6 Nimmt! (Take 6)

Translated by Michael Schloth.

Goal

Take no cards. If you must take cards, take as few Cattle Heads as you can. Each Cattle Head is worth (- 1) point. The winner is the player who at the end of the game has taken the least number of Cattle Heads.

Preparation

You'll need paper and a pencil.

Shuffle the deck and deal each player ten cards. The players keep their cards secret and they should arrange them numerically. Four cards are taken from the deck and placed face up on the table. Each of the four cards is the first card in a row. Each row may never contain more than 5 cards. The illustration (Abb.1) on page 2 shows the 4 rows at the start of a game.

The Course of the Game

Part I: Playing Cards

All players choose one of the cards from their hand and place it face down before themselves. They are revealed at the same time. Whoever played the lowest card goes first. That player places his card into one of the four rows, then the player who played the next higher card places his card into one of the four rows etc. until all players have placed their chosen cards. The cards are always placed in a row side by side. This process is repeated until all players have played their 10 cards.

How are cards played?

There are two rules:

Rule 1. : Ascending Numerical Order

The card to be placed in a row must be greater than the last card already placed in the row.

Rule 2. : Lowest Difference

The value of a row is the numerical value of the last card in the row. If a card may be placed in more than one row (by Rule 1.), then compare its numerical value to the value of each eligible row. The row with the closest value gets the card.

Example: (page 3)

The last cards in the four rows are 12, 37, 43, and 58. Four players play the following cards: 14, 15, 44, and 61. The "14" card is lowest and so is placed first. By Rule 1, it can only be placed in the first row next to the "12". For the same reason, the "15" must be placed next to the "14". The "44", by Rule 1, may be placed at the end of rows 1, 2, or 3. However, because of Rule 2 it must be placed in the third row next to the "43". The "61" is then placed in the fourth row for the same reason.

Abb. 2: Shows the 4 rows after the first round.

Part II: Taking Cards

Each of the four rows may hold only 5 cards maximum. What happens when a row must receive a sixth card? What happens when a card needs to be placed but it is lower than the last card of all four rows? In both cases the player will have to take cards because of the last two rules.

Rule 3.: Full Row

A row has 5 cards and a player, whether by Rule 1 or by Rule 2, must place the sixth card in the row. That player must take all five cards from the row and his sixth card now becomes the new first card for that row.

Example: (page 4.)

The same four players now choose the following cards to play: 21, 26, 30, and 36. The "21" and the "26" are placed in the first row after the previously placed "15". The first row now has 5 cards. The next card to be placed is the "30". By rule 1, it too must be placed in the first row after the "26". Because this will give the first row six cards, the player takes cards "12", "14", "15", "21", and "26". He places his "30" as the first card in the first row.

The "36" is then placed in the first row after the "30".

Rule 4.: Lowest Card

Whoever plays a card that is too low to be placed at the end of any of the rows must take cards. That player selects any one of the rows and takes all of the cards from that row. His card now becomes the first card in the row.

Example (page 5.):

The same players now choose the following cards: 3, 9, 68, and 83. The "3" is the lowest so it must be played first. It is too low to be placed at the end of any of the rows. To make it fit, the player of the "3" must take one of the rows. He decides to take the second row as it contains only one card. The "3" is now the new start card for the second row. Next the "9" must be placed. This player is lucky as now it can be safely placed next to the "3". The "68" and the "83" are both placed in the fourth row.

Remember: When a player must take a row because his card was too low to fit any of the rows, that player decides which row to take. As you do not want to take Cattle Heads if you can help it, you will usually take the row that has the least number of Cattle Heads.

HORNS = NEGATIVE POINTS.

Each card has a certain number of Cattle Heads (from 1 to 7).

Each player keeps the cards they had to take because of Rules 3 and 4 separate from the cards they are trying to place into the four rows. These "Take" cards make up your "Horn Pile". (I guess because you are being gored by them?).

When all players have played their 10 cards, the round is over. Each player counts the number of Cattle Heads in their "Horn Pile" and the scorekeeper records the amount. All of the cards are gathered and reshuffled. Each player is dealt 10 cards and another round is played.

The game is over when one or more players reach 66 Cattle Heads. The player with the least number of Cattle heads wins.

Game Tips

Example 1

This example emphasizes the point of Rule 2. You MUST place your card using the Least Difference rule. Here the player needs to place "45" and would love to place it at the end of the third row but Rule 2 forces him to place it in the fourth row as the sixth card. He must take up the fourth row into his "Horn Pile".

Example 2

This example emphasizes the point that you should not take anything for granted. Player 1 chose "62" to place thinking that it would be an easy placement in the first row. Unfortunately for him, Player 2 chose "29" to place. As "29" is lower than any of the last cards in any of the rows, player 2 must take one of the rows. He selects the first row. Now Player 1 has lost his safe play. "29" is the last card in the first row so by Rule 2 player 2 must place his "62" in the already full fourth row and take that row into his "Horn Pile".

Variant

All previous rules hold. There are two new ones:

1. All players will know exactly what cards will be in the round. The rule is: Cards in the Round = ((# of players) x 10) + 4.

example:

3 Players
Use Cards 1 through 34.
4 players
use cards 1 through 44.

2. Each player takes his own 10 cards himself. The cards are turned face up and spread on the table. In turn, each player takes one card. When everyone has 10 cards, there will be 4 cards left. These 4 cards are the start cards for the 4 rows.

Distributed by The Sumo Rules Bank.

The Game Cabinet - editor@gamecabinet.com - Ken Tidwell