USPS: The Great American Mail Race - How To Play
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- Опубліковано 8 лип 2024
- In this video, we're going to learn how to play USPS: The Great American Mail Race! If you have any comments or questions, please do not hesitate to post them in the UA-cam comments below, ensuring you abide by our Code of Conduct: watchitplayed.tv/code-of-conduct.
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00:00 - Introduction
00:32 - The Setup
03:08 - Game Play Overview
03:32 - Taking A Turn
03:41 - Splitting Your Actions
04:12 - Drawing Cards
04:34 - Playing Cards
04:48 - Card Types: Bicycles
05:09 - Rules For Moving
06:40 - Types Of Card Movement
08:48 - Picking Up Mail
10:10 - Delivering Mail
11:17 - Delivery Bonuses
12:05 - Finishing A Delivery
12:40 - Postcards
13:10 - "Assisting" Players
14:22 - Ending The Game
14:36 - Final Scoring
15:28 - Conclusion
#watchitplayed #boardgames #tutorial - Ігри
Like almost everyone in the world, my preferred method of transport as a mail carrier would be with a dog sled pulled by a team of highly-trained, snazzily-dressed capybaras. (Of course, they would need chin straps so their sharp little postal caps did not tumble off during the trip.) However, I think the methods for transport chosen in this game are, as Rodney would say, "suitable replacements". ;) Love you guys! Keep up the good work! :) :) :)
You painted a very cute picture of your preferred method of transport :)
You would get your package faster for sure. Lol.......
@@WatchItPlayed Thank you.
I love that they picked the most obscure town names for the game.
Me too :)
I was looking for this comment. I was wondering whether they were made-up locations and was thinking they should have used proper locations.
It's a shame we didn't get Bird-in-Hand or Intercourse, Pennsylvania.
@@kevin_mitchell They are real town names in the US.
Very neat! Not my typical fare, but as a former Rural Mail Carrier, this seems like a must-buy pick up and deliver game for me!
Feels like you might have an advantage here!
here as well! i bought it for christmas but i was too excited and opened it early lol
2 player. If you find yourself filling the "stamping pad" before all transport cards are used (thus ending the game), make the game more challenging by removing the "bicycle card (2 moves max per round)." Being able to keep your bicycle card all game is too powerful. Hope this helps!
I saw that about the bicycle and also watched Tom Vasel's review and understand that this game doesn't scale as well when comparing 2 and 4 player counts. Stealing is quite harsh at 4 players and at 2 it seems there is barely any stealing. I saw a fix mentioning you can only steal from a player carrying 2 packages which can help balance 3 and 4 player games. I actually thought of another rule to add to that where you can only steal if you have no packages to begin with.
The designer posted a list on BGG of cards to remove for 2 and 3 player games to help with the scaling and balance.
Thank you so much for your videos. Hands down the best board game tutorial channel on youtube
I’m so glad you’re enjoying James!
Great tutorial. The rules were pretty easy to understand, but your video helped clear up a few things
Very glad it could help!
Thanks for such a fantastic video, Rodney! So exciting to see!
Any eta on when this is coming to the US? :)
It’s live right now at Target!
I’ve now added a link to the description of the video.
Great video! Cool theme and very cool components!
Thanks again, Rodney. Looking forward to it.
You’re very welcome DJ!
I’m so excited for this game.
Glad you enjoyed Paul!
I know what I'm getting my dad for Christmas! (He recently retired from the USPS)
Perfect!
Hey, very cool :)
This is a must buy. Our adopted niece will love this...we will love it too!!!
Glad you enjoyed!
This looks really cool!
As per usual, I'm pushed towards a purchase just by the fact that Rodney has made a video for the game.
Will probably get this for myself!
Thanks for checking it out Niclas!
My go-to for game directions. Nailed it again. Thanks!
Have a great time playing Nathan!
Excellent, thorough explanation of this game! Thanks!!
