Postcrossing Blog

I love board games, and I know many of you do too. There’s something magical about getting friends around a table and trying to outsmart each other or collaborate towards a common objective. We laugh at unexpected twists, get the satisfaction of solving tricky puzzles and explore different worlds together… They’re brilliant!

So, for everyone who loves board games as well as postcards, Fenrir Boardgames is launching a new game that blends the best of both worlds—it’s a journey full of postcards, stamps and souvenirs, and it’s appropriately called Postcards!

The game invites you to hop on your bicycle and embark on a picturesque adventure through 13 different regions of metropolitan France. As you cycle through these iconic locations, your goal is to camp around France, sharing your travels by sending postcards and collecting souvenirs. The game contains beautiful design elements, including gorgeous postcards, Marianne-themed stamps and many other small markers. I have a soft spot for board games with lots of little tokens, and all these look sturdy and well-finished.

We received an advance copy to give the game a try and thoroughly enjoyed playing it. At first, we were too focused on just sending postcards 😅… but quickly realized the different layers of strategy one can apply to get points and thus win the game. You can use the different types of camping sites to gather bonuses and also collect souvenirs, all with their own perks. Each game takes between 30 and 45 minutes, and up to 4 people can play together. And there’s also a solo mode!

I wish they sold the postcards separately though, in a usable format — they’re so nice! 😍 It truly makes you want to travel to France to visit these places one by one.

Currently live on Kickstarter, Fenrir is seeking support to bring the Postcards game to life. The campaign runs until February 10, and by backing it, you’ll not only get your hands on a copy later this year, but also support a game that resonates with our shared love for postcards and adventure. Check out the Kickstarter campaign to learn more and consider supporting this exciting endeavor.

Happy gaming nights!

Our team member Iris (aka scrutiny) has recently tried a fun postal-themed game, and we thought this could be an interesting topic for a blog post, as I bet there are a lot of other gamers in the community. 🧑‍💻 So here she is, to tell us all about it!

"Have you ever wondered what it would be like processing mail in a post office if you had no hands? Specifically, if you were a pair of exotic birds with no hands? This is the premise of a video game named KeyWe, that was first brought to our attention by postcrosser Nathalie (aka Ezri). She mentioned it on the forum the day the game was released, back in August 2021. I finally had the opportunity to play it, and it is as fun and chaotic as it sounds.

The protagonists are Jeff and Debra, two adorable kiwi birds who sign up to be associate teleposters at the Bungalow Basin Telepost office. The game is co-operative (meaning two players can play together to achieve the common goals), but it also works with a single player pressing a button to switch between Debra and Jeff.

In this cute puzzle game, your abilities as a gamer don’t prevent you from having fun with it. It has similarities to the popular game Overcooked, but with less stress and a lot more mail. The goal is to process incoming and outgoing mail before the clock runs out. If this stresses you out like it did me, you’ll be relieved to know that you can switch off the time limit under game options, so the countdown won’t appear.

I personally don’t have life experience as a kiwi bird, but after playing this game, I imagine it must be quite inconvenient. It involves a lot of running around since you are small. When you have to do things like typing out postcodes to stick to packages, you have to jump on the buttons and levers with your kiwi butt.

My favourite part is when Debra and Jeff have to label packages as “urgent” “perishable” and “heavy” by sitting on the label dispenser so that the labels stick on their behinds, so they can be carried hands free to the packages.

There are various mail floors, so the setting for the tasks doesn’t get monotonous. There are overtime tasks to take on for extra bonuses. There are cassowaries to feed and exercise, and you’re occasionally overseen by an octopus named Zoey, whose eight arms put her at an unfair advantage. You can collect postal stamps at the completion of every shift, which are used to unlock wardrobe accessories for Debra and Jeff (in case you’ve always wanted to see a kiwi bird in a little hat).

The game is available for the Switch, PS4 and 5, Xbox One and XIS and also on Steam. It’s a great way to kill some time and I have a new appreciation for the hands I possess!"

Hurray for postal-themed games! Do you know any other games featuring mail that we could try? 😍

You might have heard of a game called “Yellow car”, in which participants say yellow car! as soon as they spot one on the road. It’s a bit silly, truth be told, but it helps pass the time on boring stretches of commute or roadtrips.

The last time we were in the UK, Michael (aka gibsonms) introduced us to a postal-themed variant of the “Yellow car” game… using postboxes! It’s brilliant for short trips and we cannot stop playing it wherever we go, so we thought we’d share it with you.
Here are the rules:

• It’s simple, really: when you see a postbox, say “postbox!” and add a point to your total.
• If you see someone posting something on that postbox, wow, how lucky is that! Two points for you!
• If someone calls a postbox but it turns out that there isn’t one there, then that person loses a point…
• And if you see the mail carrier clearing the postbox, well… you win for that journey! 😀

Lots of variations can probably be added to make it more complex and keep you and your kids entertained, like spotting a post office or a golden pillar box (if you’re in the UK) so feel free to add or suggest new rules as you discover them!

Who’s ready to play? 📮