This term means a special kind of rush in Starcraft 2. It can only be implemented by Zerg players. The concept is to only mine minerals, not building any infrastructure except for the Spawning Pool. All minerals are spent on the spawning pool, once the required amount of minerals has been mined. By the time the Spawning Pool is finished, the minerals are already sufficient to spawn 3 times Zerglings. The player then has 6 Zerglings at his disposal, which he directly sends to the opponents base. This is basically the earliest attack a Zerg player can muster. It is considered a “lame” strategy, called cheese in the Starcraft context.

This tactic can catch the opponent off-guard. If the reacts wrongly to this attempt, the attack will at least cripple his economy and leaving him at a severe disadvantage. This can even go so far, that the player has no defenses against it, which makes him loose the match. Also it might keep a player from expanding early or on time, which can limit his economy, making him fall behind his opponent.

If the attempt fails, the not expanded economy may leave the attacker at a disadvantage. His income will likely less than his opponents, which can quickly lead to a great deficit in military power. If the survivor or a six pool retaliates quickly, the tables turn and the match might be lost. This is why this tactic is considered cheesy. It is an all-in attempt. However: It is not necessary that the player looses in this fashion, even when his opponent averts the six pool successfully.

For Terran players the six pool might easily be avoided by closing off a choke point with a Supply Depot and a Barracks. This allows him to later open the Supply Depot, so he is enclosed but not permanently walled-in. Placing 1-2 Marines behind this wall gives the player the means to defend himself.

For Protoss players the strategy looks similar. He places a Pylon and a Warp Gate at his choke point and walls himself in with a Zealot blocking a narrow open spot. The Zealot can attack the Zerglings (both are Melee units) and at the same time blocking them from reaching the economy line. Another way is to actually wall-in and later raze the building by destroying it by attacking it with his own units.

A Zerg cannot wall himself in, so the only real defense against this is having some units present by the time a six pool attack might occur. Usually it is already sufficient to have 2-4 Zerglings at his disposal, to make the opponent withdraw his Zerlings (or loose them). As both factions' Zerlings are equally fast and the attacked player can morph reinforcements in fast, the attack can be averted.

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