Stamp Swap Review - Split Decisions
Stamp Swap is a 2024 release from publisher Stonemaier Games, best known for heavy hitters like Wingspan, Scythe and Viticulture, all of which have left a lasting mark on their respective genres. Designed by Paul Salomon with art from Connor Gillette, Stamp Swap mixes polyomino shape placement with an ‘I Cut, You Choose’ mechanic themed around fervent stamp collectors trading madly across three days of a convention before being judged in various categories for their collections. The theme fits well enough, but I can see an alternate universe whereby had Christopher Guest been on board, this very well could have been a licensed Best in Show game, or really anything collectible – I’m quite surprised a Pokémon retheme hasn’t already been announced by some enterprising print and player.
The stamps come in a variety of shapes and sizes, also split across a combination of five themes and colours, meaning you might be chasing a number of ‘Space’ themed stamps across all five colours while another player is focusing in Blue stamps only regardless of theme. Desire for certain stamps is primarily governed by Contest cards, which come in five categories; colour, theme, size, ‘canceled’ (an icon which denotes a stamp had been previously used) and finale. While there are five Contest categories, players are only able to enter one per round and only once per category using one of their three Show tickets. Players are entered into the Finale regardless, but need to choose wisely regarding the other four options and may choose, or be forced to, skip one Contest during each game. It is this overarching puzzle which drives the engine of Stamp Swap and gives weight to the decisions players will make.
Across a brisk three rounds, players will draft up to six items each split across a few categories governed by an Event card drawn at the start, which instructs players which items will form the item pool and whether or not a stamps face will be visible before it’s been drafted. Taking turns in a clockwise order, each player chooses one item to take – Stamps or Attendee cards, which are split between ‘exhibitors’ and ‘specialists’; the former gives extra points towards certain stamp colours, while the latter are asymmetric powers that grant a unique ability alongside two points per card at the end of the game.
This ‘Collect’ phase is fairly straightforward in execution, but is made engaging due to the ramifications of player choice on the titular ‘Swap’ phase; from their collected items, players must create two ‘piles’, only one of which they will get to keep at the end of this phase. Make a pile too attractive, and an opponent will scoop it up straight away leaving you with scraps. While there isn’t a huge amount of interaction on the surface of Stamp Swap, the possibility for strategic play emerges once players begin to not only consider their own needs but the needs of other players when dividing their items and ensure that they will be forced to take something of little value to them. For these reasons, Stamp Swap is a less compelling game at solo or two player counts, with fewer incentives in the mix to muddy the waters when splitting. Indeed, it’s possible for two players to avoid overlapping much at all and thus any attempt to make a pile less attractive to your opponent could lead them to hate drafting exactly what you need, which isn’t necessarily the worst play when the game becomes zero sum – less points for you is effectively the same as more points for me. After collecting the tiles you’ve been left, players set about arranging them on their player board in the hopes of impressing the Contest judges.
Choosing where to place stamps and splitting them into smaller groups is essential to covering the varying scoring categories, although one always needs to keep an eye on the finale scoring which can land a player a ton of points when focused on. While there are certainly tactical decisions to be made when choosing what Contest card to go for each round, it’s perhaps more important to have an overall strategic plan which preferably doesn’t lead to direct competition with another play, especially at the three player count where two players competing directly can leave enough room for the third to do as they please, a not uncommon wrinkle at that number. While the included ‘Pinzetta’ automa, from the famed Automa Factory, does a serviceable job of replicating an opponent for solo players, ‘I Split You Choose’ isn’t a mechanic I’m wild for at such low player counts, and even at two I would recommend something like Reiner Knizia’s Marabunta for a tighter expression of the mechanic.
But at three or four players, Stamp Swap comes alive in a much better way, with overlapping incentives and a fast play time matching what’s on the box, something the five player count can’t quite manage. However, the result is something that feels mechanically sound and thematically soft, a serviceable game that will be good for half a dozen plays but is unlikely to become anybody’s favourite title. Despite the lovely art, well-crafted components – Stonemaier understands tactility in a way some other publishers don’t seem to comprehend at times – Stamp Swap doesn’t quite have that special something that draws me back to titles over and over again. Perhaps if the theme particularly speaks to you, or the mix of polyomino/I-split-you-choose at 3-5 in an hour or so is exactly what your Kallax is missing, Stamp Swap will have you covered.
Stamp Swap was reviewed using a retail copy of the game kindly supplied by the Publisher. You can support Player2 by purchasing through our Amazon AU affiliate link!
