Stamp Swap Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Overview and Goal
• Components
• Setup
  • Player Components
  • Shared Components
• Gameplay Overview
• How to Play
  • Round Setup
  • Collect Phase
  • Swap Phase
  • Show Phase
• End of Game: Final Show
• Stamps
  • Special Stamps
  • Stamp Sizes
• Clarifications
  • Daily Collection
  • Specialist Cards
  • Event Cards
  • Viewing vs. Revealing
  • Tracking Scores
• Contest Cards
  • Groups
  • Second Most Abundant
  • Sets
  • Perfect Corners
  • Surrounded Stamps
  • Album Edges
  • Empty Regions and Holes
• Additional Resources

Overview and Goal

At the beginning of each round of the Stamp Swap, you will select items from a central pool of stamps and attendee cards (representing specialists and exhibitors). Stamps have different scoring characteristics, including size, color, and theme. Next, you will swap some of your chosen items with other players. At the end of the round, you will add your stamps to your album, arranging them carefully to maximize your score. The goal is to have the most points after 3 rounds and final scoring.

Score points at the end of each round from:

• Your exhibitors
• The first-player token
• A different contest card each round

Score points at the end of the game from:

• Your stamp values
• Your specialist cards
• Your number of forever stamps
• The Finale contest card

Components

• 1 game board
• 5 player mats
• 19 attendee cards (5 exhibitors and 14 specialists)
• 30 contest cards (across five types)
• 10 event cards
• 5 reference cards
• 165 stamp tiles (30 small squares, 30 large squares, 60 short rectangles, 30 long rectangles, and 15 forever stamps)
• 15 show tickets (three per player)
• 1 first-player token
• 1 phase token
• 10 scoring cubes (two per player)

The solo mode components are listed in the solo rulebook. Replacement parts can be requested on the form at stonemaiergames.com/replacement-parts. You can watch a rules video at stonemaiergames.com, or use the Dized interactive tutorial.

Setup

Player Components

Each player performs the following steps. Return any unused components from each step to the box.

A. Player Mats: Gain a player mat and place it in front of you to represent your stamp album. Each player mat has a different starting exhibitor card built into it.

B. Show Tickets: Choose a reference card, gain the 3 show tickets of that card's color, and place them above your player mat.

C. Scoring Cubes: Place 1 scoring cube in your player color on the 0 VP space on the score track; keep the other in your supply to use later if you exceed 50 VP.

D. First-Player Token: If you are the player who has most recently mailed something, gain the first-player token and place it above your player mat. Alternatively, the token can be given to a randomly chosen first player.

Shared Components

1. Game Board: Place the board near the center of the table.
2. Phase Token: Place the phase token on Friday's Collect space on the board.
3. Contest Cards: For each type of contest card, shuffle the cards and randomly place one face up on its marked space on the board. Return the unused contest cards to the box.
4. Stamp Tiles: Place the forever stamps in a pile near the board. Separate the remaining stamps by size into 4 face-down stacks near the board.
5. Attendee Cards: Shuffle the attendee cards (specialist and exhibitor cards) into a single deck and place it face down near the board.
6. Event Cards: Shuffle the event cards together into a deck and place it face down near the board.

SOLO MODE If you're only going to play the game solo, stop reading here and start reading the solo rulebook.

Gameplay Overview

The game is a three-round Stamp Swap. Each round is further divided into 3 phases:

1. Collect Phase: Players take turns selecting items from the pool of stamps and attendee cards until each player has collected 6 items.
2. Swap Phase: Each player simultaneously splits their newly collected items into 2 piles to offer to other collectors and selects a reserved item to keep. Then, players take turns choosing an opponent's pile to gain.
3. Show Phase: Players simultaneously place their new items into their albums and score points for that round.

The Final Show follows the third round. Players simultaneously calculate scores one last time based on their album and a special Finale contest. The player with the most points wins!

How to Play

Round Setup

1. Shuffle the event cards, then draw and reveal a number of cards equal to the number of players. Splay them vertically so each card covers only the text of the card underneath. Read the top event card aloud. Players must follow its instructions as the round continues.
2. Create a pool of items from all splayed event cards (e.g., 19 items from the three event cards shown here) in the center of the table. For each symbol shown on the event cards, take one corresponding stamp or attendee card from the general supply. a. Some stamps are placed face up in the pool (white icons); others are face down. The forever-stamp icon refers to a forever stamp. Attendee cards are always placed face up.

This pool of items would also include everything shown on the top two event cards.

Some event cards you may encounter include:

• Mine Not Yours: During the Collect phase, when you select a face-up stamp matching the exhibitor theme of the player on your left, you immediately score 2 points.
• Hands to Shake: At the start of the Collect Phase, reveal 2 additional attendee cards from the deck and add them to the pool.
• Hidden Gems: During round setup, flip the face-up and face-down orientations of stamps shown on event cards.

