The story behind Stamp Showdown

My friends and I were on my balcony, enjoying some Korean bites and makgeolli (Korean rice wine), which served as fuel for our card game try-out session. While the others were still eating, I took 30 seconds to explain the next game we were going to try. The first few had missed the mark, so we really hoped this one would bring the fun.

In preparation for the evening, I scoured Reddit and BoardGameGeek for novel card game designs that can be played with a standard deck of playing cards; the signature of my publishing company, Four Suit Studio. I selected five games, and we started testing the more complex ones.

The game I just explained in between bites was Lamarckian Poker. It’s a design from 1999 by James Ernest who is known for games like Lords of Vegas, Tak, Light Speed: Arena and 252 other designs. Despite its simplicity, it stood out right away. While playing, we were having fun within minutes: we were laughing, trying to mess with each other’s hands and cards, and we got fully hooked. It was a blast!

The next day, I reached out to James, told him I loved his game, and what I think could use some tweaks (read further for more details on this), and asked if I could license a new variant of it and if he wanted to develop it further. I did offer a small advance (I’m an indie publisher, so budgets are tight). He responded swiftly and was positive to all of it!

Over the weeks that followed, we emailed back and forth about possible rule changes, mostly suggested by James and then tested by both of us. In the meanwhile I was also working on the theme.

The result is Stamp Showdown.

About the game:

In Stamp Showdown, you’re competing in a high-profile stamp competition where only the most stunning collection will win. Each turn, players simultaneously trade stamps with the market, curating their own collection while cleverly disrupting their rivals. When the final showdown begins, only the most impressive combination takes the prize.

Want to know more about the game? Check out the Kickstarter page for reviews, How to Play videos and more:

For the game designers: What I thought could be improved in Lamarckian Poker
1. In Lamarckian Poker, you always played with all cards from the deck. You would have to go through all 52 cards. This would result in much longer games and way too many trades at lower player counts. In Stamp Showdown, cards are removed at setup depending on the number of players. As a result, trading with the market only happens seven times, regardless of the number of players.

In Lamarckian poker, when your card matches nothing, you would lose that card and your hand would shrink in size. It could even result in the player being kicked out of the game before it was finished. In Stamp Showdown, if your card matches nothing in the market, you can take any single card from the market that you wish. This rule change ensures that players are guaranteed to get at least one card in trade, and ensures that the market never becomes empty. Playing a card without a match can even be used as a strategic move to get a card of your choice. It avoids the frustration of having less choices due to running out of cards, and ensures everyone stays in the game until the final showdown.

My Substack will from now on contain mostly in-depth articles game design, playing cards, and the adventures of publishing. The regular newsletter will be Four Suit Studio branded, and contain updates on the conferences, news, new games and production updates.

Hope this one is received well!

-Robin