In 1994, Wolfgang Kramer released what would be the first of a series of games that would test player’s patience while giving them something that is just short of a true party game.
6 nimmt! (aka Take 6!) takes the simplest of concepts, laying cards from your hand on the table in ascending order, and turns it into a game that will have you swearing within minutes. Just when you think you have the perfect play, it can be swept out from under you, leaving you with a pile of points that you don’t want.
How to Play
6 nimmt! is a deck of 104 cards, numbered 1 through 104, each of which depicts a bulls head and, at the top and bottom, one or more triangles. These triangles represent the number of points you will get if you have to pick up that card, and you don’t want those points as everyone starts with 66 of them and the game ends when someone goes below zero with the player having the most remaining points winning.
To start the game, four cards are turned up in a column and ten cards are dealt to each player. These cards become the initial numbers on which people will play. The object is to take a card from your hand that you believe will be able to be played on the table without it being the sixth card in a row. If, somehow, your card does become the sixth, you will collect the five existing cards in the row and the sixth card will become the new seed card to start a fresh run. You also reduce your score by the number of triangles on each of the collected cards.
At the start of a turn, you look at your hand, determine which card you want to play and lay it down in front of you. Once everyone has made their choice, they are turned up and the cards are placed in the rows, starting with the lowest revealed number, putting it next to the card on the table that it is closest to. For example, if you put down a 65, it would be higher than both the 1 and the 57 below; however, it is closer to the 57 so it would have to go in that row. If you ever play a card that is equidistant from two cards on the table, it is your choice in which row to place the card. If you play a card that is lower than anything available on the table, you choose which row you are going to pick up (Tip: If you have a low number and there is a low scoring row on the table, play it. You may get a couple of points but its much better than getting stuck with it late in a ten card hand).
It is here that the game can get so frustrating (and, sometimes, hilarious). You might be sure that you could play a 91 against the above board because someone will absolutely play a card between 57 and 90 to restart the bottom row. In realty , your opponents end up dropping 8, 15, 37 and 48, all filling in the third road and making your 91 closest to the dreaded 57, giving you the row and ten points off your score.
Once all ten cards have been played from your hands, you start a new round by shuffling all cards, laying out four new starters and dealing everyone ten cards. Once someone’s score drops below zero, you continue until the current hand of ten cards is played out.
Variation
The base game is eminently replayable but, if you want an extra challenge, play where your card is placed next to the closest number at either the beginning or end of the row. The rest still plays the same with the cards collected when the sixth is played, but this variation really makes the game extra tactical and a lot more frustrating.
There are also a number of variations on the market. Take 5 uses the same rules of play (cards are numbered 1 to 98); however, the points on the cards can be either red (negative) or green (positive). The participants also play in clockwise order and only have three cards in their hand to choose from.
Then there is X nimmt! which sticks closer to the original games rules except, per the manufacturer:
X nimmt! changes these rules a few ways. Each player starts with eight cards in hand and a personal X row. Played cards will be placed into three rows, with those rows being able to hold three, four or five cards. Whenever someone takes cards from a row, those cards go into the player’s hand, then the player must play one card into their personal X row.
All cards in this X row must also be played in ascending order! If you can’t do this, then you place all of those X cards aside in order to start a new X row, with the value of those set-aside cards now being doubled.
A round ends after someone plays the final card in their hand, and whoever has the fewest negative points after two rounds wins.
The general consensus is that X nimmt! is the best version of the game if you are only playing with two players. On Board Game Geek, between 75 and 80% of people do not recommend either 6 nimmt! or Take 5 at that count.
In Conclusion
I love 6 nimmt! in groups of five or more people, which means I generally play on Board Game Arena where there are almost always at least four games looking for players. If you can get that many together at home, it becomes and even better party-style game as the curses and insults fly when your plans are foiled.
Rating: 8 out of 10
