Starcross

ABOVE: The highlight of the year 1989 for the Fifth World was the World Starcross Championships, held in Baleksetung on 14th November. Most Fifth World lands sent a team, and games were played over the daylight and evening hours on 14th November 1989. By 8 p.m., the finals were played, and the final playoff for the coveted Gold Cup took place at 8.45 p.m. Commemorative stamps were issued by some of the lands competing in the World Starcross Championships.

Starcross is a curious strategy game with similarities to the Chinese game of “Go”, and is played on a card with the pentagons pre-printed in red.
The stamp shows a small version of the Starcross game, and is something of a landmark in philately, as it is the first time that a stamp has been specifically designed to be used TWICE - once to pay the mail with, and a second time when the recipient of the letter can use the old envelope to play Starcross with a friend!

Two players have alternate turns to put a circle or cross in any pentagon, provided it is adjacent to one of their previous marks. You MUST be adjacent to the face of a pentagon you have previously marked, and cannot be connected merely by an apex. For convenience, players usually use different colored pens to show their moves. The object of the game is to surround the solid shapes, each of which is won by the player who puts the final mark beside a face of a shape. That player then puts their initial inside the shape.
SCORING: Scores are Stars = 5 points, Thingoes (half-stars) = 3 points, and Diamonds = 2 points.
HYPERSPACE:Any player who uses up every possible move and is cut off from further moves may “hyperspace” = jump to a new location where ever s/he chooses on the game.
MEDALS: Players get medals in each game for style. To score a star and a diamond (7 points) with one move, the player gets Silver Medal status. To score a star and a thingoe (8 points) with one move, player is awarded Gold Medal status. The team winning the most Medals gets the Gold Cup.

This 1989 stamp from Edelweiss is designed to be used TWICE: first to pay for a letter, and second, so the recipient can use the old envelope to play starcross on the stamp.

To play, we suggest you make some enlarged color copies of the Starcross Championships stamp, or the version on the First Day Cover above, and practice on those with your friends. Before long, you too may join your country's team for next year's World Starcross Championships! Some people have tried photo-copying the games in black, but this has the disadvantage that when you put your initials in the centre of the shapes, they cannot be seen on the black. Hence red is the preferred colour.

History: Starcross was invented by Martin Neurath, currently the Foreign Minister of Sedang, and rapidly became very popular throughout the Fifth World. In the interest of encouraging widespread playing of the game, Mr Neurath has kindly declined to claim copyright, and has placed the game in the public domain. You may therefore freely make multiple copies and encourage your friends to do likewise.

Download these images, or print copies off this page. Cut the games into singles and attach to cards.

To play, we suggest you make some enlarged color copies of the Starcross Championships stamp, and practice on those with your friends. Before long, you too may join your country's team for next year's World Starcross Championships! Some people have tried photo-copying the games in black, but this has the disadvantage that when you put your initials in the centre of the shapes, they cannot be seen on the black. Hence red is the preferred colour.