Take a seat.
Race your own layout onto shared foundations. Empty your Nertz pile.
HAND COMPLETE
Waiting for the host to deal.
FREE ONLINE CARD GAME
Solitaire, at speed.
Everyone at once.
Play Nertz (also called Nerts, Pounce or Racing Demon) free against up to five computer players, in your browser with no download or sign-up. Everyone plays their own layout onto shared foundations, racing to empty a 13-card Nertz pile. Score +1 per foundation card and −2 per card left, to 100. Easy, Standard and Expert change both speed and planning.
Classic Nertz · 2–6 seats · First to 100
Updated
New to Nertz? Learn the rulesHOW TO PLAY
Two to six players race their own solitaire layouts onto shared foundations. There are no turns. You use one ordinary 52-card deck each, with aces low and no jokers.
Play a practice hand ↑Deal 13 cards into the Nertz pile, showing its top card. Start four face-up work piles with one card each and put the remaining 35 cards in the stock. Your waste starts empty. Other players can see your Nertz top and face-up cards; your stock order and the rest of your Nertz pile stay hidden.
Your Nertz pile is the pile to empty.
Any exposed ace starts a new foundation. Build up in the same suit, ace, 2, 3 and onward to King. You can play your Nertz top, waste top or one work-pile top onto any foundation. Several foundations may have the same suit because everyone has a separate deck. The name under a top card identifies its owner for scoring.
Every card scores for its original owner.
Build work piles down in alternating colours: a red six fits a black seven. Move an exposed card or a descending suffix run together. Any card or run fills an empty pile. Turn three stock cards onto the waste; only the top is playable. When the stock empties, recycle the waste without shuffling, as often as you need. Moving your last Nertz card ends the hand automatically.
Reduce the Nertz pile before cycling the stock again.
A tap sends a card to the first legal foundation. If none fits, the tap selects it: tap a work-pile card or its Pile button to choose that destination. Tap the bottom card of a suffix run to select the whole run. Shift+tap selects without automatic foundation play. Drag to a work pile or foundation if you prefer; the tap sequence is always available.
Space turns the stock, N and W choose the Nertz and waste tops, and 1–4 selects a work top or sends your selection there. F sends a selection to a foundation, Auto selected tries a foundation then a work pile, and Esc clears. Tab and Enter also operate the controls. Sort, Arrange and Undo do not apply to this live layout. Larger cards can make the four work columns scroll sideways inside their own region.
The first valid card to arrive at the host stays. The other card remains in its source. A timing message, when available, reports the gap between arrivals at the host; it does not measure your reaction time or remove network delay.
After 120 seconds by default, each waste is turned back into the remaining stock, then the top stock card moves to the bottom. A further 120 seconds without a foundation play ends and scores the hand with no caller. Work moves and stock turns do not reset this clock. Any foundation play resets both stall stages. Choose a 60-second interval in Options; it applies equally to people and computers. Practice reloads and a resumed paused session restart the current interval.
This rule ends an inactive hand; it does not promise that every possible match reaches a positive score target in a fixed number of hands. This table uses the automatic ending also described by DKM’s Nertz rules. Traditional Nerts rules at Pagat allow a player to delay calling after emptying the pile.
SHARED FOUNDATIONS · YOUR SCORE
Each of your cards on any foundation is worth +1. Each card left in your Nertz pile costs −2. Cards left in the work piles, stock and waste score zero. The original card owner receives the point, whichever foundation it joined.
For example, 17 foundation cards and four Nertz cards left score 17 − 8 = 9 points. With seven foundation cards and ten Nertz cards left, the score is −13. Totals can go below zero.
Scores carry between hands. When any total reaches 100, the highest total wins. A top tie continues into another hand. Calling Nertz earns no separate bonus and does not by itself win the match. Options offers targets of 50 or 150 and Nertz piles of 10, 11 or 12 cards; the standard is 13. You can also turn one stock card instead of three.
WATCH THE SHARED CARDS
Every Nertz card you move removes a possible two-point penalty and exposes another card. A work pile can be as useful as a foundation when it releases the next Nertz card. Keep an empty column when it gives that card a destination.
A work-pile top may fit a foundation even when the Nertz and waste cards do not. A suffix run can uncover a useful card. Check the shared tops as other players build them: a place for your card can appear between your stock turns.
Open an opponent’s layout summary to inspect their face-up work cards. Their exposed Nertz card and remaining count are always listed. An opponent with one card left may end the hand soon, so a certain foundation point can matter more than a long rearrangement.
At Normal computer speed, Easy scans every 0.65–1.00 seconds and considers only its Nertz and waste tops. Standard scans every 0.45–0.70 seconds and also uses work tops when a move opens a visible play. Expert scans every 0.30–0.48 seconds, considers suffix runs and up to 32 candidates for one additional work move, and can prefer a foundation that blocks an opponent’s exposed Nertz card. The search is a small public-layout heuristic, not a complete solitaire solver.
A delayed scan adds a second timing draw: about one in five Easy scans, one in sixteen Standard scans and one in thirty Expert scans. It delays the next scan rather than discarding a selected card. Every timed decision uses the cards visible when that scan fires. No level sees hidden Nertz cards, stock order or buried waste, and none memorizes an unseen deck. Computer speed scales these intervals; rule changes start with a new match and difficulty changes with the next hand.
In 1,000 four-player computer matches per level, one tested player against three Standard players won 0% on Easy, 25% on Standard and 90.7% on Expert. These measure computer strength, not your chance of winning. Easy leaves many work-pile openings unplayed.
QUICK ANSWERS
These are names for the same family of racing solitaire games. Nertz and Nerts are common US spellings; Pounce, Peanuts and Racing Demon are regional names. House rules vary.
Score +1 for each of your foundation cards and −2 for each card left in your Nertz pile. Scores carry between hands and may be negative. At the target, 100 by default, the highest total wins; tied highest totals continue.
Thirteen by default, with just the top card face up. Options offers 12, 11 or 10. Each player also starts four work piles and keeps the rest of their 52-card deck as stock.
After the selected 120- or 60-second interval without a foundation play, every waste is reformed into the stock and the top stock card rotates to the bottom. Another inactive interval ends the hand, scoring the cards as they stand.
The first valid card received by the host stays. The losing card remains where it was. A reported millisecond gap is between host arrivals, so network delay can affect the result.
Yes. Practice is free in your browser without a download or sign-up. Choose Easy, Standard or Expert and two to six seats, with computers filling the other seats.
Two to six individual players, one deck each. Names under foundation tops identify card owners. Partnerships and the optional 25-point caller bonus are not included here.
Each player has a small solitaire layout, but everybody plays at once onto the same foundations. Emptying any Nertz pile ends the hand, then everyone’s cards determine their score.
The hand ends automatically when any Nertz pile empties at this table. Traditional rules may let you wait before calling; that optional delay is not used here.
Practice against computer players is available above. To play with friends, open a HopLobby lobby and send one link: our party games run in the browser too.
No. Aces are low. Foundations run ace through King, and work piles descend in alternating colours without wrapping. A new ace starts its own foundation.
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