Mountain 53

About this board game

Mountain 53 is a 2013 stacking and risk-management game for 2–5 players, with each game taking about 30 minutes. Players compete to pile trash as high as possible without making the garbage mountain collapse.

First released as Ab in die Tonne, the game turns a garbage bin into the center of a tense shared challenge. Each player receives a set of cards numbered 1–10, while the forty pieces of trash are placed beside the bin.

• A garbage bin
• Forty pieces of trash, including milk cartons, tin cans, bottles, and apple cores
• Number cards from 1 to 10 for each player
• Penalty tokens and a bonus for completing the pile safely

At the start of each round, players secretly choose one of the three cards in their hand. Everyone reveals their choice at the same time. Players then act in order from the lowest revealed number to the highest, placing a number of trash pieces equal to their card’s number into or onto the garbage bin.

The growing pile creates the game’s central danger. If a player makes the garbage mountain collapse, that player receives a penalty token and the bin is emptied. The next player in that round begins with a clean bin. However, placing the final piece of trash without knocking anything over earns a bonus.

Mountain 53 ends when the sixth penalty token is handed out. After the risky stacks and sudden collapses, the player with the fewest penalty points wins. Every card choice can determine whether the pile grows—or whether someone has to deal with the mess.