Penny Black Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Objective
• Components
• Setup
  • Player Setup
• Stamps Overview
  • Regular Stamps
  • Penny Black
• How to Play
  • 1. Collect Stamps
  • 2. Place Stamps
  • 3. Clean Up for the Next Round
• Star Bonuses
• Game End
  • Scoring & Winning the Game
  • Scoring Terminology
  • 1. Collector Card Scoring
  • 2. Penny Black Scoring
• Credits

Game Objective

You are a stamp collector, or a philatelist, competing with your friends to collect and arrange the most lucrative stamp album. Choose the best stamps and strategically place them in your album over the course of 10 rounds. The player who scores the most points based on their collection at the end of the game is the Winner!

Components

• A. 115 Regular stamps (5 colored sets with 11 square, 6 tall, 6 wide stamps)
• B. 12 Penny Black stamps
• C. 1 Mail Bag
• D. 5 Market Sheets
• E. 4 Stamp album boards
• F. 24 Star tokens
• G. 36 Collector cards (18 white & 18 black)
• H. 4 Star Bonus Reference cards
• I. 1 Round Tracker
• J. 1 Round Tracking marker
• K. 1 Starting player marker
• L. 1 Score pad

Setup

1. Separate all Penny Black stamps into a pile and place all Regular stamps into the Mail bag.
2. Place Market Sheets into the center of the play area according to the number of players.
   • 2 Players = 3 Sheets
   • 3 Players = 4 Sheets
   • 4 Players = 5 Sheets
3. Draw random stamps out of the Mail bag and place them onto the Market Sheets until each sheet has 3 stamps.
4. Now place all Penny Black stamps into the Mail bag, based on the number of players:
   • 12 Penny Blacks = 4 Players
   • 9 Penny Blacks = 3 Players
   • 6 Penny Blacks = 2 Players
5. Place the Round Track near the center of the table and put the Tracking marker onto the space labeled "1."

Player Setup

6. Separate the Collector cards into white and black decks. Shuffle these decks separately and place them facedown near the Round Track. Each player sets up their stamp album as follows:
7. Take an album board, open it up, and place it in front of you.
8. Place a Star token on all Star icons in your album.
9. Draw 3 Collector cards from each deck so you have 6 total. Secretly review them and then place 1 white and 1 black card on each side of your album, face up. Return your 2 unused cards to the box, along with the undrawn cards; you won't need them for the rest of the game.
10. Place a Star Bonus Reference card in front of you for reference.
11. The player who most recently mailed a letter or package takes the first turn. Give them the Starting Player token.

Stamps Overview

There are two types of stamps in the game: Regular stamps and the Penny Black. The placement rules are the same for both types, but they score differently once the game is over.

Regular Stamps

Regular stamps have 2 defining attributes: Shape and Color.

Shape. There are 3 Regular stamp shapes: Square, Tall, and Wide. Their size is defined by the number of row and column spaces they cover once placed.

• SQUARE | 2 spaces tall x 2 spaces wide
• WIDE | 2 spaces tall x 3 spaces wide
• TALL | 3 spaces tall x 2 spaces wide

Color. There are 5 different Regular stamp colors, each with a specific theme and value.

• GREEN — 1¢ Landmarks
• PURPLE — 2¢ Portraits
• ORANGE — 3¢ Animals
• PINK — 4¢ Birds
• RED — 5¢ Transportation

Penny Black

The Penny Black will score special bonus points at the end of the game. Since this is a special stamp there are fewer in the game, making it highly collectible.

How to Play

The game is played over 10 rounds. During each round, players will take turns collecting new stamps from the central Market Sheets and placing them into their album. Players should consider their Collector cards when choosing and placing stamps, because the points they gain from those card goals will likely determine the winner of the game!

Each round consists of the following 3 steps in order:

1. Collect Stamps

The person with the Starting Player token begins their turn by selecting a Market Sheet. They then take all of the stamps on the selected sheet and temporarily place them near their album.

FOR EXAMPLE, this player chose the Market sheet on the top right and collects those three stamps.

Now, each player in clockwise order will take their turn in the same way. Once every player has collected the stamps from their Market Sheet, all but 1 Market Sheet will have been cleared of stamps.

2. Place Stamps

Once a player has finished collecting stamps, they may immediately start placing them into their album. This means players may place stamps while their opponents are still collecting stamps from Market Sheets.

Players must place all stamps they gained during the first step of the round. Each stamp must be placed according to the following conditions:

• Stamps must be placed completely covering a shaded square area (2x2 space) OR stamps must touch a previously placed stamp.
• Stamps are considered to be touching if they share at least one adjacent space. Stamps that only meet at a corner are not considered to be touching.
• Stamps may be placed on either page of the album. All 3 stamps may be placed on the same page if a player chooses to do so.
• The stamp must line up with the grid and cannot be placed on top of another stamp or outside of the boundary of the page.
• Stamps may be placed on a spot with a Star token. When this happens, the Star token is removed and placed in front of the player.
• Each stamp must be placed in the proper orientation, so they appear upright to the player. Stamps cannot be rotated or placed upside-down.

Players may only move and place the Stamps collected during the current round. Once the round is over, all stamps are considered to be stuck to their albums and may only be moved through the use of the Unstick Stamp Star Bonus, which is explained in Star Bonuses below.

