face-up in the private playing area, three cards facedown, one face up, … and one final face-up card in the Nerts pile.
= Hand =
The remainder of the cards form the player's hand. The hand is used like the deck in Solitare. Three cards are drawn at a time and only the top card may be played. Depending on the rules used, the order of the three cards may be reversed. (e.g. if the top three cards are 3H 2D QC, the cards would be played in order QC 2D 3H (normal) or 3H 2D QC (reversed))
= Play =
A round of play begins when a selected player says “go.” (In another variant, the winner of the last round is allowed to start the round as soon as they are ready, creating a frantic rush to be ready before last wound's winner). Play proceeds rapidly, as players go though their deck, rearranging their private play area and moving cards out of the Nerts pile.
As soon as someone come across an Ace, it is placed in the middle of the play area. Any player is then free to play on it. Again, as in Solitaire, these piles are built from Ace, 2... to King in one suit. As each player is free to play on any of the piles in the middle, there is often a conflict if two players want to play the same card on the same pile. In this case, the first person who placed their card down on the pile succeeds and the other player must take back their card.
The first player to empty his Nerts pile calls out “Nerts,” which causes the game to halt. The cards in the middle are sorted according to player (This is why it is important to have distinct decks for each player). Each player's score is then calculated.
= Scoring =
Each card played in the common area counts as 1 point for the person who played the card. Each card left in a player's Nert's pile counts -2 points against him. Thus if a player plays 10 cards in the middle but has 5 cards in their Nerts pile, their score will be 10*1 + 5*-2 = 0. Obviously the person who called Nerts is the only person to have no negative score component.
Scores are then added (or subtracted in the case of a negative score) to a running total for each player. The first player to reach 100 points wins the game.
== Personal Experience ==
I played Nerts with a group of 4 other people. One was a new timer, everyone else were casual players. After explaining the rules and dealing the first hand, the game began. The game requires skill, and speed, thus seasoned players have a great advantage over new players. In fact, one seasoned veteran can keep a group of newbies at near zero score. Thankfully, we had a much more even game, as most everyone played at the same skill.
However, the new person, consistently made low scores. As the hands wore on, and it became obvious I wasn't going to win, I began helping her to look for opportunities to play. After she thanked me for pointing out one play, I mentioned that it allowed me to make a play of my own.
This demonstrates another element to the game which a quick player will take advantage of. Often, because of the pace of the game, a player will have a move they can make, but they don't realize it. Most of the time it is to your advantage not to point it out. However in some cases, pointing out their move can enable a move of your own.
At the beginning of our game, the others players consistently scored in the 10s or even 20s, while I and the new player remained near zero. However, near the end of the game, several hands went by in which Nerts was called relatively quickly. When Nerts is quickly called, many players may not have enough time to remove many cards from their Nerts pile, or play many cards in the middle. Thus they may end up with a negative score. In our game, this prevented the leading player from winning for several hands. However, no one else was able to overtake him, and he eventually won.
== Overall ==
Although difficult to play against skilled players (what game isn't), the game is a good group game. The game can be played with as few as 2 players, however, I find 4-6 to be the optimum number. It can be difficult, though not un-enjoyable, for newbies if the other players are good. Expect to loose a few hairs due to stress caused by the fast game play.
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| [January 21, 2009 10:04:35 PM]
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Although not recent, I just realized I need to write another entry for the class I'm taking. Apologies for the ...
Over the Christmas break, I played Nerts with my little brother and sister. This involved teaching them the rules, because neither of them had ever played. My sister was a little skeptical about not taking turns to play. I guess every game she had ever played involved players taking turns.
Since I wasn't playing with my siblings to win, I took it slow while they got up to speed. They caught on pretty quickly. After the training round, we played again, this time with another sibling, who is closer to my age. He didn't require as much explaining.
This time, I played to win. Unfortunately, even though I was the most experienced player, I was beat by the newcomer who had just learned the rules.
== Observations ==
This game is really better for older people (maybe 12+). Older people seem to catch onto the rules a little faster.
There seems to be some hidden potential for playing Nerts, even in people that have never played before. Nerts requires the ability to quickly make decisions, which is a skill that can be developed outside the game. Playing Nerts is also enhanced by a good memory. A player with a good memory may come across a card and realize that it can be played, remembering the state of a pile in the center.
Another good skill for the game is the ability to multitask. (Though I shouldn't talk about this since men are notorious for being single-minded.) A player who can multitask, can watch that pile of clubs in the middle waiting for it to reach the Jack which he has in his Nerts pile, while simultaneously looking for a red 8 to put on that black 9 so he can free a slot in his private play area, while simultaneously flipping though his deck looking for any cards that he can play in the middle, while simultaneously keeping a watch on his neighbor's cards so see what cards they have to play with... You get the point.
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dgc30's Nerts (Other)
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Current Status: Playing
GameLog started on: Tuesday 1 December, 2009
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