Collect Phase

In the Collect Phase, players take turns each gaining 1 item from the pool until each player has 6 items.

1. The first player adds the first-player token to the item pool.
2. They select any item from the pool and place it on a numbered space in their Daily Collection area on their player mat.
3. Continuing clockwise around the table, each player repeats step 2, selecting 1 item at a time from the pool until each player's Daily Collection contains 6 items.

If you select a face-down stamp, you may view it, but it remains face down for now.

Specialist cards are active immediately when selected and for as long as they are in your play area.

Unselected First-Player Token: At the end of the Collect Phase, if the first-player token is still in the pool, the last player to select an item gains the token and places it beneath their Daily Collection. They will keep it for the rest of the round (it will not be counted among the items they have to swap this round).

Swap Phase

In the Swap Phase, players simultaneously split the items (stamps, attendee cards, and the first-player token) in their Daily Collections into a few piles.

1. Cut: Players simultaneously split up their Daily Collections as follows: a. Reserve one item by placing it in the Reserve area on your player mat. You may not reserve rare stamps, even if they are face down. b. Split the remaining items into 2 piles above your player mat, with each pile having at least one item. Face-down stamps remain face down.
2. Choose: Once all players have finished creating their piles, the player with the first-player token takes the first turn. On a player's turn: a. The player chooses one of the piles from above an opponent's player mat and places it below their own. b. That opponent now places all items in their remaining pile below their player mat and proceeds to choose a pile (step a). After choosing, they reveal their face-down stamps.

If you have already taken a Choose turn and another player selects one of your piles, the player to your right takes the next turn instead (and so on counterclockwise until you reach a player who hasn't taken a Choose turn).

If a player is remaining with no one else's pile to take, they move both of their piles below their player mat, and any of their specialist cards that depend on piles being taken are not activated.

Once every pile has been moved below player mats, the Swap Phase ends.

Show Phase

In the Show Phase, players simultaneously move their chosen, reserved, and remaining items into their albums and score points.

1. Place: Players add all unplaced items to their player mat. a. Add your new exhibitor and specialist cards. Place new cards on your player mat to the right of any existing cards so they are all visible. b. Place stamps in your album. Stamps must be placed in empty spaces within the grid of your player mat; they may not overlap other stamps or the edge of the grid, and existing stamps may not be moved to make room.
   • Stamps must be placed upright with their value or cancellation mark displayed at the top right.
   • Each stamp must be placed if possible. If not, discard it and immediately gain points equal to its value (this can result in a loss of points for stamps with negative values).
2. Score: Score your items and album as follows. Some specialist cards can affect score calculations. a. Score points as shown on your exhibitors. b. If you currently have the first-player token, score 2 points. c. Choose one of the contest cards at the bottom of the board that does not have one of your show tickets. Score points for that card's scoring condition, then place one of your show tickets there to indicate that you've entered that contest (this makes you choose a different contest card every round).

Variant: You may draw more attention to the ticket selection by having players declare their choice one at a time instead of simultaneously (clockwise, starting with the first player).

End of Round: Discard the top event card (return the others to the event card deck) and any remaining items in the pool, then advance the phase token to the next round. If the phase token moves to a new day, repeat Round Setup and begin the next round. Otherwise, move on to the Final Show (see End of Game).

End of Game: Final Show

During the Final Show, all players simultaneously score their album one last time as follows.

• Forever Stamps: Count the number of forever stamps in your album and compare that with the other players. Score 10 points if you have the most forever stamps, 6 points for 2nd place, 3 points for 3rd place, and no points for any lower rank.

  • You must have at least one forever stamp to earn points in this category.
  • In a 2-player game, add an imaginary player with 3 forever stamps, and award points to all three players accordingly.
  • If players tie, all tied players score for their place and the next place is not awarded.

  Example: David has 3 forever stamps and Teresa has 2. In this 2-player game, David ties the imaginary player, so he earns 10 points and 2nd place is not awarded. Teresa earns 3 points for 3rd place.

• Stamp Values: Score points equal to the sum of the numbers printed on the stamps in your album. Some values are negative and subtract from your score.

• Specialist Cards: If you have any specialist cards, score 2 points for each.

• Finale Contest Card: Score points according to the contest card in the Finale section of the board. This does not require a show ticket.

Once all players have scored their points, the player with the most points wins! If there is a tie, the tied player with the highest total value of rare stamps wins. If there is still a tie, the tied players share the victory.

Stamps

Stamps have different sizes, colors, values, and themes. Each color can also be distinguished by its border pattern. Each theme can also be distinguished by its background.

