Nertz (also called Pounce, Nerts or Racing Demon) is a fast card race. Every player has their own deck and races to empty a 15-card Nertz pile while building shared Ace-to-King piles in the middle of the table.

Is Nertz free to play online?

Yes. Nertz! at nertz.app is free and runs in your browser with no download. Play the computer at five levels or share a room code with family and friends.

How do you score in Nertz?

Cards you play to the middle score for you: Ace through 9 are worth 1 point, 10 through King are worth 5. Cards left in your Nertz pile count against you the same way. Capturing a pile with its King is +10, and going out (Nertz) is +50.

How many people can play Nertz?

Nertz! supports 2 to 32 players at one table — online with friends, or against up to 31 computer players.

Can I track my Nertz stats?

Yes. Sign in and every match is saved: win-rate, Nertz-call and capture trends over time, a recent-match log, and full match history with final scores for the whole table.

Set up a solo table: level, players and target score

Playing the computer 2 min readLast updated October 3, 2026

What each computer level changes, how many computer players you can race, and what the target score does in a solo match.

The five levels

The speed dots next to each level (1 to 5) show how much pressure that table puts on you. Levels also change how long the table can go quiet before a round ends by itself: Cozy waits a full minute, Hard and Card Shark only 25 seconds.

Cozy: slow and sleepy. Perfect for little ones, with hints on and the longest gaps between the computer's moves.
Easy: a friendly table with lots of time to think, hints on.
Classic: a fair family race. This is the default, and hints start off.
Hard: quick hands, so keep up. The computer hardly ever misses a move.
Card Shark: lightning fast. Good luck.

How many computer players

1Open "Play the computer".
2Use the quick buttons (1, 2, 3, 5, 7) or drag the slider to choose how many computer players join you.
3The limit is 31 computer players, so a solo table can feel like a big family reunion. Each computer player has a name of its own.

Good to know

A larger table means more competition for the middle piles and more chances that somebody else finishes first, so the round ends sooner.

The target score

The first player to reach the target wins the match. Round scores are added up between rounds, so a bad round early on can be made up later.

100: a quick match, usually two or three rounds.
250: the default. A good evening game.
500: a longer match that rewards consistent rounds.
No limit: no match winner. Rounds keep coming until you leave the table, and your scores still count towards your totals.

Your settings are remembered

Your name, level, number of computer players and target score are saved in your browser on this device ("nertz_solo_prefs"), so the next solo game opens with everything already set. Clearing your browser storage resets them to the defaults.

Common problems

The computer players are far too fast.

Move down a level or two. Classic is the fair family setting and Cozy is deliberately gentle, and both Cozy and Easy start with hints switched on.

My table size changed by itself.

The last settings you used are remembered per device. If somebody else played on the same device, the table comes back the way they left it.

I want a single endless game.

Choose "No limit" as the target score. Rounds keep going until you leave the table.

Was this helpful?

Turn hints and sound on or off 1 minWhere the lightbulb and speaker buttons are, what hints do, and how sound and animation settings behave across devices.Playing the computer How a round works, start to finish 2 minThe countdown, the race, and the two ways a round ends: somebody calls Nertz, or the table goes quiet for 25 seconds.Rules & scoring Open a table and invite family & friends 2 minHow to start an online Nertz table, share the code or invite link, choose the target score and deal the first round.Online tables

Where to go next

Still need help?

Tell us what happened and a person will read it. You will get a reference number, and the reply comes back in the same thread. If you would rather write from your own mailbox, support@nertz.app reaches the same place.

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