Post Office: Card Game
Post Office: Card Game Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Game Overview
Each round you take 2 Package cards, pass one to the player on your left and receive one from the player on your right, then placing your cards in front of yourself, one on top of the other. At the end of the game, you gain Victory Points for rows and columns containing different types of packages and lose Victory Points for each uncovered slot with a mouse. Whoever gains the most Victory Points wins.
1-4 players, 8 years and up, 10 minutes.
Game Contents
- 36 Package cards
Setup
Count out Package cards according to the number of players, shuffle them, forming a deck and place it in the middle of the table facing down.
- 1 player: single player version is described below.
- 2 players: Use 18 cards marked with either a or a symbol in the top left corner on the back. Return the rest of the cards to the box. You can use 18 random Package cards if you like, but playing with a set of cards is recommended for a more balanced game.
- 3 players: Return 9 random Package cards to the box.
- 4 players: Use all Package cards.
Each player starting with the one who shuffled the cards takes a card from the top of the deck and places it in front of themselves facing up. This is the player's starting card.
You can begin the game.
Gameplay
At the beginning of each round each player takes 2 Package cards from the top of the deck and looks at them: they keep one card and pass the other one to the player on their left. Then they receive a card from the player on their right. Everyone should end up with 2 cards: one from the deck and one they received from an opponent.
Then all players act at the same time: each player places both cards in front of themselves in any order, partially covering the cards already on the table. See "Placing cards" below.
When all players have placed their cards, start a new round following the same rules.
After the round during which the Package card deck ran out, the game is over. Proceed to scoring.
Placing cards
Each card is made up of 6 slots. Slots can be empty or occupied by packages or mice.
When you place a card, it has to cover at least one slot of another card already on the table. One card can cover however many slots but the number of uncovered slots has to increase by at least one after placing a card. A card can be rotated before placement but cannot be placed facing down.
A card can only be placed on top of other cards already on the table and cannot be placed underneath any of them.
Try your best to place cards in a way to form rows and columns containing packages of different types. There are 4 types of packages in the game:
- something given as a gift
- something personal
- something sweet
- something fragile
You gain Victory Points for rows and columns that contain 3 or 4 packages of different types. If there are at least two of the same type of package, then this row or column is not worth any Victory Points. Besides packages a row or a column can contain empty slots, slots with mice and even gaps between cards (see "Example of scoring points").
Make sure to cover as many mice slots as you can, otherwise they will subtract Victory Points at the end of the game.
End of Game and Scoring
Score your Victory Points:
- Gain 3 points for each row or column containing 3 packages of different types.
- Gain 6 points for each row or column containing 4 packages of different types.
- Subtract 1 point for each uncovered mouse slot.
Rows and columns that only contain one package or two packages of different types or several packages of the same type do not give you any Victory Points.
The player that gained the most Victory Points becomes employee of the month. In case of a tie, the contender that has fewer uncovered mouse slots wins. If there is still a tie, the players share the victory.
Example of scoring points
Anna scores her Victory Points. She has two rows and one column containing three packages of different types, as well as one column containing four packages of different types. There are seven uncovered mouse slots. Anna has 3+3+3+6-7=8 Victory Points in total.
Single Player Game
Before the game pick out 18 cards marked with either a or a symbol in the top left corner on the back. Return the rest of the cards to the box. You can use 18 random Package cards if you like, but playing with a set of cards is recommended for a more balanced game.
Shuffle this new deck and then return 9 random cards from it to the box. Then take the top card from your deck and place it in front of yourself facing up; this is your starting card.
Take 2 cards from the deck and place both of them on the table in any order. All other rules remain the same.
After scoring your points see which position matches your results:
| Results | Position |
|---|---|
| < 6 | Merman the intern. Packages just seep through your fingers! |
| 6-10 | Elf the newbie. You are at the start of your journey - keep practicing! |
| 11-15 | Worker dwarf. You are great at finding your way around mountains of packages although you can't keep track of all of them. |
| 16-20 | Werewolf the manager. Your mind is just as sharp as your claws. |
| 21-25 | Senior Wizard. Packages sort themselves with a wave of a hand! |
| > 25 | Dragon the boss. The entire post office cowers before your might, you cannot be defeated. |
"Post Office" Boardgame
Try the big "Post Office" boardgame. In this game you team up with a talking pet and solve two tasks at the same time: organize packages on shelves and label them with tape in a way that brings you the most victory points.