Amphorae (1990)

Amphorae or Das Zehn Vasen Spiel is tile pickup game. A 7x7 grid is filled with 40 tiles (10 amphora pictures made up of 4 tiles each), with the 9 ‘tic tac toe’ spaces containing hostage tiles to complete the grid. You can move 2 or 3 spaces containing one right hand turn, and you can pick up the last tile you move off. The object of the game is to pick up complete sets of amphoras. A player can only keep two tiles in his/her hand Any tile placed in front of you that is less than a set of 3 in an amphora can be picked up by anyone who lands on a hostage tile. So the trick is to get three tiles all in one amphora in successive turns, and lay them down immediately. These are now worth 1 point and are safe from being stolen. A completed amphora of 4 tiles is worth 4 points.