Stampede
Stampede Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 90 stamp cards; 10 each of 9 distinct animals. Each stamp card shows an animal stamp on the front, together with the action that corresponds to this animal type. On the back of the stamp cards, 2 distinct animal stamps are shown. One of these will correspond with the animal on the front of the card.
- 1 stamp exchange area card
- 6 double-sided player-aid cards
- These rules
Setup
- Hand each player a player-aid card
- Shuffle the stamp cards
- Deal 3 cards facedown to each player to form their starting hand
- Deal 2 cards faceup to each player and place them in front of them on the table; these cards form the start of their stamp album
- Put the stamp exchange area card in the middle of the table
- Deal 3 cards faceup below the stamp exchange area card in the middle of the table; this forms the stamp exchange area
- Place the remaining cards as a facedown stack on the table to form the draw pile
- Randomly determine the starting player
Playing the Game
STAMPEDE is a turn-based game. On your turn, you must go through the following 3 steps, in the specified order:
- Step 1: Take the top card from the draw pile and add it to your hand.
- Step 2: Play 1 card from your hand and add it faceup to your album.
- Step 3: Execute the action that corresponds to the card you played (see Actions).
After you finished your turn, the turn passes to the player on your left.
Actions
After you add a card to your album in step 2 of your turn, you must execute the action corresponding to the card you played. Each animal has its own specific action. All actions involve the exchange of one or more of your stamp cards. For example, if you play a Lion, you must exchange 1 card from your album with 1 card from the album of one of the other players.
The exchanges resulting from the card actions are either 1-for-1 exchanges or 3-for-3 exchanges. So, the number of cards in an album, a hand or the animal exchange can never change as the result of an exchange!
This can be a bit confusing in your first play, but there are 3 simple checks you can make to ensure you did not accidentally make a mistake. At the end of your turn:
- You have exactly 3 cards in your hand
- You have 1 more card in your album than at the start of your turn
- There are exactly 3 cards in the stamp exchange area
Please note that card actions only trigger when you play a card into your album during step 2 of your turn; cards that enter your album due to an exchange never cause an action to trigger.
Also note that a card you just placed in your album is available as part of an exchange on the same turn.
At the end of the rules, you will find a detailed description of the actions corresponding to each of the animal types.
End of the Game
To win the game, you must be the first to collect a set of 5 of the same animal or a set of all 9 distinct animals (at least one of each).
The game ends as soon as a player satisfies one of these winning conditions at the end of their turn. This player is the winner!
Empty Draw Deck
In the unlikely event that the deck runs out at any time during the game, all players immediately must give up 2 cards from their album. Stack them and then shuffle them to form a new draw pile.
Additional Notes
- You must always keep the cards in your album sorted by animal type and visible for all other players.
- The backs of your hand-cards should always be made visible to the other players, upon their request.
Play Example
We illustrate the game mechanics by describing a round of a 3-player game.
It's Player 1's turn.
- She starts by taking the top card from the draw pile.
- Next, she plays a Lion card from her hand into her album.
- Now she must perform the action corresponding with the Lion: she exchanges a Croc from her album with a Parrot from Player 2's album. This way she prevents Player 2 from winning the game next turn by playing a fourth Parrot.
Player 2 now starts her turn by taking the top card from the draw pile.
- She sees a picture of a Lion on the back of Player 1's cards. If it is indeed a Lion card, then Player 1 can win on her turn.
- So Player 2 decides to play a Croc card. With the corresponding action she exchanges her whole hand of cards with the hand of Player 1.
Now it's Player 3's turn. He takes the top card from the draw pile and to his delight it's a Buffalo.
- He plays it directly into his album.
- As the corresponding action, he exchanges his two Hippos and his Baboon with the 3 cards in the stamp exchange area.
- He now has collected five Buffaloes and wins the game!
Beware of the Lion
All animal types have their own special power that you will learn to value if you play more often. However, for your first few games, please be aware that the Lion can be very powerful if left untamed. So, first-time players should beware the player who is collecting Lions.
Team Variant
When you are playing STAMPEDE with 4 or more players, it's fun to play in teams. For the team variant, players must be allocated to 2 or 3 teams (A, B & C) in the following way (seating order around the table):
- 4 players: A B A B
- 5 players: A B A B B
- 6 players: A B C A B C
The rules for playing the team variant are exactly the same as the regular game, but the win condition is different: you win, as a team, if you are the first team for which all team members have satisfied the win condition at least once during the game.
NB: this does not need to be at the same time!
Animal Actions
- Elephant: Exchange 1 card from your hand with 1 card from your own album.
- Hippo: Exchange 1 card from your hand with 1 card from the album of one of the other players.
- Lion: Exchange 1 card from your album with 1 card from the album of one of the other players.
- Crocodile: Exchange your hand of cards with another player's hand of cards.
- Giraffe: In the order you prefer:
- Take the top card from the draw pile and add it to your album.
- Take any other card from your album and return it facedown to the draw pile. You choose the exact location in the draw pile.
- Rhino: In the order you prefer:
- Take the top 3 cards from the draw pile to form your new hand of cards.
- Take your former hand cards and return them facedown to the draw pile. You choose the location of each card returned to the draw pile.
- Baboon: Exchange 1 card from your hand with 1 card from the stamp exchange area.
- Buffalo: Exchange 3 cards from your album with the 3 cards in the stamp exchange area.
- Parrot: No exchange action. However, you immediately win the game when you have collected 4 Parrots!