Free Entry by Post

Sign up for a StockMates account first — signing up puts you on our free Rookie plan automatically, no payment required — so the email address on your postal entry has an account to match against. Then send one postcard or envelope per game, as described below. A postal entrant starts with the same starting virtual balance, and starts trading immediately, exactly as a subscriber joining the same game online. You must be 18 or over with a UK-registered address.

No purchase or payment is needed to be told you have won or to receive your prize.

A postal entry is valid for one specific game only — send a separate postcard or envelope for each game you want to enter. Each entry must include all three of:

• Your full name
• Your email address — this must match your StockMates account
• The specific game you want to enter, written as "StockMates - [Game Name]"

Use the exact game name as shown on our Games page. For example, if you want to enter Blue Chip Blitz or ETF Arena, your entry should read:

Want to enter both? Send two separate postcards or envelopes, one per game — not one entry listing multiple games.

Each cash-prize game is listed on our Games page at least 1 month before it starts, with its prizes, entry limit, join deadline and rules — giving you enough time to post your entry. If a postal entry meets the join deadline but reaches us after its game has already started, we cannot add you to that game. We will email you within 1 working day to offer a free place in any cash-prize game that has not yet started, your choice. If your entry did not meet the join deadline, it is not valid for that game and we will tell you by email.

Each game has its own join deadline, shown on that game's own listing on our Games page — a calendar date, not a specific time. Your entry meets that deadline if it has proof of postage dated on or before the join deadline date (UK time) and is received within 5 working days of that date.

Proof of postage means a legible postmark, or a certificate of posting, dated on or before the join deadline date (UK time). If an entry has neither, we use the date we receive it, which must be on or before the join deadline date. An entry's received date is the date our mail handler logs it.

This is the same deadline every player works to, whether entering online or by post — we don't apply an earlier or stricter cut-off to postal entries. Posting earlier than the deadline, rather than right up against it, gives your entry more room to clear the 5 working day delivery window.

Each game holds at least 10 postal slots, separate from online slots, so a postal entrant is never competing against the speed of online joiners for the same slot. If more than 10 valid postal entries meet a game's join deadline, we raise that game's postal slot limit so every valid postal entry that meets the deadline is accepted.

Please write or type clearly. If anything is missing or unclear, we will email you within 3 working days to say what is needed. If we email you about something missing, a corrected entry received within 10 days of our email counts as received on the original date, provided the original met the deadline.

Once we've verified your entry, our team adds you to the named game manually. We'll email you within 3 working days of receiving your entry to confirm whether you've been added — this depends on whether your entry meets that game's join deadline, as described above.