Mail Warfare is a duel board game. Players simultaneously take on tasks, hoping to achieve maximum profit, sometimes resorting to questionable methods.
The letter won’t arrive. Thank goodness.
We are accustomed to perceiving delivery as a quiet click in an application. But behind every envelope of the past stand frozen couriers, decaying stagecoaches, storms, and censorship. Welcome to the world of «Postal Conflicts.»
Part 1. When the Mail Carrier is the Only Survivor on the Route
In the era before telegraphy, the speed of communication was limited to the pace of human legs or horse hooves. In the Alps and in the North, couriers traversed snow avalanches, risking freezing in snowdrifts for a mere few lines on parchment.
Snow goggles of the first couriers
Wooden or bone goggles with narrow slits protected the eyes of postal couriers from the blinding whiteness of snowfields, preventing snow blindness.
Experience it yourself: Trail Simulator
In the museum’s interactive zone, visitors stand on a specialized platform-trainer: they must maintain their balance on a virtual mountain pass while a blizzard rages on the screen.
Part 2. Mail Wars with Wildlife
Bear, wolf pack, and river predator attacks were a routine reality for trappers. Correspondence often arrived marked, «Partially delivered—the rest devoured by wolves.»
Dogs vs. Mail Carriers: The Eternal Stand-off
Nineteenth-century statistics record thousands of lawsuits filed by postal departments against owners of aggressive dogs. Special instructions trained couriers to fend off the animals using weighted sticks.
Part 3. Upside-Down Stagecoaches and Sunken Dispatches
A broken axle mid-wagon meant a three-day delay. And the spring floods swept away entire postal routes, along with carriages and valuable cargo.
Letters That Survived the Wreck
The museum houses a collection of «drowners”—letters recovered from the depths of rivers and seas. These letters bear official stamps from various departments: „Waterlogged following the shipwreck, delivered 4 months late.“
Part 4. Black Rooms and Opened Envelopes
The transmission of letters during wars and political crises often morphed into a spy quest. Black rooms meticulously opened packages, read the correspondence, and resealed them.
