Dutch Blitz is an odd-looking little card game. (“A Vonderful Goot Game!”) I had seen it on the shelf before but didn’t buy it, and now I’m sad that we didn’t get it sooner!
The game has a cute but strange Pennsylvania Dutch motif, but the game play is a mix of cooperative solitaire, Spoons, and Speed. The game itself doesn’t seem to be particularly Dutch in any way.
What’s in the box?
160 cards. That’s it! The original box accommodates 2-4 players, and there’s an expansion pack (160 more cards) to add up to 4 more players.
Setup
Each player gets a deck of 40 cards with a unique picture on the back (pump, plow, pail, or carriage). Cards are arranged in a similar way to the start of a game of Solitaire, with 3 single-card Post Piles, 1 ten-card Blitz Pile, and the remaining cards in hand (Wood Pile).
Basic Game Play
The primary goal is to empty your Blitz Pile. This is done by moving cards to the center of the table (to the Dutch PIles) and to your Post Piles.
Dutch Piles: Any time a Number 1 Card appears, it starts a new Dutch Pile. Piles then grow in increasing number (1, 2, 3, etc…) in a single color (red, blue, green, or yellow). All players share the Dutch Piles.
Post Piles: These holding areas keep cards for later placement on Dutch Piles. Stack cards here, solitaire-style, in decreasing numbers with alternating Dutch Girl/Dutch Boy “suits.” Empty Post Pile slots can be filled from either the Blitz Pile or the Wood Pile.
Wood Pile: Cards held in hand and revealed 3 at a time (solitaire-style), to be moved to Dutch Piles or Post Piles.
Blitz Pile: Each player starts with 10 cards in their Blitz Pile. When the pile is completely empty, that player shouts “Blitz!”, play stops, and scores are tallied.
Scoring
Play for each hand stops when one player empties their Blitz Pile and says, “Blitz!”
- Each card remaining in a player’s Blitz Pile is worth (-2). Negative two.
- Each card the player added to the Dutch Piles is worth +1. Plus one.
- It’s possible and common to end up with a negative score.
- We assign the Blitz winner with the job of sorting out all of the cards played to the Dutch Piles (pump, plow, pail, carriage).
- The game ends when someone reaches a total of 75 points. We usually just play hands until we are done, without tracking cumulative score.
A full rules sheet contains more detailed information and additional specific rules. “Players may not use both hands to play their cards” is an important one in our family.
Expansion Pack
The available Expansion Pack is exactly the same as the Original Pack, with the colors of the card backs changed. Same designs, same number of cards, shuffled card-back colors. You could use this deck by itself or with the other deck for up to 8 players.
Summary
Dutch Blitz is fast and fun! Rounds are pretty quick. The setup is simple, and the game is extremely portable because it’s just cards.
According to the box, Dutch Blitz is for age 8+. I think kids age 8-12 could learn it and have fun, but might not want to play with extremely competitive teenagers (or adults). A group of teenager or college students could really have fun with this game. Long arms might be an advantage. Our family (two adults + age 17 + age 13) loves it.
At about $10, Dutch Blitz is a great value, and I’m sure it will be played in our house for many years. Click to order Dutch Blitz and Dutch Blitz with Expansion Pack.
Two-player game in progress
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