What is Postal Gaming?
It is, quite simply, the act of participating and playing in games with other like-minded people via your local post-box. The games are played in games fanzines, or 'zines' as they are known, and the editors of these zines adjudicate the games.

What kind of games do we play?
You name it, and someone has probably tried to run it! Themes and ideas abound, and the games you can participate in vary from straightforward 2-player games like Chess, etc, to huge, sprawling Fantasy Football management leagues, and En Garde! with up to 40 participants. Many games have been devised by the players themselves.
Here are just a few of the more popular games played by post. l8xx (railway empire building and economics on a grand scale), Acquire (business game based on taking over hotel chains), Breaking Away (cycle racing), Bus Boss (purchase bus routes to reach those all- important destinations!), Diplomacy (wargame based on the First World War - there are many variants as well), Fictionary Dictionary (word game based on 'Call My Bluff’), Railway Rivals (build your own railway network then race against other players to deliver your passengers!), Scrabble, Sopwith (World War One flying aces rule the skies!), and Trivial Pursuit. There are of course many more.

Who can I contact for further information?
If you send John Harrington [that's him on the left eating his sandwich at Flagship Con 2000] four first class stamps in the first instance, he will provide you with a starter pack. (Requests from other countries for the Starter Pack are dealt with free of charge. It is simply not worth sending foreign currency for such a trivial amount.) This consists of a selection of zines, an Introduction to the Amateur Postal Games Hobby, and a list of the fanzines available and the games played in them. Give John an idea of the games you are particularly interested in playing and he will do his best to send you appropriate zines. John’s address is, 1 Churchbury Close, Enfield, Middlesex, EN1 3UW. Can we also ask you to let John know where you heard about the Amateur Postal Games Hobby? This will help us in future campaigns to raise awareness of our hobby. Thank you for taking the time to read this poster. Happy gaming!

[A further article on the hobby, by John Colledge]