So glad you enjoyed!
Thanks Rodney!! Always helpful!
You're very welcome!
The instructions were great! Thank you!
So glad to hear it - have a fun time playing Donna!
i wasn't sure if i wanted this because i was afraid that i would only be getting it for the novelty of it being a USPS board game. but after watching this informative, lovingly crafted video, i'm completely sold! this sounds like tons of fun and i can't wait to get my hands on it :)
I hope you have a great time playing Daniel!
Such a charming game. Using the stamp looks super satisfying!
It's a very fun (and appropriate) addition to the game :)
Always love your tutorials Rodney! I 100% would’ve played this incorrectly if it wasn’t for your tutorial 🎉thank you!
Thanks Tim - appreciate that! Keep up the great work with the wolf pack :)
As a board game playing philatelist, this will be a must-buy. Thanks for the video!
Glad you enjoyed - have fun playing!
I saw this board game at Target today and chuckled that someone made a board game about mail delivery. After watching this video and seeing how it plays, I'm actually interested in buying it and bringing it to my board game meetup group next week.
If you pick it up, I hope you have a great time playing!
I saw a video where there was a fantastic display of this game at Gen Con, I mean FANTASTIC!!! I hope Rodney gets to see a video of it!!!
I didn't see that - I'll have to look it up!
@@WatchItPlayed You will love it! ua-cam.com/video/lLMJuYLXDhk/v-deo.html Go to 2.26 There was a mailbox, a house, and a postal truck!!!!
You did it again! This had caught my attention while browsing online but absolutely had to buy it after watching. It's great for casual playing but you still need to be strategic in where you pick up the mail and where it needs to be delivered...something I did not do and ending up losing my first game to my wife...le sigh
Good luck on your next delivery attempts - glad you enjoyed Joseph :)
Thank you so much for this video. Was playing this last night with the family and we were so off in how it's supposed to be played.
It's really nice to know this helped!
Rodney: "That's a good question."
Me: "Oh, thank you!"
Very grateful for this video, the rulebook was fuzzy in some places, but you cleared up all my questions!
Have a fun time stamping (and remember Mark, you're meant to stamp the papers, not your opponent's foreheads).
@@WatchItPlayed what!? I didn't sign up for that! I assumed the winner got to stamp all the losers' foreheads, of every game played ever, not just USPS.
@@markcooke776 I know you did - that's why I included this personal rules reminder, just for you!
Perfect tutorial video. Playing this tonight for the first time and there’s nothing I think is unclear in the rules or how the game plays.
So nice to hear Ron - I hope you have a great time!
Looks alright 👍
Great video! But I'm still not clear on traveling by trails with a mule card. If you look at the trail junctions under Good Grief, are you allowed to go in any of the four directions when you get to the junction?
A good question! Unfortunately, I'm not certain of the answer there, "my" interpretation is that Boring to Chugwater is 1 trail, and Big Bottom, Big Sag and Nibley are a set of interconnected trails (so you could trail from any one of those to any one of the other 3 in that group - but not to Boring and Chugwater).
Great video.
Thanks Ryan!
Wow, what an incredible production! Would love to play this with my kids.
Glad you enjoyed - thanks for checking it out Eric!
Seems close enough to the Trekking series that I don't think I'll be grabbing this, but thank you for the videos as always, Rodney!
Appreciate you checking it out!
This is what it reminded me of, too.
What is allowed to be done for trails that cross each other like south of “good grief” or are perpendicular like northeast of “okay”? Like is it the most likely flow shape of the path or can you basically go anywhere where the trail touches?
Anywhere the trail touches.
Merci pour la superbe présentation, le jeu ressemble à Logistico (Cwali, 2003).
@watchitplayed great video and information! Help me clear up a question we had about the rules. It says that you aren’t allowed to end your turn on a space that another player is on. However, can you land on a another players space in the middle of your turn and then move off of it before your turn ends?
