In recent years, stratigraphic and combination traps such as Buzzard (UK North Sea) and Jubilee (Ghana) have attracted much industry attention. Such trap types are generally considered higher risk than structural traps, and understanding them represents a challenge for explorers, as numerous less successful (often amplitude-driven) attempts have demonstrated. Owing to their perceived high risk, stratigraphic traps are often drilled late in a basin's exploration history; however, we assert that consideration of stratigraphic traps should be part of any frontier exploration programme because they occur in all basin types and depositional settings, and allow new plays to be opened...