4 the Birds
4 the Birds Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to arrange 4 of your birds into a Flock.
How To Win
A Flock is either:
- 4 adjacent spots in a square
- 4 spots in a straight line connected by unbroken branch lines
Set Up
2-3 players will use the 7x7 inner tree board using the eight-sided dice (d8s).
4-6 players use the full 9x9 tree board using the ten-sided dice (d10s).
NOTE: The outer ring of the tree is considered out of play in a 2-3 player game.
Each player chooses a color/species (red Cardinals, orange Orioles, yellow Finches, green Budgies, blue Blue Jays or purple Martins) and collects six Bird Pawns and six Action Cards. You begin the game with all six Action Cards in your hand.
Choose a starting player by any method. When in doubt, the youngest player begins!
Before play begins, three non-player birds (Crows, Hawks) start in the tree. The starting player places 1 Hawk into the tree on any red dot, and 2 Crows on any 2 numbered spots not adjacent to the Hawk. The starting player may instead roll the dice to randomly add these birds following bird placement rules (see Crows and Hawks).
The Rules are Simple
- Roll two dice.
- Place a bird OR Play a Card.
On Your Turn
The dice result corresponds to a numbered spot (coordinate) in the tree (grid). Most rolls have 2 spots possible (i.e. A roll of 2 and 4 is either 24 or 42).
A double roll (i.e. 7,7) has only 1 possible spot but receives a special bonus (see Rolling Doubles).
After the roll, you must choose to either place a bird (see Placing Birds) or play an Action Card (see Playing Cards).
On a roll of Crow or Hawk, a separate action is required (see Crows and Hawks). If you cannot place a bird due to your dice roll, you must place a card. If you are out of cards, you may place a token (see Tokens). When your turn ends, play continues to the left (clockwise).
Placing Birds
After rolling, if you choose to place a bird, place the bird on 1 of the spots rolled. If a spot is occupied, you can displace the bird if it is your bird or if your bird has hierarchy via Pecking Order (see Pecking Order).
Once all 6 of your birds are in play, you can choose to relocate any bird already in play to a spot rolled.
Playing Cards
After rolling, you may choose to play ANY card in your hand instead of placing a bird. Choose a card from your hand, follow the instructions on the card, and then discard the chosen card into a pile in front of you. As with placing birds, resolve all contested spots via Pecking Order.
Rolling Doubles
If you roll doubles, (i.e. 4,4), pick up the top card from your discard pile and put it back in your hand. Then, per standard rules, you place a bird or play a card (including the card just added back in your hand).
Rolling a Hawk AND a Crow: This is also considered "doubles". Pick up the last played card and place one of the rolled birds or play a card. (Crows can be placed on any numbered space in this scenario).
Pecking Order
Only one bird can occupy any spot in the tree at a time. Each player has Pecking Order over the player to his/her immediate left and only that player. Crows have pecking order over all player birds.
After the dice roll, a bird can land on an occupied spot if it has this hierarchy over the occupying bird via Pecking Order.
If the active bird has Pecking Order precedence and chooses an occupied spot, the displaced bird must slide to an adjacent spot of the displaced player's choosing along any connecting branch line. If that spot is occupied, the process continues.
If there are only 2 players, each player can displace the other.
Pecking Order Example
Here's an example using the Red Cardinal's position:
- Red Cardinals displace birds of the player to their left (Yellow Finches) and their own birds.
- Red Cardinals can be displaced by birds of the player to their right (orange Orioles).
- Crows and Hawks displace Red Cardinals (and all other player birds).
- All other player birds have no effect on Red Cardinals, and vice-versa.
The Red Cardinals have chosen to enter a spot occupied by a Yellow Finch. Because of Pecking Order, this spot IS considered available to them. The Yellow Finch will have to slide to an adjacent spot along a connecting branch line.
Bird Movement
A bird may slide to any adjacent space connected by a branch line by playing the appropriate card or by being displaced by Hawks, Crows or other players' birds. If for any reason a bird being displaced cannot slide to an adjacent spot, be it unoccupied or occupied, it flies away to be rolled back into the tree on a future turn.
Reminder! Players can displace their own birds by landing on their occupied spots and causing a slide of those birds.
Crows
If you roll a Crow on the black die, you may place a Crow (black bird) on any spot on the board matching a digit of the other die (ie. if the roll is a Crow and a '7', the Crow is placed on any spot on the board containing a '7').
The Crow has Pecking Order over all birds, meaning it can land on any space (even if occupied!) and displace other birds, causing them to slide along a branch to an available spot.
Once all 6 Crows are in play, you may move an existing Crow in the tree. You can displace your own birds with Crows. (If you choose not to place a Crow, you must play a card.)
Hawks
If you roll a Hawk on the brown die, you may place a Hawk (brown bird) on any red dot (crossing branch lines between the coordinates) or play a card. A Hawk immediately displaces all birds on adjacent spots (Pecking Order resolves contested spots). Players may not move into other spots threatened by Hawks as they displace. Beginning with the player to your left, each player moves his/her displaced birds in turn order and then you move your birds. Finally, the Crows scatter last. As active player, you choose where all Crows displace.
Once all three Hawks are in play, you may choose any Hawk already in the tree and move it to an unoccupied red dot. You can displace your own birds using Hawks. (If you choose not to place a Hawk, you must play a card.)
Note: A player may roll into a threatened spot, land briefly, and receive one free slide to an adjacent available spot.
Tokens
If you run out of cards completely you may choose to place a bird OR play a round token. If you choose to play a token, place the token on a rolled spot and that spot is now out of play for the remainder of the game.
In the rare case where you cannot play a card or place a bird (and thus your token play is also blocked), you simply resolve with a re-roll.
House Rules
House rules are great. Feel free to bend the framework of "4 the Birds" and the publisher invites players to share any extra-special variants they come up with.
Action Card Reference
Players begin with six Action Cards in hand and will need to decide when to use/spend them to stop other flocks or swoop in for the win.
- ROLL: After the reroll, you can place a bird or play a card (essentially, you get a new turn). Rolling doubles on the reroll gets this card back again!
- SHOO: You may move an existing Hawk on the tree to any new red dot, even if there are Hawks still off the board. (Card icon: "Remove or move a hawk in the tree.")
- MOCK: You may move an existing Crow on the tree to any new spot in the tree, even if there are Crows still off the board. (Card icon: "Place or move a crow to any space on the tree.")
- PECK: You may move any opponent's birds. If moving two spaces, you "fly over" the first space if occupied. (Card icon: "Move opponent's bird one or two spaces.")
- SWOOP: Swoop, there it is! Keep an eye on all those birds 2 spaces away, they can surprise you! If moving two spaces, you "fly over" the first space if occupied. (Card icon: "Move one of your birds one or two spaces.")
- FLOCK: The key is 'up to 2 birds', so you may choose to move only 1 bird one space if you choose. (Card icon: "Move up to two of your birds one space each.")