Great question Nate! I’m travelling currently, so can’t check the rules to see if you can land on a players space between card plays during your turn.
Yes! You can
Does your van have to start in a space with a water droplet in order to use a card that moves over water? For example, if I end my turn on a road spot but the road spot has a water route to or from it, on my next turn can I use a card that moves over water starting from that spot?
You don't have to worry about the space type, just the path type, so you could start on a black dot (like Fearnowville) and go to a water drop space (like Nibley).
Can you use air travel modes of transportation (hot air balloon, rocket, plane) to assist another player? It seems like maybe you could use the hot air balloon to steal mail but I don't think air transport can be used to assist but others in my family do.
Hi Danica, I heard back from the designer on this question: "With air travel you are flying over locations, so you can only assist if you start or end on a location. If you're travelling over it you can't assist." Hope that helps!
for moving water spaces is it water space to water space or any space connected by water?
Any space connected by water.
Looks very fun! But I think I'll enjoy stamping the most! I've never done that in any other game ;)
Everyone's a big fan of the stamp when they play 💌
Stamping rocks. Pure and simple.
I got a kick out of filling my stamp with ink :)
This one looks pretty fun! Thanks for the tutorial 😀
Do you happen to have any information about the release date?
I know it's available from Target now (link in the description).
In-between the towns of Castle Danger and Free Soil is a "T" road going to What Cheer. If you are going from What Cheer to Castle Danger, do you stop at the "T" and end your action? Or do you proceed to Castle Danger, all as one action?
Hi Greg, you don't have to stop at that intersection, you continue on to the next space.
If you flip the last card over, is that your final turn or do you get an additional with everyone else? Based on what you say and the rule book, I can see it both ways . Thanks!!
Hi AP, does this section address your question? ua-cam.com/video/sk3ztkd2jss/v-deo.html Let me know if that covers it.
The theme and mechanism look so cool, and this really looks like a great family game! Thank you so much for another awesome video! Just one question here after watching the video. At 15:11, do you earn 6 or just 4 with the fragile parcels bonus at the end of the game? Based on how you tally the points, I feel players should just gain the bonus points corresponding to the number of times that they've done the action in the game.
For example, because you visited three regions in the game, you gained 5, instead of 8 (1+2+5). So based on the same logic, you should gain just 4 for delivering the fragile parcels twice, instead of 6 (2+4), correct?
The fragile parcels is handled differently. That's why it has the +2 and +4 on its stamp locations, unlike the other scoring sections you mentioned. Hope that helps!
@@WatchItPlayed Thank you for the explanation!
On the assist would you be able to take one from them and also give them one of yours all in the same assist
Great question Steven - yes, you can!
Hi!
If a new postcard is flipped and lands on a place that a player is standing on, does that player automatically get that postcard?
Had to double check this one with the designer, and the answer is yes - but they would only pick it up at the start of their next turn (so if another player moves there in the meantime, they would get the postcard.
great vidro as always. thank you.
is that an old game? or new game?
Brand new, releasing soon.
Played last night with 2 players. We filled out all the Letters, Parcels and Post-Card spots and we just barely got to the level 3 transport cards, didn't see anything about taking out transport cards for 2 players. Do we take another delivery slip if everything is filled out? Or any extra points for delivering more letters and parcels? Feels really easy for both players to completely fill out the delivery slip if only playing with 2 people. Thanks for your help!
Once your slip is full, you don't take another. That said, it's a bit hard for me to evaluate your experience, since I can't be sure if all the rules were being played correctly :)
@@WatchItPlayed Okay, thank you! To the best of my knowledge we were playing correctly. Just feels like there are too many transportation cards with 2 players. Most of the time we were only taking 1 every other turn and the next turn using our bicycle card twice and the one transportation card. Will try to play it again and see if we have a different experience next time. Thanks for your video, it helped learn the game easily!
I'm not even American and this game is cool :)
I have a couple questions. At 6:29 you discuss moving when another player occupies a space.
