STAMP DRAW is a game which can be played by two or more individuals or groups of individuals. It provides the opportunity for club members to become more familiar with the different subjects depicted on stamps, practice using a catalog to identify stamps, and improve their spelling skills.

The rules for STAMP DRAW are similar to those for the popular pencil and paper game, "Hangman." First, a particular stamp is secretly selected by one person or group of people. A stamp which features a specific person or persons, event, place, or tangible item works most effectively for this game. The word(s) or phrase which best names that stamp should be determined.

On a piece of paper, the person or group choosing the stamp, the selector, draws a line for each of the letters in the stamp name. A blank space should be left between words if the name consists of more than one word. One person or group, the player, guesses one at a time a letter of the alphabet thought to be part of the word(s).

If the chosen letter appears one or more times in the word(s), the selector places that letter in the proper lined space or spaces. If the chosen letter does not appear, the selector begins to make a drawing of the chosen stamp on the paper. For each incorrect letter the player chooses, another piece of the stamp is drawn in this order: the perforations on the four edges of the stamp one at a time, the denomination in the proper position, and finally, a rough sketch of the major feature(s) of the stamp.

With each addition to the drawing of the stamp, the player has another clue to the identity of the selected stamp. The perforations indicate the stamp format -- horizontal, vertical, or square. The denomination helps determine the type of stamp-definitive, airmail, special delivery, etc. -- and the approximate year of issue. Of course, the design sketch supplies the best clue of all.One round of the game ends when the player guesses the word(s) correctly and identifies the proper stamp. A guess may be made at any time, even before the first letter is chosen. The round also ends when the player has selected six incorrect letters, completing the drawing of the stamp, and still cannot provide the correct word(s). The player may use The Postal Service Guide to U.S. Stamps or a stamp catalog to help in playing the game.

Diagram 1 shows the game before the player has guessed any letters. Two words make up this stamp name, each with six letters.

Diagram 2 shows the progression of the game following four guesses by the player, two correct (letters "E" and "O") and two incorrect. The left side and bottom perforations of the stamp have been drawn in after the two incorrect guesses. The player knows from this information that the stamp is a horizontally oriented, rectangular stamp. Note that when the player guessed a letter correctly, all the spaces in the word(s) to be filled by that letter were completed.

Diagram 3 shows the game after four correct and five incorrect letter guesses. Now the stamp drawing shows, the perforations on all four sides and the denomination. The 10-cent denomination would indicate that the stamp probably was issued between late 1973 and the end of 1975. The great majority of commemorative sized 10-cent stamps were issued during that time period.

In diagram 4, the stamp drawing is complete, having the rough design sketch added to the four side perforations and the denomination. Hopefully, the player now could guess the stamp's name, "Sleepy Hollow." STAMP DRAW can be made more or less difficult according to the selection of the stamp and its name. The game also can be made easier by having the selector tell the player whether the stamp subject is a person(s), event, place, or thing before the guessing begins. This descriptive breakdown can be made even more specific by telling whether the person(s) is a man or woman, giving a time frame for an event, providing the general geographic location for a place, or describing a thing as "animal, vegetable, or mineral."

Points are awarded each round according to the number of incorrect letter guesses made before the stamp name is identified as follows:

50 - No incorrect letter guesses
40 -- 1 incorrect letter guess
30 -- 2 incorrect letter guesses
25 -- 3 incorrect letter guesses
20 -- 4 incorrect letter guesses
15 -- 5 incorrect letter guesses
10 -- 6 incorrect letter guesses

No points are given, of course, if the stamp name is not identified immediately after the drawing is completed (six incorrect letter guesses). Game participants should set a total points limit (100, 200, 250, etc.) prior to starting.