Stamp Swap Board Game Review

Stamp Swap

Players: 1-5
Play Time: 30-60 min

Age: 14+

While I've never considered myself a stamp collector, I’ve heard nothing but positive things about Jamey Stegmaier games and we love tile placement, so I jumped at the chance to try Stamp Swap! (Game kindly gifted by publisher, but all thoughts are my own).

Overview:

In Stamp Swap, you and your competitors are stamp collectors attending a stamp convention. The game takes place over three days (rounds) and on each day you will collect, swap and show your stamps. First, each player will take turns collecting stamps and exhibitor cards from a given pool. Then they will split their collection into two stacks and swap with other players. Finally, they will arrange their collected stamps into their albums trying to score as many points as possible. Each player has a particular type of stamp for which they score points as well as a particular goal (contest) they can choose to score each round. Exhibitor cards can also help score points during the rounds. At the end of the game, players get points for the value of each stamp in their album as well as a final stamp placement goal.

Thoughts:

We have several tile placement games, but one feels unique. While in most games you have some sort of placement constraints, in Stamp Swap you can pretty much place your stamps anywhere in your album, as long as they do not overlap. For some goals, you will want things clumped and for others you will want things spaced far apart (which feels weird to me). There are four possible contests, but you can only pick three. Balancing all of the various goals and choosing when to enter each contest definitely takes some thought, it’s impossible to maximize everything. It is a great puzzle, without feeling heavy.

This is our first “I cut, you choose,” which added an interesting element. While the swapping felt more significant with three players, it still worked just fine at two. My son even preferred it that way.

The components of the game are fantastic! Everything feels thick and sturdy, and even the rulebook is made on durable material. I LOVE the shiny gold rare stamps! Other than that, the art is a little lackluster, but it fits the theme well. While I haven’t used it, I also appreciate that there is a solo mode for the game. My only real complaint is that setting up each round and scoring at the end often feel like they take a lot longer than actually “playing” the rounds.

All in all, we enjoy the game quite a bit. My teen said it is probably one of his top five for the year. I don’t know that I’d go that far, but it is definitely one we will hang on to and play again!

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