Tonight I was thinking about a game that I used to play when I was young. I wrote a post about it nine years ago so I thought I would share it again with a few edits.

One of the games that we played when I was growing up was Dutch Blitz. I remember the first time that I saw the game being played at my Great Aunt Esther’s house. Of course, we soon had our own copy of the game. We spent many hours playing this beautiful and simple card game. My sister and I especially had a lot of fun beating our slow fingered aunts.

The game was developed by Werner Ernst George Muller to help his children learn about colors and numbers. Muller was a German immigrant to Pennsylvania and the game spread through the Pennsylvania Dutch communities in Pennsylvania and across the country. My Amish and Mennonite cousins all played the game.

So, what is so great about Dutch Blitz? The poem on the cover of the box sums it up.

Since it may be hard to read in the picture, here is the first stanza:

A VONDERFUL GOOT GAME!

Dutch Blitz is such vonderful goot fun

For young folks – and old vones too.

Vhy you should see the vones who pays:

They gets in such a stew.

The cards for Dutch Blitz come in four colors.

The yellow and green cards have a Pennsylvania Dutch Girl in each corner and the blue and red cards have a Pennsylvania Dutch Boy.

Each deck has ten cards numbered one through ten in each color. A set of Dutch Blitz cards has four decks of colored cards. The backs of each deck have markings that are associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch.

Each of the players chooses a deck of cards. I usually played with the pumps, as green is my favorite color. My sister would play with the plows.

The game is similar to the game Nertz, a combination of Solitaire and Speed. I will not attempt to give all the rules here. You can visit the Dutch Blitz website for the rules. You can also get information at the site about where you can buy your own set of Dutch Blitz cards.

You can buy packs of cards at the website, and there is also an expansion pack that allows you to have up to eight players. I may have to order one just to have it.

I still have a set of cards and the original box.

So warm up your fingers and get ready to play!

Steven

p.s. Do you have a favorite game from when you were growing up?