Players in Mountain 53, which was first released as Ab in die Tonne, need to toss trash into the garbage bin, but unfortunately they're all a bit lazy and instead of emptying the bin when it's full, they're content to pile everything as high as possible in the hope that someone else will knock it over and have to clean up the mess.

Before the game begins, each player takes a set of cards numbered 1–10, and the forty pieces of "trash" — milk cartons, tin cans, bottles, and apple cores — are placed next to the garbage can.

Each round, players secretly choose one of the three cards in their hand, then reveal them simultaneously. In order from low number to high, each player places a number of pieces of trash equal to the number they revealed into — or onto — the garbage bin. If a player makes the garbage mountain collapse, they receive a penalty token, then empty the bin, with the next player in that round starting with a clean bin. If someone places the final piece of trash into the bin without knocking anything over, they receive a bonus.

The game ends after the sixth penalty token has been handed out, and whoever has the fewest penalty points wins.