6 Nimmt! Review

Uno killed the card game star. At least in America. Sure, there are other card games your grandmother loves. Phase 10. SkipBo. Things like that. There are partner games like Tichu that are hugely popular amongst more serious gamers but have limited appeal beyond that. There’s one card game that deserves to be in every household - American or not, to be played with everyone - grandmothers or whomever, and loved by all gamers - serious or otherwise. 6 nimmt! by Wolfgang Kramer is quite possibly the most perfect game ever designed.

Calm down now. Let me finish. Well, actually, let me start.

6 nimmt! can be learned in under five minutes. The object of the game is simple: don’t take the bulls. Each card has a varying number of bulls on it: 1, 2, 3, 5, or 7. If you’re forced to take them, and you likely will be, take the least amount of bulls possible. You and up to nine other players will simultaneously pick a card to play from a hand of ten cards. There are four rows on the table to which you’ll play your cards. Lowest card places first. Cards go in ascending order and are placed next to the card with the lowest difference. The person who places the sixth card in a row takes the entire row, puts them aside, and the sixth card becomes the new first card in that row. If you happen to play something lower than the last card in all the rows, you choose which row to take, and your card will become the first card. And, now, you know how to play 6 nimmt! Easy, right?

While the game is easy to learn and play, the take that element of 6 nimmt! is what makes the game so wonderfully brutal. No matter the format – print, iOS, Web – it is equally frustrating to take rows; while it’s always annoying when taking one, the amount of players does affect my ability to justify my rage when doing so. With 10 people, you can pretty much guarantee rows are moving each turn. This lends an air of inevitability to the whole process, which takes away from the urge to tell your friend to suck it when they take a row. However, with three to five people, there’s enough suspense with each turn that you’re able to relish the sweet sting of sliding your card into the fifth spot and forcing your friend to collect all those glorious bulls.

The beauty of the take that part of the game comes from the placement of the cards. The simultaneous action selection certainly adds to the tension. What card will they play? Will they play one of the two numbers between the fourth card in that row and the card I want to play down? Will they reset a row and force us all to jump 40 numbers because no one else saw the rest coming? OK. Time to flip. Ugh! Wait! No! Yes! I don’t have to take it. Ha! Suck it!

Despite the ever-present clinched fist and twitching eye, 6 nimmt! appeals to everyone. And, I do mean everyone. I have never played this game with someone who either didn’t already love it or didn’t immediately fall in love with it. Children laugh and laugh when they make their older family members scoop up an entire row of cards. Adults love being able to stick it to their friends. In the classroom or in a bar, people love playing this game.

There’s a two-round variant that makes 6 nimmt! quicker and more cutthroat. Instead of keeping track of bulls collected on a score sheet and resetting the cards between rounds, players keep their collected cards and the center cards remain between them. Whoever has the lowest score after the second round loses. It goes without saying that this version of the game takes away those amazing comebacks longer games offer, like the thrill of coming back after collecting 40 bulls in the first round and not taking any for the next four only to win the game. However, the two-round play arguably offers more strategic cutthroatery because you kind of know the cards that are out, and you know just how hopeless (or not!) your game is going to be at the start of that second round. It’s definitely worth playing this way.

Joy. That’s what 6 nimmt! elicits from its players. Pure and utter joy. No matter the location, age, or experience of the player, everyone will feel joy. I would go so far – nay, I will go so far as to defy you to find a game that so simply creates such meaningful experiences for its players. You won’t be able to do it because, with 6 nimmt!, Wolfgang Kramer created a timeless masterpiece, and that’s no bull.