Cost: $10 From: Amigo Spiele Players: 2-10 Playing Time: 30-60 minutes Type of game: Card Complexity: 3 Skill level: 6 Reviewed by: Peter Sarrett, Issue 3.1, Winter 1994
There's been a rash of good card games from Germany recently (Was Sticht?, Attacke, Sticheln, etc.). The latest success is Amigo's 6 Nimmt which translates to 6 Takes.
Game equipment consists of a deck of cards numbered 1 to 104. Players are dealt a hand of ten cards. Four rows are then started on the table by turning the top four cards of the deck face up. Each round, players choose a card from their hand and play it face down. Everyone reveals their cards simultaneously. Now comes the tricky part.
Players' cards are considered in order from lowest to highest, and are added to the rightmost side of rows. A card can only be added to a row if it is higher than the last card in that row. If more than one such row exists, the card is added to the row where the difference in value between that card and the last card in the row is smallest. Players have no choice in the matter— the card must go in the correct row.
If the new card is the sixth one in a row, the player must take the previous five and place them in a pile beside him. The card he played becomes the first card in a new row.
If a player's card is lower than the rightmost card in all four rows, it can't legally be added to any of them. Instead the player must choose any row and take all of the cards currently in it, placing them in a pile beside him. The card he played is placed in the gap, becoming the first card in a new row.
Taking cards is bad. Each card is marked with from one to seven ox head symbols (ox heads? Don't ask me why). Once players have exhausted their hands, they get a point for every ox head they've taken. When someone reaches 66 points the game ends and the lowest score wins.
It takes a little while to get the hang of which row a card goes to, but once you pick that up the game really flows. The simultaneity gives 6 Nimmt some of the same psychological elements of Adel Verpflichtet. Suppose the fourth card in a row is 85. Do you play your 101, hoping nobody else or at least two others will play between 86 and 100 (thus taking the row and making it safe for you) or do you play your 90, hoping nobody else plays 86-89?
Low cards pose a problem, because you'll probably need to take a row when you play them. Playing them on the first trick, when all rows have only one card, is often the best way to minimize their cost.
The card you play might seem like a good choice at the time, but other players' cards can change the playfield before yours gets placed. Anticipating opponents' moves is the heart of the game, which moves quickly and provides ample, if somewhat mechanical, fun.