If my move would end on an occupied space would I just be forced to choose a different path?
Also, the starting space contains all players pieces to start. Does it become a regular space after everyone has moved, thus being subject to the same rule?
Yes to both questions. Hope that helps!
@@WatchItPlayed Thanks. Just a small clarification I started wondering about.
For seaplane do you have to start at a green water spot or just any water connected city?
Yes, you start from a green water space.
Also can you end a "move" on a space with another person? Or both moves and turns?
@@kylarhunt6812 You can end a "move" on another players space as long as you don't end the "turn" there.
@@WatchItPlayed you are the man thank you so much. Sorry I'm annoying one more question: can you assist when you're just passing through (ie first space on 2 space motor bike move) similar to post cards?
@@kylarhunt6812 I'm always happy to try to help with rules questions, but if the answer is provided in the video, than I have to direct you there. You'll find an index in the description to help you find the section you might be looking for.
What’s the difference between the Motor Bike and the Hot Air Balloon?
Flying over 1 space along roads seems the same as moving 2 spaces along roads.
I don't think you would be able to "assist" another player or pick up a post card if you fly over the space (Hot Air Balloon) but would be able to if you moved along it (Motor Bike).
That's the exact question I was thinking about too! Watching Rodney's video, the two differences I can think of are (1) players cannot "assist" others players to deliver packages and that (2) they will also not be able to pick up postcards on the path. So I assume it is perhaps reasonable for us to say that hot air ballon is a "weaker" version of motor bike?
Hey Paul, wanted to double check to make sure I had the right answer before answering: "Because the Hot Air Balloon flies over 1 space you can’t ‘assist’ or pick up a postcard. Also there are no motorbikes in level 1 cards but there are a couple of air balloons, so it has the advantage of travelling further, but dis-advantage of jumping over a space."
Also, you can’t get fragile points if you deliver by air!
I saw this at Target on sale and I just had to grab it😅😅
Have a great time playing!
Are you required to do all the actions? Can you choose not to do anything or just one or two of your actions?
You can do fewer if you like.
If all the region card are letters (not parcels) and both players have all their letter stamps filled out (and can’t get more), does the game end? What happens next?
Out of curiosity, was this in a 2 player game? I did a little digging and found that can happen. There isn’t an official way of handling this that I’m aware of, so it might help to remove about 25% of the cards from the deck at the start of the game, to prevent this from happening.
Is this a Target exclusive? I’m in the Uk, potentially won’t be able to get this ?
I'm not entirely sure. I'll see if I can find an answer. Sometimes it's exclusive to Target for "that market", but that doesn't mean it won't be available in other markets.
@@WatchItPlayed thank you for looking into this. 😀
Halo. I wanna ask a question.. when one player has picked up a cube (blue for example), the other players have to wait for the blue cube until that player deliver it to the destination, right?
Or they can "assist" to get it. You'll find this explained in the video - hope that helps!
@@WatchItPlayed "assist" means "take that" way in play? I just confused when we play with 4 players and for example 3 players pick up all the cube, so the last one just wait or take "assist" action, right? Sorry Rodney for asking question again 😁🙏
@@dhammacariyasoenarta5948 Yep, when you "assist", you either take or give a cube to a player. So even if all the cubes are gone, you can go and take one from another player!
@@WatchItPlayed alright, thanks Rodney 😁🙏
Please tell me the USPS gets a portion of profit of all units sold.
I’m not sure what the licensing arrangement is, but their branding is on the box, so I suspect they are involved in some way.
When are where can we buy.this game? And is it available to buy in Canada?
It's available from Target (going live on their website today!)
@@BigPotato - Yeah, just saw it there. US price is $34.99 and no in-store pickup, only delivery (which is too bad since I have to go to Target today to pick up something I ordered!).
@@BigPotato Oh must buy this!!!!
Hey Derrick, I’ve since added a link to the description.
