Birdie
Birdie Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 64 Birdie cards
- 1 Stop card
- 1 Comic card
- This rulebook
- 4 Reusable dry-erase boards
- 4 miniatures (Bird Trophies)
- 4 markers
Game Objective
A game of Birdie lasts 2 rounds. During the rounds you will need to create sets of birdies with a common feature: either the Birdie type or the Season depicted on the card. At the end of each round, you will gain points based on the quantity and size of these sets.
Setup
- Shuffle all Birdie cards together.
- 2 players: after shuffling, split the deck into two parts more or less the same; you will use the first half during the first round and the other half in the second.
- Draw and set aside, without looking, a number of cards equal to the number of players, place the Stop card on top of them and put the remainder of the deck on top. This will be the Birdie deck.
- Each player draws 2 cards from the Birdie deck to create their starting hand.
- Draw 4 additional cards from the Birdie deck and place them face up next to the deck to create a display area.
- The player who chirps the loudest starts the game.
Birdie cards information: 1. Birdie type; 2. Season.
Player board information: 1. Trophy Points; 2. Season Points; 3. Birdie type Points; 4. Pass Points; 5. Flap! Points; 6. Total Points Scoreboard; 7. Birdie Abilities Summary.
Gameplay
Each game consists of 2 rounds. The player with the most total points at the end of the second round is the winner. During each round players take turns in a clockwise order until all players have passed.
On each turn, it's only possible to perform one of the following actions:
- Draw 1 card and add it to your hand.
- Draw 2 cards and add them to your personal deck.
- Pass (you will skip your actions for the rest of the current round).
Attention: during a round, cards are ALWAYS drawn from the display area (the face-up cards) and NEVER from the Birdie deck.
If at the end of a turn the Stop card is revealed, the round continues but no more cards will be added to the display area. If a player cannot perform the first two actions because there are not enough cards left in the display area, they must pass.
1. Draw 1 card and add it to your hand
Choose one of the cards from the display area and add it to your hand. These cards can be added to your personal deck in a later turn during the "Draw 2 cards and add them to your personal deck" action or can be used during the "Scoring" phase to activate their special abilities.
Lastly, draw a new card from the Birdie deck and add it to the display area.
2. Draw 2 cards and add them to your personal deck
Choose two cards from the display area and add them face-down to your personal deck in any order. At the start of each round there is no personal deck: the first time this action is chosen, the selected cards will create your personal deck.
Attention: it is never possible to look at the cards that were previously added to your personal deck.
By performing this action, it's also possible to add any cards from your hand to your personal deck, adding them to the two drawn cards. If you choose to do so, you can arrange both the drawn cards and the ones added from your hand in any order on top of your personal deck. Lastly, draw two new cards from the Birdie deck and add them to the display area.
Example: Martina chooses to draw the Robin and the Pigeon in Autumn. She combines them with two cards she has in hand, the Owl and the Woodpecker in Autumn, and places them on top of her personal deck.
3. Pass
If you choose to pass, no more actions can be performed that round and you must wait for all other players to pass. On the other hand, the earlier you pass, the more points you will score.
Attention: if all players except one have passed, the remaining player can only perform 1 single turn and then will also have to pass.
When you decide to pass, mark in the "Pass" box corresponding to the current round on your player board, a number of points equal to twice the number of players who have not yet passed.
Example: in a 4-player game, the first player to pass will receive 6 points (2 x 3 players remaining), the second will receive 4 points (2 x 2 players), and the third will receive 2 points (2 x 1 player). The last to pass will obviously receive 0 points.
End of the Round
When all players have passed, scoring for the current round takes place.
All points need to be calculated starting from the player who passed first. This continues in pass order ending with the player who passed last. This order is important due to the assignment of Birdie Trophies and, in some cases, in the expert mode, also for the Robin ability.
Pass order is easily reconstructed by checking the value written in the Pass box for the current round; players can start from the highest and proceed in descending order.
Scoring
Flip over your personal deck face up and arrange all the cards in front of you to form a horizontal line being careful not to change their order. Robin and Woodpecker abilities can now be used if you have them in hand (see List of Birdie Abilities).
Now you can split the line of cards as you prefer to create sets of at least two continuous cards that have a common feature, being that the type of Birdie depicted on the top part of the card, or the Season depicted on the lower part. Each set represents a group of birdies that flies away from the wire.
Set scores: Each set is worth a number of points equal to the number of cards it consists of; points must be scored on your scoreboard. If you have multiple sets with the same feature, only the highest value needs to be considered. Points must be scored in an empty box corresponding to the common feature for that set (Season or Birdie type). There are eight boxes available, four for Seasons and four for Birdies.
Owl and Pigeon abilities can now be used if you have them in hand (see List of Birdie Abilities).
Attention: if a box for a specific feature has already been filled by a previous value (in the current or previous round) then you can no longer score points in that box, even if you score a higher value.
Example: Valeria splits her line of cards and scores 4 points for Robins, 2 for birdies in Summer, and 3 for the ones in Winter. The two birdies in winter and the remaining single bird will not provide her points.
Flaps: Whenever a new score of a set is added to your board, whether it's for Birdie type or Season, you must also check the first available box in the Flap column on your scoreboard. The first box that needs to be checked is the value 1 on top, proceeding down afterwards. At the end of the game, you will gain points equal to the last checked box.
Attention: if it wasn't possible to score points for a set (as the box was already filled) then you don't check the Flap box either. The only exception to this rule is the Pigeon's ability.
Birdie Trophies: if a player scores in a Birdie scoring box and it is the highest score than anyone else so far, they also receive the Birdie Trophy of that type and place it on top of their scoring board. If, however, in a later moment, another player surpasses that score for the same Birdie, then the trophy goes to that player. In case of a tie, the trophy remains in possession of the current owner.
