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‘6 Nimmt !’ – Wolfgang Kramer
Carol accompanies her husband to tonight’s games – or should that be the other way round. They arrive bearing gifts. Dicken carries a box of newly manufactured ‘Backpacks and Blisters’ maps, and Carol has the week’s washing. Building work at the Dicken mansion continues to deny the household some of the basics of civilisation. Oh yes, Lorna also arrives with her parents and promptly disappears upstairs.
First things first, and that means looking at the latest artistic offerings for the Canal Mania box-top. Following Ragnar suggestions, Andrew has simplified earlier ideas and we are requested to choose our favourite fonts. There’s general agreement on this one, so things can press on. The finished painting is due to arrive in tomorrow’s post and then Kendall will take it to Carta Mundi on Tuesday - this borders on haste!
And well it might, as tonight’s first game is potentially the next Ragnar product. Top Secret of course, so this particular review will be evasive and brief. Suffice to say that this game idea has been around in its general form for over a year and in some more abstract notion for ten years or more.
Given that it’s basically a two-player game ( it started that way - ed.) Kendall has elected to assist Carol in playing against Dicken. Kendall has also taken the trouble to do the set-up for both sides, purely to abbreviate the game on this occasion. The setting-up will be the strategic element of the game as things come to fruition, but at this juncture the game needs work at the tactical level.
Carol starts, Dicken opens a beer. ….
Some time later Carol starts to sneeze. Her cat allergy has surfaced. Kendall zips off for the antihystamines – he has his uses.
Doritos and Salsa; mmmmm…..
Some time later, Dicken opens another beer to numb his brain. He is finding it hard not to protest at the extraordinary good fortune his wife is showing in her dice rolling.
Kendall starts to give advice to Dicken. Carol seems to have grasped the rules quicker than expected.
The game ends after ¾ hour. Dicken is slaughtered, but not dismayed. A good test and Carol is enjoying herself; possibly too much.
The children have gradually gone quiet, if not actually to bed. Sandi arrives home. Time for some general social chat – who’s ill, who’s died, that sort of cheery thing. Then onto the second game, ‘6 Nimmt !’ (It’s equally inspiring English name is ‘6 Takes’).
This comes in a very small box, appropriately so as the contents are 112 cards and a small (A8) rules booklet. The game belongs to Kendall and would have been a very mean birthday present on its own; thankfully Phil also bought him ‘For Sale’. Kendall has read the rules, but the cards remain shrink-wrapped. They are released from their cellophane cell and the rules duly explained. It seems as easy as pie.
Each player has ten cards and has got to get rid of them all by playing them onto four rows of cards in the table centre. There are just four rules:
Ascending Order, Lowest difference, Full row, Lowest card.
It’s a put down or pick them up situation. The ‘6’ comes from having to play the 6th card in a row (see rule 3).
Bang, bang, bang. Card face down, turn it over, put it in the right row. Three rounds gone. Round four and Dicken can’t play without picking up. He plays a low card (see rule 4) and picks up the row of his choice. Is it good to pick up high numbered cards or low numbered cards? It doesn’t seem too difficult to work out.
Bang, bang, bang. Kendall has nearly got rid of his ten cards. Oh dear. The Lowest difference (see rule 2) means he has to play it as 6th card (see rule 3) and therefore has to pick up the five cards of that row. Having high cards seems like a good idea.
Bang, bang, bang. Carol has a fistful of cards. She’s able to control one of the rows by always having the next card in that particular sequence. She’s also got plenty of big numbers (up to 104) so she’s pretty well assured of being able to follow on (see rule 1). Oh dear. She can’t follow on where she’d expected because Dicken has just hoovered up that row. Carol is forced to play on another row (see rule 2), which means ‘6 takes!’ – by the way, nobody ever shouts this or mutters it or even mentions it.
And so it goes on… and on … and … ¾ hour later, Kendall realises he can’t lose.
‘Cerebral’ is how Dicken describes it – perhaps a little generous. Certainly it’s bewildering and very random. No chance of us writing down the scores (count the number of ‘Blockheads’ – no comment) and starting another round. It can be played with up to ten players; goodness knows how that might feel.
No doubt the Ragnars will give it a damn good thrashing at the next bash. And no doubt it will be pretty well received – rightly so, it’s a clever game and it doesn’t try to be something it ain’t.
The family Dicken agree it’s time for bed.
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