The designer commented last year in bgg forum (see variant thread) mentioning a change in number of cards for different number of players but had never finalize it in the forum. Did the designer reach out to you for an update on the rules?
Haven't heard anything.
Does anyone know how to secure this game and where to buy it?
It will be on Target's website later today!
Hey Madeline, I’ve since added a link to the description of the video.
If you play the hot air balloon and pass over an opponent with a package, can you take his package... or is the only way to "assist" an opponent is by ground?
Unfortunately the rule book doesn't address this, but that means (to me), that if it doesn't say the Hot Air Balloon is treated differently, than it isn't.
hi guys, I'm delighted with the game and I'm interested in one piece of information, is the game out for sale and what are the chances that it will be on the market in Europe? I'm from Serbia and I'm interested in the chances of getting it
Great question! I'm not sure where they will be distributing it, might need to ask the publisher that one.
When is this on sale? I can't find it online
I’ve added a link in the description to help with that!
@@WatchItPlayed thanks Rodney! Just bought one!
If a player decides to use the “assisting” option and gives me the cube, do I have the option to refuse?
Nope!
Game looks cool. Plays much faster than the snail mail IRL though
Very true :)
At 0:53, it's my undestanding that the Delivery card piles should be face up. They place them face up in the Big Potato Games how to play video and they're shown face up in the rulebook. It allows you to see what's coming up next and plan accordingly.
Hi Ryan, I reached out to the publisher about this, but haven't heard back yet. Part of the confusion is that the rules say "Turn over a Delivery Card from each of the four regions and place them on the board along with the corresponding Mailbox on top of each card."
The turn over part, implies they start face down (despite what the image shows). Was this an error in the art or an error in the text. I'm trying to find out, as that might even have led to an error in the BPG how to play video. I'll let you know if I hear something back.
Did u hear back from publisher?
I haven't yet, but as soon as I do, I'll be back here to post the answer.
@@WatchItPlayedhi I was wondering this! Did you ever hear back from the publisher on this question?
@@WildBison74 I didn't, unfortunately.
Where can I buy this game
Please tell me it looks so fun
Hi Ari, you'll find a link in the description!
@@WatchItPlayed thank you so much
FYI I’ve been watching you for 3 years now and you made me want to buy so many board games
@@aridhalla7092 Thanks for being with us all that time Ari :)
Is this game endorsed by the USPS? It has their logo and everything!
Yes!
We played this game with 2 players and felt it was a bit too easy, we basically had identical scores at the end and our cards were full… did we miss something?
Very hard for me to say if you missed something, but do check the video to see.
I think this is one of those examples where the license makes the game. It seems like a family weight, run of the mill, pick up and deliver game.
But the USPS theme is pretty charming for me.
"Hi! And welcome to Watch It Played. My name is Rodney Smith and in this video we are going to learn the 2-4 player USPS The Great American Mail Race. Designed by Uncle Sam and Published by the United States Federal Government who helped sponsor this video."
Where do you buy this game? Can you place a link in for where it can be purchased
This comment, hahahahah! You crack me up!
@@AngelHeart1111 I think it is not out quite yet :)
@@AngelHeart1111 Sorry the production co said you can get it on Target, I think today!
There seems to be no difference between the motor bike and hot air balloon. Both are 2 spaces over roads. Did they have some other idea in mind? In practice they're the same card with different pictures.
I'm not sure exactly what they had in mind either.
They move the same amount but you can’t get fragile points if you deliver by air
@@willowhagen9977good point!
Maybe you don't collect post cards if you move over a space with the air balloon?
Who else got a USPS advertisement before this video?
Odd a fellow canadian doing the USPS game....
lol, wait until you see all the euros I’ve done!!
For the sake of the USPS, I hope they got a licensing fee
They did, but it takes 6-8 weeks to arrive.
Yes, this is indeed an officially licensed game!
Yep, this is a licensed game with them!