Base game

6 nimmt!

A hundred and four numbered cards, four rows, and the sixth card nobody wants.

Players: 2–10 players
Weight: Very light
Year: 1994

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The feel of it

Why it lands at the table

6 nimmt is Wolfgang Kramer's card game of controlled risk. Everyone chooses a card in secret, the cards are revealed together, and they slide into four rows in ascending order. Whoever lays the sixth card in a row takes the five before it, and the little bull heads on them are penalty points.

It plays from two to ten without changing its rules, and the table is never quiet: a groan when someone's low card forces them to take a whole row, laughter when three players all aimed for the same gap.

It takes a minute to teach and about half an hour to play, and people ask for another round.

The rules, briefly

How it plays

01
Deal ten cards to each player and start four rows with one card each.
02
Everyone chooses a card face down; reveal them together.
03
Place the cards from lowest to highest, each at the end of the row whose last card is closest below it.
04
Lay a sixth card in a row, or a card lower than every row end, and you take a row's cards.
05
After the agreed rounds, the fewest bull heads wins.

Who and when