Looking to play Blitz? You’ll find all you need to know in these Blitz card game rules, including details on dealing, scoring, and even some alternatives.
Blitz is also known as 31. The digit refers to the goal number of points players aim to collect in this game. It is a dynamic and straightforward card game with clear rules focused on collecting cards from the same suit and achieving the desired score before your opponents.
Thanks to its simplicity, unpredictability, and fast pace, Blitz is a perfect party game for both younger and older players (see more great game night ideas). Since all you need to play is a deck of cards, it is also suitable for traveling.
This Blitz card game rules guide will cover the following:
- What is a Blitz Card Game?
- What you’ll need to play Blitz Card Game
- Blitz Card Game rules
- How to play Blitz (video tutorial)
- FAQs
- Other similar games to Blitz (our guides)
Continue reading and find out how to play Blitz.
What is Blitz Card Game?
Blitz is a simple card game that can be played by anyone who can count to 31 and distinguish suits from each other, making it an ideal game for kids or total beginners.
Blitz also becomes a pretty fast-paced game once all the players get to know the straightforward rules, so it’s ideal if you don’t have much time. The game is played in several rounds, but it’s up to you to decide how many.
Number of Players: 2 or more players
Ages: 10+
Difficulty: Easy
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes
Category: Collecting and points counting card game
Similar to: Dutch Blitz, Scat, Twenty-One
Main Objective: Collect cards from the same suit and be the first to get as close to 31 points as possible.
Why We Love It: Blitz is simple, fast, and fun. It is an ideal introduction to card games for any beginner.
Related: 2 Player card games
What You’ll Need to Play Blitz Card Game
You can play Blitz with any standard 52-card deck.
Just remove joker cards before you start since you won’t need them for this game.
Blitz Card Game Rules and Gameplay
Blitz has straightforward rules that give almost equal space to strategic skills and unpredictability of fortune. For experienced players, the gameplay may probably even be a little bit too simple.
Fortunately, you can find many variations and alternatives to Blitz rules, so making the game more complex and intricate is easy. However, this article will mainly focus on the game’s basic and most widespread version.
Starting the Game
Before you start the game, appoint a dealer. There is no specific rule for this, so you can randomly choose any of the players. First, shuffle the cards. Then:
- The dealer deals three cards to each player, one card at a time (note that you will never have more than three cards in hand during this game).
- The remaining deck is placed in the middle of the table (draw pile), and its top card is flipped face-up and placed next to it (discard pile)
- Players hide their cards from the opponents and check their suits and values.
Value of the cards
In Blitz, you aim to achieve 31 points (or the closest you can get to this number) by collecting cards of the same suit. For this purpose, all cards have their value which goes as follows:
- Ace: 11 points
- 2 – 10: Their value
- J, Q, K: 10 points
How to Play Blitz Card Game
The players will take turns in a clockwise direction. The player to the left of the dealer starts:
- The first player draws one card from either of the piles (draw or discard).
- Now he gets rid of one of his cards and places it on the discard pile (it can also be the same card he picked up just a moment ago).
The goal is to collect cards of the same suit, so, logically, you get rid of the others. Nevertheless, since you aim to gather 31 points, sometimes you drop even cards from a ‘good’ suit if their value is small.
Although the opponents cannot see each other’s cards, if they pay attention to which cards they drop and pick from the up-facing discard pile, they can learn what suits they are collecting.
- Other players follow the same routine as the first player.
- The game continues until any of the players knocks on the table.
Knocking
If a player thinks he has the highest cards in hand without having Blitz (see next section), they can knock on the table (but only before drawing cards on his turn; otherwise, he must wait for the next turn) and drop the cards on the table.
Example: You draw a card, discard another, and now you have 30 points-worth cards of the same suit in your hand. Wait until you’re on the turn again and knock on the table (instead of drawing another card) to suggest your score.
Now the opponents can finish one more round. Even if they could knock too, they cannot anymore.
- The players now reveal their cards (starting with the one who knocked).
- All points are counted based on the scoring rules above.
- If there’s a tie (another player has the same points like the one who knocked), the knocker loses, and the other player wins the round.
Blitz
Blitz is the ultimate goal of all players:
- It means that you have collected exactly 31 points by gathering an ace and two face cards of the same suit.
- Players announce this by saying “Blitz!” before knocking.
- They can do this at any time, and it immediately ends the round.
- All players then reveal cards and count their points.
- If someone knocks and another player reveals Blitz only after that, it is only counted as 30 points.
Blitz Card Game Scoring
Each round of Blitz is scored individually based on the value of the players’ cards. If two players have the same lowest score, they are both considered losers. You can play as many rounds of Blitz as you wish and appoint the winner in two ways:
- The winner is whoever has the highest total score for all rounds
OR
- The winner is whoever won the most rounds (in this case, play an odd number of rounds)
Alternatively, Blitz can also be played with coins or tokens (so-called Banking variation). Each player usually gets three of them and loses one to the pot whenever he loses a round. The last player with any coins or tokens left wins the whole pot.
How to Play Blitz – Video Tutorial
Blitz Card Game Frequently Asked Questions
Can you play Blitz with two players?
The game is suitable for two players, but it is certainly more fun when more people play since it increases the chances of two players collecting the same suit.
Do you have to have the same suit in Blitz?
Yes, only cards from the same suit count towards your score. If the player ends the round with three different suits in hand, only the single highest card is counted as his score.
Can you go over 31 in the Blitz card game?
If you have 31 points in hand, you should reveal it as soon as you can (in the next turn). In some variations of Blitz, you even get penalized for not revealing Blitz immediately.
Other Similar Games to Blitz (Our Guides)
Are you looking for more games similar to Blitz? You can find inspiration in our guides to the following alternative games:
- 99 Card Game rules
- Racko rules
- Tonk rules
- Bunco rules
- Continental rules
- Twenty-eight rules (guide coming soon)
- Manille rules (guide coming soon)
- Cribbage rules
- Dutch Blitz rules
