Variations to Nertz

[2nddplac]

My roommates and I have been playing Nertz together for four years. We've held 2 "100 days of Nertz" competitions, and now that we've all gone our separate ways, we still get together once a year for a "Nertz Retreat." So we've had plenty of time to come up with variations to the game.

Backwards Nertz: Start with Kings in the common pile instead of Aces

Crazy Nertz: Blacks go backward, reds go forward...in other words, you start with Aces in the common pile (lake piles) for hearts and diamonds, and Kings in the common pile for spades and clubs. In your personal piles (river piles), you can choose which way you want to build, but it still has to be red/black/red... It's enough to make your brain hurt a bit, but it's a great challenge!

Crazy Backwards Nertz: Same as above, but reds go backwards and blacks go forward

Take Back Nertz: If you see a card in the common (lake) pile that you could use to build in your river piles, you can take it, (even if it's not yours) and use it. The person who played the card originally does not get the point for the card unless you play it again in the common piles.

Switch Nertz: This one involves a bit of chance, so I don't really like it, but my roommates love it. Before the game, a player chooses a card from his/her deck. That card becomes the "switch" card. Every time that card is played in the game, players switch hands. The hand you end up with when someone calls Nertz is the hand that you get scored on.

Andy Nertz: Named after our good friend Andy, who introduced us...this simply means you can play on anyone's River pile...it gets kind of crazy, but it's worth calling once in a while.

The rule is, you have to "call" a certain variation before anyone deals out their cards.

[kevandka]

Nice variations!!! We will have to try them when we get a chance.