TAMSK is the second game from Project GIPF. The basic tenet of TAMSK is speed (and the power granted by the TAMSK potential in an expanded game of GIPF is a second move). The goal is to get rid of up to 32 rings by placing them on the board, over the hourglasses. It is played on a hexagonal board (sides of 4 spaces/slots) with game pieces that are 3-minute hourglasses. The board has slots of different heights (allowing 1-4 rings to sit around each one) that fit the bases of the hourglasses.
At the beginning of the game, each player takes 32 rings and places their three hourglasses on the corners of the board.
The players take turns moving an hourglass by turning it over, and putting on an adjacent space. The move gives the player the option of slotting a ring over the hourglass. An hourglass may not be moved if it has run out of sand (except at the beginning) or if it would be moved onto a space that has been filled with rings. A 15-second timer keeps either player from taking a long move in order to run the other's hourglasses out of time.
When the players agree that there are no more moves possible (because all the hourglasses have run out, or are blocked by rings from moving), the game is over, and the player who has the fewest rings left wins. If there is a tie in the number of rings, the player with the last running hourglass wins.
TAMSK comes in a yellow box with an image of desert hills. The heavy black plastic board and seven hourglass timers make it the most expensive of the GIPF games to date. Again, the rulebook includes rules in Espanol, Italiano, Francais, Nederlands, Deutsch, and English.
More information on Project GIPF can be found at www.gipf.com