6 nimmt! a.k.a. Category 5

Welcome all to a series of writings where I take you on a tour of some of my favourite, lesser-known games that are both easy to learn and quick to play. Last time I was in the neighbourhood I spoke about The Mind, a cooperative card game where we have to play numbered cards in ascending order. In keeping with the numbers theme, this time I’ll run you through a competitive card game that will work your risk assessment a little more than your intuition.

6 Nimmt! Is a different flavour of numbers game for two-to-ten players. The cards in 6 Nimmt! are numbered, but as well as numbers they’ve also got some funky little bull heads on them. In a game of 6 Nimmt! we create four rows of one card each, and after we’ve dealt each player a hand of ten we’re ready to start. We play by each picking a card from our hand, holding it in front of us face-down, and simultaneously revealing them. Then, starting from the lowest number and continuing upwards, each player must place their card to one of the rows in ascending order. So if I played a 10, I couldn’t put it next to the 12, but I could put it next to the 8. If you can’t play a card, you take a row of your choice and add it to your score pile. If you play the sixth card in a row, you take that row and – you guessed it! – add it to your score pile. We keep playing until we’ve played all of our cards, and the player with the fewest number of bull heads wins! 6 Nimmt! is a game of deduction, daring, and sometimes knowing when to take a loss now instead of later.