Take 5 AKA 6 Nimmt! Card Game: Rules and Instructions for How to Play

Objective of Take 5 (6 Nimmt!)

The objective of Take 5 is to score the least penalty points by playing cards that allow you to avoid picking up cards.

Setup for Take 5 (6 Nimmt!)

Shuffle all of the cards and deal ten cards to each player. Players can look at their own cards, but shouldn’t let the other players see their cards.
Take the next four cards from the draw pile. Place each of these cards face up on the table in a vertical column.
Set the rest of the cards aside as you won’t use them until the next round.

Playing Take 5 (6 Nimmt!)

Take 5 consists of a number of hands/rounds. Each round consists of ten turns.

Choosing Your Card

To begin each turn you will choose one of the cards from your hand to play. When deciding what card to play, you need to consider the cards already played to the table and the cards that the other players may choose to play.

Player's Hand in Take 5 — This is a player’s hand at the beginning of a round. For the first turn they will have to choose one of the ten cards to play.

After you have chosen a card, you will place it facedown on the table. Once all of the players have chosen their card, all of the players will turn over their cards at the same time.

Playing Your Card

The player that played the lowest numbered card gets to play their card first.

Played Cards in Take 5 — During the first turn the players played these four cards. The four card is the lowest so it will be added to the rows first. This will be followed by the 17, 90, and finally the 93 card.

They will look at the four rows in the middle of the table. They will play their card to the right of all of the cards in one of the rows. Where they will play their card depends on two factors.

To play a card to a row, it must be a higher number than the furthest right card in that row.

Once you have eliminated all of the rows that have a card higher than the one you played, you will compare the remaining rows. You will have to play your card to the row whose highest number is closest to the number that you played.

Playing A Card in Take 5 — Since the four was the lowest card, the player added it to the rows first. The card will be played to the right of the three because the four is lower than the other rows.

After the player plays their card, the player who played the next lowest card plays their card.

Playing A Card — Next the player will play the 17 card. They will play it next to the four card as it is lower than the highest card in the rest of the rows.

This continues until all of the players have played their card.

Once all of the cards have been played, the next turn is played in the same way. You will continue doing this until all of the cards have been played from each players’ hands.

Playing A Low Card

Sometimes you will end up playing a card that is lower than the highest card in all of the rows.

If this happens you will choose one of the four rows. You can choose any of the rows. You will take all of the cards from your chosen row. These cards are placed face down in front of you in a pile referred to as your “Bull Pile”. You will keep these cards face down in front of you until scoring at the end of the round.

Taking A Low Card in Take 5 — The player choose to take the bottom row. They will add the 96 card to their Bull Pile.

The card you played this turn will then replace the row that you took.

Take 5

Each row can only hold five cards.

If you play a card which would end up being the sixth card in the row, you are forced to take the five cards already in that row.

Playing A Sixth Card to a Row — The current player played a 74 card. This card would normally be played in the second row next to the 73 card. As this would be the sixth card added to the row, the player cannot play it. They will have to take the five cards already in the row.

You will add these cards to your Bull Pile.

Playing A Sixth Card in Take 5 — The player who played the 74 card takes the five cards that were already in the row. They will add these cards to their Bull Pile.

You will then use the card you played to replace the row that you took.

Sixth Played Card in Take 5 — The 74 card replaces the row of cards that the player added to their Bull Pile.

Scoring and End of Round

A round of Take 5 ends when the players have played all of the cards from their hand (ten turns).

Players will then score penalty points for the cards placed in their Bull Piles during the round. Each card in the game features a number of bullheads along the top and bottom of the card. You will score one penalty point for each bullhead pictured on the cards in your Bull Pile.

Scoring in Take 5 — During the current round one of the players acquired these cards in their Bull Pile. Counting up the bullheads, this player scored 21 penalty points this round.

You will add the penalty points you earned in the current round to the points you earned in previous rounds. If none of the players have scored 66 or more total points between all of the rounds, another round is played.

For the next round you will shuffle all 104 of the cards together. You will then follow the setup and gameplay rules from the previous round.

Winning Take 5 (6 Nimmt!)

Take 5 ends after a round when one of the players have acquired 66 or more points. Each player will compare the number of penalty points they acquired during the game. The player that scored the least penalty points, wins the game.

If the players want to play a longer or shorter game, before the game starts the players can agree to a total higher or lower than 66.

Advanced Take 5 (6 Nimmt!)

This mode can be played with two to six players.

Multiply the number of players by ten and then add four to the total. This is the number of cards that you will use in the game. Any cards higher than the total you calculated will be removed from the game.

Then set all of the cards face up on the table. Starting with the youngest player, the players take turns choosing one of the cards to add to their hand. The final four cards that no players take will be the four cards that start the rows to begin the game.

Outside of the setup, the game is played the same as the normal Take 5 (6 Nimmt!).

Year: 1994 | Publisher: AMIGO | Designer: Wolfgang Kramer, Reinhard Staupe | Artist: NA

Genres: Card

Ages: 8+ | Number of Players: 2-10 | Length of Game: 30-45 minutes

Difficulty: Light | Strategy: Light-Moderate | Luck: Moderate

Components: 104 cards, instructions

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