Colors: Purple, Yellow, Blue, Green, Brown

Themes: Space, Monuments, Animals, Flowers, Vehicles

Special Stamps

Rare stamps are gold. They do not have colors or themes for scoring purposes. Since they are especially valuable, they may not be reserved during the Swap Phase.

Canceled stamps have a wavy mark in their top-right corner. They have colors and themes, but they do not have a value.

Faded, lower grade stamps have negative values. They have colors and themes, but they decrease your album's value.

Forever stamps are the smallest. They have no colors, themes, or values.

Stamp Sizes

• Small squares are 2x2 tiles.
• Large squares are 3x3 tiles.
• Forever stamps are 1x1 tiles and are not considered "small squares" for contest scoring.
• Short rectangles are 2x3 tiles.
• 2x4 tiles that contain 2 small square stamps should be treated as 2 separate stamps. All other 2x4 stamps should be treated as long rectangles.

Clarifications

Daily Collection

The 6 slots in the Daily Collection area of your player mat are numbered solely to remind you that you are gaining a total of 6 items during the Collect phase (the order does not matter).

Specialist Cards

Example specialist card — Specialist: "After you cut, if one of your piles has no face-up stamps, you may draw and reserve one stamp face up."

• Whenever a specialist card allows you to reserve a stamp, it is in addition to any other items you are able to reserve.
• Whenever a specialist card allows you to draw and reserve a stamp, if the stamp is revealed to be rare, you may still reserve it. Forever stamps are not eligible for drawing and reserving.
• If you have several specialist cards to use at the end of the same phase, you choose the order in which to use them.

Event Cards

Example event card — Generous Gifts: "At the end of the Collect Phase, each player simultaneously reveals 1 of their collected items, gains or loses points equal to its end-game value, and gives it to the player on their right."

• When resolving the "Generous Gifts" effect, exhibitor cards and the first-player token are worth 2 points each.
• If an event card and a specialist card both say "at the end of the collect phase," use the specialist(s) first, then the event.

Viewing vs. Revealing

Example event card — More to See: "At the start of the Collect Phase, each player reveals a different face-down stamp in the pool."

When an effect allows you to view a face-down component, do not show it to other players, and return it face down to its original location. When directed to reveal a component, ensure it is face up so everyone can see it.

Tracking Scores

As you accumulate points, advance your cube along the track. After you reach the end of the track, use your second cube to represent the number of times you've reached the end.

Contest Cards

Groups

A group of stamps is a cluster of one or more stamps that are connected along an edge or part of an edge to another stamp in the same connected group. This type of contest card looks for connected stamps that share a specific color, theme, or shape. A single isolated stamp is still considered a group.

In the example to the right there are 2 groups of rectangles. For the contest card shown (rectangles in 1 group of your choice), you have a choice between a single rectangle (3 points) or the two connected rectangles (6 points). For the purpose of this type of card, squares are not considered rectangles.

Second Most Abundant

Some contest cards reward you for your second most abundant color or theme. To score these contests, count the number of stamps you have for each color or theme. Ignore the largest number and score the largest remaining number. Stamps do not need to be connected to count for these contests.

If two objectives are tied for most abundant, treat one of those as the second most abundant and score it.

In the example to the right, purple and green tie for the most abundant color with 3 stamps each. Ignoring either color, the other color scores 12 points.

Sets

A theme or color set consists of any 5 stamps in your album that represent all 5 of the possible themes or colors. Each stamp may only be counted towards one theme set and one color set. Stamps do not need to be connected to count as a set.

This example shows a complete set of all 5 themes, and scores 9 points.

Perfect Corners

A perfect corner is a point in your album where 4 stamps meet at a corner.

This example shows 2 perfect corners (the top left and bottom left corners of the Blue stamp) for a total of 8 points.

Surrounded Stamps

A stamp is surrounded if it has no empty spaces along its exposed edges (the edge of the player mat counts towards surrounding a stamp).

This example shows 3 surrounded stamps (Flower, UFO, and the left forever stamp).

Album Edges

Your album has four edges. Each edge is complete when all 12 of the spaces along it are covered by a stamp.

This example shows 1 complete edge along the right side of the album, consisting of 5 stamps, scoring 10 points.

Empty Regions and Holes

An empty region in your album is a connected cluster of one or more uncovered spaces surrounded by stamps and/or album edges. 1x1 and 1x2 holes are empty regions consisting of exactly one and two spaces respectively.

This example shows 6 empty regions, including two 1x2 holes scoring 6 points.

Additional Resources

Want to watch a how-to-play video or read the FAQ? Go to stonemaiergames.com/games/stamp-swap/rules-faq

Have a question while playing or a story to share? Post it on the Stamp Swap Facebook group, on BoardGameGeek, or in the Stamp Swap channel of the Stonemaier Games Discord server: stonemaiergames.com/discord

Need a replacement part? Request it at stonemaiergames.com/replacement-parts

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