Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Dutch Blitz: A year around

"Let us play Dutch Blitz", Bianca announced to the crowd. We had gathered at her parents place after attending the Christmas eve function at the church.

"What's Dutch Blitz? How to play?", almost everyone asked in unison.

Bianca sat in the middle with the cards on her hand and explained the rules of the game. "Sounds fun! Let's play", we all replied.

16 of us formed a circle, and the rest were watching how we play from a greater circle. "I did not understand the rules, but I think I will as the game progresses", I said to myself.

"Can 16 people play?", someone from the crowd asked.

"I have 2 sets of cards. 8 of us can play. So the remaining 8 will make teams", Bianca said. Since no one but Bianca knows how to play, many teams were formed with 3 or 4 members that my husband and myself get chance to play as an individual.

I shuffled my pack of cards, placed three cards in three columns, then counted the next ten cards placing it closed and only the top card was revealed. "For the cards that you have in your hand, you should flip three cards at a time and use your third card to play", Bianca continued explaining.

"Start", she said. As if there was an emergency, everybody was trying to place their card on the Dutch pile, some succeeded, but most were disappointed and amazed at the speed of others play.

"Dutch Blitz", Bianca declared that the game ended. Even though I did not finish early, I was happy that I had played more cards.

"Negative 10", the scorer pronounced my score. "Negative? Are you kidding me?", I asked the scorer.

"Know what? You played well, but you should try to play more cards from your blitz pile as each blitz card is counted twice against your score", my husband explained.

We started playing next round. As soon as the game started, someone from the crowd shouted "Blitz!". "If I don't have a card on my blitz pile, will I have negative score then?", I asked Bianca.

"No!!! It means you won that round! Next time when you finish all your cards from the blitz pile, don't forget to say Blitz! That way, others will know that you had won and would stop the game", she explained.

I evened out my negative score in that round and started pushing my overall score positive.

I could not believe that in my next round I am done with my blitz pile few minutes after the game began. "Blitz", I shouted in joy. I went on to win a few more rounds then.

"I like this game! Its too fast, but I am winning", I told my husband during a break between two rounds. "How much did you score?", I asked him.

"Negative 24", he replied.

"You taught me the secret of winning. How come you are not scoring in positive?", I asked him.

"Its true that I taught you the secret to win. But it seems you learnt it better than me!", he replied with smile.

"You are natural at winning this game", he complimented.

One year went by as if God had hit the fast forwarded button of life. I met some new people at the church this year during Christmas eve. "Are you coming to our home for Christmas eve party?", my friend asked.

"Yes!!!", I replied ecstatically, looking forward to play another rounds of Dutch Blitz game. In the meanwhile, I had browsed through websites and read game manual to learn about different ways to play the game. I am happy to say that till now, I am a natural champion at playing this game.

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