3. Clean Up for the Next Round

Once all players have taken their turns collecting and placing all of their stamps, it's time to clean up. If it's currently the 10th round, then the game immediately ends, and players should perform final scoring.

If the game is not over, then clean up for the next round:

1. Break up the Stamps on the remaining Market Sheet. At the end of each round there will always be one sheet that was not selected by players. Split up those three stamps so that each remaining stamp is on its own sheet.

   If a Penny Black is the only stamp on the Market Sheet, then it remains on that sheet for the next round.

2. Refill the Market Sheets. Randomly draw stamps from the Mail bag so there are three stamps on each sheet.

   If a Penny Black is drawn, it becomes the only stamp placed on that sheet. If there were other stamps drawn with the Penny Black, they are returned to the bag.

   There can only be one Penny Black stamp out on the sheets at a time. If another one is drawn, place it back into the bag and redraw.

   NOTE: Players are not supposed to try and feel for specific Stamp shapes within the bag, so reaching in and grabbing a Stamp quickly is recommended.

3. Move the Tracking Marker one space forward on the Round Track.

4. Pass the Starting Player token to the next player to the left.

5. Begin the next round. The player with the Starting Player token goes first.

Refilling the Market Sheets, for example: The bottom right Market sheet was not chosen. Those stamps are split up, so each remaining stamp is on its own sheet. Then, two tiles are drawn and added to each of the top two Market sheets. Three stamps are drawn for the bottom left Market sheet. A Penny Black was drawn for the bottom right Market sheet, so it is the only one added and the Pink Stamp goes back in the bag.

Star Bonuses

When a stamp is placed on a space with a Star token during the game, that player collects the star token and places it in front of them. Over the course of the game, players may collect up to six Star tokens.

Star tokens may be spent to perform special bonus actions on your turn. There is no limit to the number of Star Bonuses you may take, provided you have the Star tokens to spend. Return any spent Stars to the box.

SWAP STAMPS | Cost 1 Star. Before collecting stamps on your turn, swap two stamps between Market Sheets. You may only swap Regular stamps as Penny Black stamps cannot be swapped.

UNSTICK A STAMP | Cost 1 Star. Move one stamp that was placed in your album on a previous turn. Pick up the stamp and place it in a new spot on one of your pages according to normal placement rules. You may move a stamp to the other page of your album if you wish.

DRAW A RANDOM STAMP | Cost 2 Stars. Randomly draw one stamp from the Mail bag and place it on your album. (Players are not supposed to try and feel for specific stamp shapes within the bag, so reaching in and grabbing a stamp quickly is recommended.)

BUY A PENNY BLACK | Spend 3 Stars. Look into the Mail bag and remove 1 Penny Black stamp. Then place it on your album.

Game End

The game ends after 10 rounds. Players then score their stamp collection.

Scoring & Winning the Game

Use the provided score pad to tally points from the two scoring categories Collector cards and Penny Black. The player with the most combined points from these categories has the most valuable collection of stamps, and wins the game!

If there is a tie, then the tied player who has the most unspent Stars wins the game. If there is still a tie, then the tied players share the victory.

Scoring Terminology

• SET: Any number of stamps with the same attribute (shape or color) that do not need to be touching and can be located anywhere on the same page of an album.
• BLOCK: Two or more stamps with the same attribute (shape or color) that are placed contiguously on the same page – all touching at least one space so they form a single "block."
• EDGE: Each album page has four edges that go around the perimeter of the stamp placement area.
• CORNER: Each album page has four corners which are the points where two edges meet.

1. Collector Card Scoring

Score each Collector card. Each player has four – two per page. Each Collector card only scores points for the stamps on the page it is placed next to.

NOTE: Penny Black stamps do not count toward Collector cards.

FOR EXAMPLE:

• RED COLLECTOR: Scores 2 points for each set of 2 Red Stamps. Example Score: This card scores 6 points because there are 6 total Red Stamps (3 Sets).
• TALL FRIENDS: Scores 4 points for each set of 2 Tall stamps. Example Score: This card scores 16 points because there are 8 total Tall Stamps (4 sets).

2. Penny Black Scoring

Each Penny Black stamp is scored individually and does not score for any Collector cards.

Its score is dependent on the colors of the stamps placed next to it, sharing at least one adjacent space. Touching diagonal corners do not count.

Identify which stamp color appears the most. Count the number of those stamps with that color and double it (x2) for the score. If there is a tie for which color appears the most, choose one of those colors to score.

FOR EXAMPLE, 5 red Stamps and 1 green Stamp are orthogonally adjacent to one Penny Black Stamp. The most common adjacent Regular Stamp color is red, and therefore this Penny Black Stamp will score 5 (red Stamps) x 2 = 10 points.

Regular stamps may also be shared by multiple Penny Black stamps to increase scoring.

For Example, here are two Penny Blacks that share two purple stamps. Both Penny Black stamps will be scored separately as follows: the top Penny Black will score 6 points for the 3 purple stamps next to it. The bottom Penny Black also scores 6 points for the 3 purple stamps next to it. This player scores a total of 12 points for the two Penny Blacks.

Credits

Buffalo Games, LLC 220 James E. Casey Drive Buffalo, NY 14206

Game Design: Aaron Mesburne & Dylan Mangini

Game Art: Kwanchai Moriya, Brigette Indelicato, Adam Grason, Steven Noble

Graphic Design & Art Direction: Brigette Indelicato

Game Development: Bobby West

Rules Layout: Christina Peña Pittre