Day 10: Stamp Rally
by JD Porterfield on
A quick one today!
I don't think I mentioned it in any of my previous posts but there is a stamp rally going on in Akihabara for the Oregairu series. I had previously picked up a stamp book and the free space stamp at the pickup site but hadn't collected many others.
In essence, a stamp rally is just an event where you go around collecting stamps from various places. I think it's usually to promote tourism since it requires participants to go to multiple locations usually. I've seen them for parks in Tokyo, train stations, and anime collabs like this one. I'm not really sure why they don't exist in the west, maybe because everything is too far apart? IDK lol
The stamp rally for Oregairu was staged as a "bingo" card but 3x3. The goal is to get x number in a row and there were prizes for getting 2, 4, 6, and 8 lines in a row (is it even possible to do 6 without doing 8)? Out of the 9 squares, 4 would require you to pay for something, so for free you could only collect the prize for 2 lines, which is just a single character card. Maybe a bit of a scam, but it's the journey that counts?
Anyway here's my filled card lol
As you can see, I masterfully managed to complete all of the stamps. And it only cost like $50 USD. I think you generally wouldn't do the stamp rally if you don't like the IP or whatever it is so it's a nice little bonus. TBF though if there was no stamp rally I probably only would have bought like $10 of merch.
Here's the stuff I got for completing the rally
Baiscally, it's the full set of character cards, a random character paper coaster, a shikishi with the promotional artwork, and a couple of postcards, plus a form I can send in to try to win the event's promotional standees. Worth what I spent on the event? No, probably not. But I like the series so it's all good.
Maybe next time I will do one of the train station rallies!