No time for the Tulips: Dutch Blitz

No time for the Tulips: Dutch Blitz

Overall Rating: 6 out of 10

Type: Card Game

Suggest Ages: 8+

# of Players: 2-4

Playing Time: Dependent on Players/Can go to certain score or number of rounds

Replay-ability: 5 out of 10

Expansions available: Yes, Cost = Approximately $10 (Not really Necessary!)

Cost: Approximately $10

 

Dutch Blitz is a pretty simple game. Each player gets a deck of cards that has a unique symbol on the back. The count out 10 cards to put in their "Blitz Pile" and flip the tenth card so that the color and number are facing up. Then they place three more cards face up next to their pile. These three cards act as a card stream. 

 

 

The object of the game is to be the first person to get rid of their blitz pile. When the game begins any player with a #1 card throws it into the middle of the game. Players then play on these number 1's starting with to going to 10. The card played on top of the number 1 must be a number 2 card of the same color. When a player plays the number 10 card, they flip the card over to signal that no more cards can be played on that pile. 

 

Players play the top card of their blitz pile or a card in their stream first. If there is no place on the table for any of these cards then the player picks up their deck (this is the deck of cards that was left after counting ten cards into the blitz pile and three cards into the stream). The player counts off three cards from the top, and flips these cards over on the table in front of them, if they cannot play the top card, they flip three more, etc. If they can play the top card, they do so, and then they either play the next top card or flip three more over. 

 

 

 

Players also have the option to stack their cards. Cards can only be stacked on top of the other cards in the card stream. Cards must go in descending number order AND must be stacked in a pattern of Boy-Girl-Boy-Girl or Girl-Boy-Girl-Boy. (There are girls and boys in the upper corner of the cards.) Once a card is stacked on top of a card stream card, the bottom card cannot be played until the player can remove the stacked card. 

 

The two stacked cards are descending number order (3, 2) and Boy-Girl order.

 Each player gets 1 point for every card they play in the middle of the table (ie the stacks from 1-10) and a NEGATIVE 2 points for every card left in their blitz pile. The negative points are why it is important to get rid of the blitz pile. When a player does get rid of their blitz pile, they yell "Blitz!" and that round of the game is over. You then tally points. The game can be played to a certain point count (we usually play to 100 pts) or a certain number of rounds. 

 

There are NO TURNS in this game. Every player is playing at the same time which means that even if you've been waiting for someone to play the green 3 in the middle of the table so that you can play your green 4, someone might beat you to it or not play it on purpose so that you can't do anything. 

 

This is probably the most annoying and frustrating aspect of the game. (I can no longer play with my S.O. because I get too angry. Oops.) But otherwise this game can be a quick break from other games or a game played when you don't have much time. I would not recommend this game for people who are sore losers or become frustrated easily. I would also not recommend buying the expansion pack because they used the same symbols but mixed up the colors which could make it hard for you to separate out the cards to determine points when the round ends. (By same symbols I mean someone has the original red wagon and another person has the expansion yellow wagon. So it would be easy to just think, "Oh, I have the wagon" and then forget which wagon.) The expansion also runs a little higher in cost than the normal game so you might as well buy another deck of the same cards and mark them with marker or some other words to distinguish them. 

 

Confusing Expansion Pack Colors and Symbols. (Left is original; Right is expansion.)

I was introduced to this game by my friend, Leah. Her whole family usually plays (I'm assuming in rounds?) during the holidays. I'm sure it's super intense. I like this game a lot, but I generally prefer more chill cooperative games.