This fast-paced card game has had my children shrieking with delight since they were around 7 years old, and they still pester us to play even in teenage years!
Each round builds their concentration with plenty of adding and subtracting at the end to sneak in a bit of education. Watch the below video on how to play.
How to Play Racing Demon (or Nerts):
(You’ll need a decent-sized space on the floor)
Objective:
Be the first to get rid of your pile of 13 cards.
⭐️ Set-Up:
- Each player uses their own deck of cards.
- 1️⃣3️⃣ Deal 13 cards face down in a pile. Turn the top card face up, and place 4 cards face up next to the pile.
Gameplay:
♦️🃏 Aces First: Lay down any aces you draw and start building on them in ascending order (2, 3, 4, etc.) with cards of the same suit.
🂪🂡🂦 Play Fast: Players flip over 3 cards at a time from their pile and try to play as quickly as possible by placing them on the central piles (or by playing them in descending order on the suits in the centre).
🃞 5️⃣ Winning Piles: When a King is placed on a completed pile, the player who placed it wins the pile and earns 5 points.
🛑 Finish the Game:
- The first player to get rid of all 13 cards in their pile must shout “Stop!” and earns 10 points.
🎯 Scoring:
- Once the game stops, players count how many cards are left in their pile of 13 (these are their minus cards).
- Put away the cards you were using to deal out (they no longer count in the game).
🏆 Who Wins:
- After all players shout “Stop!” and the pile cards are collected, count your remaining cards and subtract them from your total.
- If you have a King, add 5 points to your score.
- If you shouted “Stop!” add 10 points to your score.
- If you shouted “Stop!” and you got a King, add 15 points to your score.
🥳 The player with the highest score wins the game.
