Dutch Blitz

Dutch Blitz, a Fast Paced Card Game

Created by a German immigrant named Werner Ernst George Muller who called Bucks County, Pennsylvania home, Dutch Blitz is a card game that is built on fast paced action and uses a specialized deck of cards instead of standard playing cards. Dutch Blitz obtained a ton of popularity with audiences such as the Pennsylvania Amish and Dutch communities.

A normal pack of Dutch Blitz cards contains 160 cards, and particularly 4 decks of special suits such as  Buggy, Bucket, Plow and Pump. Each deck contains numbered cards, in an ascending sequence from 1 to 10, in red, blue, green and yellow cards.

Game Terms

Blitz Pile

A Blitz Pile contains 10 cards that are the most important pile of cards for each player. This pile will be used to “blitz” the other players when all cards have been cleared.

Ditch Piles

There will also be stacks of cards in each of the 4 colors, going in order from 1 to 10 in numbered cards, placed at the center of the table and played by all players. These piles, known as Dutch Piles, will be used to accumulate scoring points.

Wood Pile

A Wood Pile is a stack of cards built to the right of a player, from cards that the player is currently holding in his or her hand.

Post Piles

Placed to the left of the Blitz and Wood Piles in a descending sequence, these groups of cards known as the Post Piles will serve as a “trading” replacement area during the course of play. There are typically 3 Post Piles in a game but with just 2 players there are 4 or 5 Post Piles in play to prevent stalling.

Dutch Blitz Objective

The name of the game in Dutch Blitz is to score points by playing as many cards as you can on Dutch Piles, and by emptying your Blitz Pile as fast as possible. Utilizing cards from the Blitz, Post and Wood Piles and playing them on the Dutch Piles is how this gets accomplished.

Scoring Points

When a player successfully plays all 10 of his or her Blitz Pile cards, that player will then immediately shout out “Blitz!’ to end play. When players tally up their scores, they will add 1 point for every card that had been tossed out in the Dutch Piles. Conversely 2 points will be deducted from a player’s score for every card that a player has left in his or her Blitz Pile. When it comes to how long a game of Dutch Blitz can be played, players will generally play as many rounds as they need to until one player reaches 100 points.

Variants

There are a couple variants to go along with the original Dutch Blitz pack of 160 cards that will enhance the playability of the game. One variant includes larger sized cards, and this variant goes by the names of “Full Contact Dutch Blitz”, “Running Dutch Bitz” and “Life Size Dutch Blitz”. This variant involves the larger cards being played on their respective piles, and this variant can be played by teams of 2 players each.

Another variant involves the use of an expansion pack. To go along with the normal green pack of Dutch Blitz cards, a blue expansion pack of cards can be added to the game to increase the possibilities of how Dutch Blitz can be played. With this expansion pack more than 4 players can participate as 5 to as many as 8 players can enjoy a single game of Dutch Blitz together.

 

Not only is Dutch Blitz an easy to learn card game, but it is also highly enjoyable for both casual and hardcore card game players. No matter what experience you have in playing card games, you can jump into Dutch Blitz and get a grasp of what’s going on almost right away. A card game that fits the mold of other famous card games like Uno, Skip-Bo and Phase 10, Dutch Blitz is a great find for any avid card game player that wants a challenge. This is a game that you will have fun playing throughout the course of a day.

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