Here's my write-up about this custom deck and the game.
Stamp Showdown Playing Cards and Card Game (Kickstarter)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/st ... p-showdown
A stamp-themed custom deck of cards that includes a reimplemented version of the fun filler game Lamarckian Poker
Price: €15 for Standard Edition, €29 for Deluxe Edition
Kickstarter ends: Thursday, February 12, 2026
Stamp Showdown is an improved reimplementation of
Lamarckian Poker, a game first created in 1996 by prolific game designer James Ernest for a standard deck of cards.
This has now been further developed and polished under the new name "Stamp Showdown", which makes some minor adjustments, and adds a postage stamp theme. While it can still be played with a regular deck of 52 playing cards, the
Kickstarter project offers the benefits of a custom deck of cards, two player aids, and a rule book.
The Deck
The custom deck is available as a Standard Edition or a Deluxe Edition. The Deluxe version is a Kickstarter exclusive, and comes with a magnetic box that opens up to function as the game board and scoring pad, along with a dry-erase marker.
Below is an overview of all the cards in the deck. There's a unique stamp illustration on each, with the artwork by Rixt Heerschop and the graphic design by Florian Fiedler.
The four suits represent different eras, and each value has its own theme: Men Activists (Kings), Women Activists (Queens), Artists (Jacks), Science (Aces), Ships (2s), Trains (3s), Architecture (4s), Aerospace (5s), Medicine (6s), Energy (7s), Communications Technology (8s), Racing Sports (9s), Bicycles (10s), Sun & Moon (Jokers).
Two player aids are included as extra cards, and have an overview of the poker hand rankings that are part of the game.
The Game
Along with the deck you get a rulebook for the card game, which is for 2 to 6 players. You can already try playing the game with a regular deck of playing cards; this is encouraged by the creator, and is how the game originated. This
quickplay video explains how the game works, and
the rulebook is available online as a free PDF download.
Gameplay is super simple, especially if you already are familiar with poker hand rankings.
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Setup: Cards are removed from the game depending on the number of players (for 6 players use the entire deck; for 5 remove the 2s; for 4 remove the 2-3s, for 3 remove the 2-4s, for 2 remove the 2-5s). Each player starts with a hand of four cards, and then four cards are dealt into a common pool called the Market.
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Offer Trade: Each round consists of players simultaneously playing and revealing a card from their hand. These are then resolved from highest card to lowest (Ace is high, and ties are resolved in order of suit: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs). In that order, players get to trade with the Market the card they played.
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Make Trade: You take into your hand all the cards from the Market that match the rank or suit of the card you offered, and then put the card you played back into the Market. If your card has no suit or value matches to what is in the Market, you get to take a card of your choice. After all players have done this, the remaining cards in the Market are discarded, and the next round begins with four new cards dealt.
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Showdown: After doing seven such rounds, players use their cards in hand to produce the best five-card poker hand they can, which are then compared in a Showdown. The strongest hand relative to the other players gets points equal to the number of players, the next best hand gets one less point, and so on, while the worst hand gets zero points. The rules recommend playing four such "Competitions", each with its own Showdown and scoring, and adding up your scores to determine the overall winner, but you can play fewer if you wish.
Aside from the theme, if you're curious to know what the small changes made to the gameplay of the original Lamarckian Poker game are, see
my overview elsewhere. For the most part these changes are minor, and are improvements. Stamp Showdown keeps what was good about Lamarckian Poker, and the adjustments it makes to the rules only make it even better.
Impressions
This project grabbed my interest for several reasons:
1.
The custom deck. I'm a big enthusiast of custom playing cards. This is effectively a well-produced and quality deck of playing cards with custom artwork that you can use for playing any traditional card game with a standard deck. The colours and artwork have a very original feel, and work well with the stamp collecting theme, even though the theme isn't integral to the gameplay. Even purely as a custom deck of cards, it's something unique and fresh.
2.
The game. I love modern card games that are played with a standard deck of playing cards. Many good ones have emerged in recent years, Regicide being one of the more well known ones. Lamarckian Poker was already a clever and popular card game that got a lot of praise for being a fun filler game that played quickly and smartly. Effectively the game is about improving your hand, it's usually a good strategy to first try to play cards that increase the size of your hand, giving you more scope to work with, and then focus on refining and improving your hand. The decisions this involves are tense and fun, because sometimes the cards you want to keep to build the best possible hand are also the ones you need to play in order to get better cards or to prevent your opponents from getting what they need. The simplicity and speed of the game are other real strengths.
3.
The designer. I've enjoyed the output of prolific game designer James Ernest ever since he began producing games under his Cheapass Games label, and more recently his Crab Fragment Labs brand. He's produced many wonderful little games on the lighter side of things, and Lamarckian Poker is one of them. So when I heard that Stamp Showdown was a reworked version of that, it got my immediate attention.
4.
The producer. I've also followed with appreciation previous projects by the producer, Robin Stokkel from Four Suit Studio, who is a proven and respected creator. His previously released game River Rats is a creative poker-style game and also came with a custom deck with charming artwork by the same artist, Rixt Heerschop. Robin's goal is to have production of Stamp Showdown begin in February after the Kickstarter ends, with fulfilment and shipping in May and June. Based on my experience with Robin's previous project, that seems to be a reasonable expectation.
Recommendation
Not only is this a chance to get a creative and interesting custom deck of cards, but you also get a clever card game that is worthwhile in its own right.
Stamp Showdown is a clever little game that will appeal to people as a filler, especially to those who enjoy games with poker elements. I'm pleased that James Ernest's Lamarckian Poker will be getting love from a whole new set of people, and to see it getting a fresh coat of paint along with some rule improvements that make it even better.
Kickstarter link
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/st ... p-showdown