Attention: at the end of the game, each Birdie Trophy is worth 3 additional points to its owner.
Birdie cards abilities: during the scoring phase, players can discard from their hand Birdie cards to activate their abilities. Based on which type of ability, the card might need to be discarded before creating the sets (this is the case for the Robin and the Woodpecker) or after (this is the case for the Owl and the Pigeon).
Each different Bird ability can be used only once during the whole game: to keep track of this you can cross out the Birdie image on the bottom part of the scoreboard, next to its effect summary.
Second Round
After all players have completed the scoring phase for the first round, all remaining cards in the player's hands are discarded and the second round begins, again, following the same previous setup instructions.
The player who, in the previous round, passed last (the one who scored 0 in the Pass box) will be the starting player for this round.
2 players: in this case, all discarded cards are removed along with the remaining cards from the Birdie deck. The second round is played using the second half of the deck previously set aside during setup.
The second round takes place exactly like the first, but it will be more challenging: in fact, each player will have various Season/Birdie boxes already filled in so it will no longer be possible to score points for those sets.
End of the Game
At the end of the second round, players will mark on their scoring boards the total points gained from the various categories in the blue section of their boards. During this phase, each trophy is worth 3 points to the player who owns it.
The player with the most points is the winner. In case of a tie, the player who passed first (the player who has the highest number in the Pass box) during the second round is the winner.
Expert Variant
This variant is more complex and better suited for expert players as it requires more careful planning. This variant only modifies the "Scoring" phase as follows.
Flip over your personal deck face up and arrange all the cards in front of you to form a horizontal line being careful not to change their order. At this point a card must be selected and removed from the line, thus creating an empty space. If the two cards on each side of the empty space have a common feature (the same Season or Birdie type) then they need to be removed from the line along with all the others that share the same feature. Cards removed this way create a set for which scoring takes place immediately as described later.
Attention:
- A set includes ALL the adjacent cards on both sides of the empty space with a common feature, even if it is detrimental to the player. It's not possible to interrupt a set prematurely to avoid removing cards that would have been beneficial at a later moment.
- If the two cards on either side of the empty space share both features (the same Season and the same Birdie type) then the player chooses which one to use to identify the adjacent cards to be removed.
By removing a set from the line, a new empty space will appear, and you will need to repeat the same steps, evaluating once more the two Birdie cards on each side of the empty area. If these new cards do not possess a common feature, then the cards need to shift to fill in the gap. At this point, a new card must be chosen from anywhere in the line and the same procedure repeats. This will continue until there are no more cards left.
Example: After lining up her personal deck in a horizontal line, Lidia decides to remove from the game the Robin (1): this way she creates a set of 5 Birdies in Spring, and she marks their score. (2) After removing the five cards from the line, two Pigeons in Summer are now next to the newly created empty space: she chooses the Pigeon as a feature scoring 4 Pigeon points. (3) Finally, removing these cards she scores another 3 points for the birdies in Winter. Note that Lidia, after scoring 5 points in Spring, could have also chosen to use Summer as a feature for the second set, scoring 2 points in Summer but a whopping 5 points in Winter.
Set Scores: Each set removed from the line is worth a number of points equal to the number of cards it consists of; these points must be scored in the exact order they are gained and must be marked in the box corresponding to the common feature of that set: if the box is already filled in, those points are lost.
Flaps: these rules remain unchanged.
Bird Trophies: these rules remain unchanged.
Birdie card abilities: these rules remain unchanged except for the fact that every Birdie ability can now be used twice during the game: to keep track of this you can draw a slash on the Birdie image on the first use and, upon second use, draw a second slash to form an X.
List of Birdie Abilities
Woodpecker: change the position of a card in the line before creating the sets. This ability is useful to mitigate card order errors done during the round.
Robin: before creating the sets, draw a new card from the stack of cards set aside beneath the Stop card and add it anywhere in the line. Whilst in the standard mode there are cards for everyone, in the expert mode each ability can be used twice, meaning that cards beneath the Stop card could be used by other players who used the Robin's ability before you. In this case, the Robin's ability cannot be used.
Pigeon: remove any set you have just created but score 2 Flaps instead. This ability can be useful to avoid scoring a low amount of points but it's even more useful when choosing a set for which it is no longer possible to gain points for and, consequently, would not earn you Flap points either. It's also the only way to score the maximum amount of points in the Flap column.
Owl: copy the lowest score gained this round for a set in any empty Birdies or Seasons box (5 points max.) Scoring this way doesn't grant a Flap. You can copy a score higher than 5, but you can only score at most 5 points. To help you remember which sets have been calculated this round, you can keep them near you until the end of the scoring phase.
Game Flow (Summary)
On each turn, it's only possible to perform one of the following actions:
- Draw 1 card and add it to your hand. Choose a card from the display area and add it to your hand.
- Draw 2 cards and add them to your personal deck. Choose two cards from the display area and add them face-down to your personal deck. By performing this action, it's also possible to add any number of additional cards from your hand to your personal deck.
- Pass. Mark in the Pass box a number of points equal to twice the number of players who have not yet passed. You can no longer take any actions for the remainder of the round.
When all players have passed, the scoring phase takes place.
Scoring Summary
Starting from the first player who passed and going around in pass order, players proceed as follows:
- Flip over your personal deck and arrange all the cards in a line without changing their order.
- Players split their line into sets of at least two continuous cards with a common feature (Birdie type or Season).
- Each set that has not been previously scored is worth a number of points equal to the number of cards it consists of.
- For each set that has been scored, a Flap box needs to be checked.
- Check if you're eligible to earn a Birdie Trophy.
During this phase, Birdie's abilities can be used. Each ability can only be used once per game.