15th Stamp Card Game Preview

This is a preview copy sent to us for our early opinions. No money exchanged hands. Some art, rules or components will change in the final game.

If you have played Factory 42 or Mine 77 then this game's theme may ring a few Dwarf shaped bells! Like those games, the 15th Stamp takes place in the grand Halls of Bureaucracy in Odrixia. A flood of documents covers the desks of overwhelmed government officials, each needing to be stamped and authorised according to set procedures. And it's your job to sort them... by playing a trick-taking game! But here, you don't follow suit. There are no trumps. You can play whatever you want! How is there order in that? Well stick around and find out.

How To Set Up 15th Stamp

To start a Round, the lead player, known as the Administrator takes all cards from the same numbers as suits as there are players, plus one. There are eight suits in the game, so this plays up to seven players. They will shuffles the deck of chosen suits, and deals all the cards evenly among the players. If there are leftover cards that cannot be dealt evenly, these are set aside for the Round, unseen, and will not be used.

You should never start playing a Round with more than 12 cards per player. In a three-player game, you will have 13 cards each, so each player must choose one card to discard without revealing it. The Lead player is always the player to the left of the Administrator.

How To Play 15th Stamp

Each Round is made up of multiple Tricks. For each Trick, play proceeds clockwise, beginning with the Lead player. On your turn, you play one card at a time into the Trick. You do not need to follow suit; any card of any Suit and Rank can be played. The Trick continues until the total combined Rank value of all cards played reaches or exceeds the Target Value of 15. The Trick ends immediately once 15 is reached. This means that players may have played a different number of cards into the Trick, and some players may not have played any cards at all.

When playing your cards, make sure to keep them separate from other players’ cards so you can easily retrieve your own later. Ideally, play them in front of you, not into a shared trick pile as usual with these sort of games.

Now, calculate the total Rank value of cards played for each Suit that participated in the Trick.

If two or more Suits tie for the highest total value, the Suit containing the last card played becomes the scoring Suit for that Trick. All players who played cards of the scoring Suit now retrieve the cards they played. The player who played the highest Rank card of the scoring Suit places that card face up in front of them. This will be worth two points at the end of the game. If there are two or more cards of equal highest Rank, the last one played takes precedence and becomes the face-up card. Other players who contributed to the scoring Suit place one of their cards face down in front of them. These are worth one point. Any remaining cards in the Trick are discarded.

The player to the immediate left of the player who caused the Trick to reach 15 becomes the new Lead player and starts the next Trick.

The Round ends when any player plays their last card. The current Trick then becomes the last Trick of the Round. It is played out as usual until either the total reaches 15 or all players run out of cards. Any remaining cards left in players’ hands at the end of the Round are discarded.

Once the Round is complete, record Victory Points for each player on the Scorepad. Remember, each face-up card scores two points and each face-down card scores one point.

If any player has reached the End Game score on 20 or more points, the game ends and a winner is determined. Otherwise, the first player to run out of cards becomes the Administrator, and the game continues with a new Round starting at the Deal. The game continues in Rounds until one or more players reach 20 Victory Points. The player with the most Victory Points at that time is the winner. Of course, if players want a longer game, they may agree to increase the winning total before the game starts. If two or more players tie with the highest Victory Points, the game is considered a joint win.

Is It Fun? 15th Stamp Card Game Preview

What makes this game fun is the constant tension around the number 15. Every card played pushes the trick closer to an abrupt end, and you are never quite sure how many cards you or your opponents will get to contribute before it stops, if any! That creates a push-your-luck feeling that is easy to grasp but surprisingly tense, especially as hands get smaller and every decision matters more. You can play higher cards to stop other players from having a chance to contribute, but then you may want to play a few cards into it if you have a lot of a certain suit, as you may have a chance to score them all.

This also sets the game apart from more traditional trick-taking games. You are not following suit, you are not playing exactly one card per Trick, and you are not even guaranteed to take part in every Trick. Instead, scoring is driven by timing, suit totals, and who plays the decisive card at the right moment. Tricks end suddenly, scoring can swing on a single play, and the usual rhythms of trick taking are turned on their head. Its ridiculous fun!

Players who enjoy clever card games with simple rules and lots of table talk should definitely keep an eye on this one. It will appeal to trick-taking fans looking for something fresh, as well as players who like tactical games that reward reading the table rather than memorising conventions. If you enjoy games that are quick to teach but hard to master, this is one worth watching when it comes out.