6 nimmt!

Did You Know?

• The game was recommended for the 1994 Spiel des Jahres.
• Stewart Woods described the game's theme as lacking except for the packaging and cards.
• Mikko Saari from Lautapeliopas critiqued the theme while complimenting its accessibility and addictiveness.

Summary

The game uses 104 cards numbered 1 to 104, each showing one to seven bull's heads as penalty points. Over ten turns, players place one card each onto four rows according to fixed rules. If a card becomes the sixth in a row, the player takes those five cards, scoring their bull's heads. Rounds continue until someone reaches 66 points; the player with the fewest points wins.

Rules

The goal is to have the lowest score by avoiding collecting cards, as each card bears at least one cattle head worth one point. The deck contains one card with 7 cattle heads (number 55), eight cards with 5 cattle heads (multiples of 11 except 55), ten cards with 3 cattle heads (multiples of ten), nine cards with 2 cattle heads (multiples of five not multiples of ten, except 55), and 76 cards with 1 cattle head (the rest). Ten cards are dealt to each player, and four cards are placed face up in a vertical line.

Each turn, players select a card face down, then reveal them simultaneously. Starting with the lowest card and proceeding in ascending order, each card is placed at the end of a row where the last card is lower and closest in value to the played card. If a row already has five cards, the player must collect those five cards, leaving only the played card to start a new row. If the played card is lower than all row-end cards, the player chooses a row, collects its cards, and leaves the played card alone. After ten turns, the round ends and scores are tallied.

Variations

With fewer than ten players, cards higher than 10n + 4 (where n is the number of players) may be removed before play; for example, with five players only cards 1–54 are used, and with seven players only 1–74. This makes the game more strategic as players can track which cards remain. Another variant uses the same card removal but has all cards placed face up; starting from a random player and going clockwise, each chooses a card until everyone holds ten, then the remaining four form the rows.

A further variation allows placing a card to the left of a row if it is lower than the leftmost card and closest in value; placing between cards is not allowed. If a card could go left of one row or right of another, the closest number determines placement. Placing a sixth card to the left collects the whole row. This variant is implemented online at BrettspielWelt and makes the game more unpredictable. A children's version teaches counting and the concept of bigger/smaller numbers.