Birdscaping Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Game Overview
  • Areas of Play
  • Card Anatomy
• Important Concepts
  • 1) Player Tableaus
  • 2) Bird Abilities
  • 3) Discarding Cards and Replenishing the Bird Offer
  • 4) Important Terms
  • 5) Explaining the Theme
• Setup
  • The Initial Draft
• How to Play
  • Round End
  • Game End
• Scoring
• Actions
  • 1) Activate a Feature Row
  • 2) Play a Card
    • Paying Food Costs
    • Paying Nesting Area Costs
    • Feature Row Restrictions
  • 3) Draft Cards
  • 4) Untilt a Card
  • 5) Draw a Card
• Solo Mode

Game Overview

The goal of Birdscaping is to have the best backyard bird sanctuary at the end of the game, represented by points. The main way to earn points is by playing cards into your tableau. Players take turns taking actions to draft cards, play cards and activate one of their yard features until the deck has been depleted four times. Then, the game ends and players total up their points to see who wins.

Areas of Play

NOTE: The tableau area and starting hand look the same for each player. In a two player game, each player has their own tableau area, but they share the deck, bird offer and discard pile.

• A. Space for discard pile.
• B. The deck.
• C. Bird offer.
• D. A player's tableau. There are three rows, one row for each yard feature: Trees (1), Garden (2) and Pond (3). Players can have a maximum of four cards in each row. Players start the game with no cards in their tableau.
• E. A player's starting hand of three cards.

Card Anatomy

• A. Points the card is worth at the end of the game.
• B. Bird name.
• C. Food cost (for example, a bird may cost two insects, a fruit, and either another insect or another fruit).
• D. Feature Row requirements. Rows the bird is compatible with are colored in. A bird may be restricted from one row while remaining playable into the other two.
• E. Bird ability.
• F. Bird ability type (When Activated, Scoring, or Ongoing).
• G. Improvements section. Within the improvements section are three areas (top, middle and bottom) that show you the resources this card generates depending on which row it is in. The top area (1) provides nesting areas, the middle area (2) provides food of various types, and the bottom area (3) provides curious birds. The nesting areas, food and curious birds a card provides are sometimes referred to as resources in this rulebook.

Important Concepts

A few things you should know about before we dive into how to the rest of the rules.

1. Player tableaus
2. Bird abilities
3. Discarding cards and replenishing the bird offer
4. Important terms
5. Explaining the theme

1) Player Tableaus

Each player has a tableau in front of them on the table. Your tableau will be made up of rows and columns of cards. There are three rows in a tableau, representing the three major features of your yard that will attract birds: your pond, garden and trees.

• Top row: Trees (cards in this row provide nesting areas)
• Middle row: Garden (cards in this row provide food of different types)
• Bottom Row: Pond (cards in this row provide curious birds)

You may only ever have a maximum of 4 cards in a given row.

Part of the game is using the cards in your tableau to generate resources to pay the cost of completing certain actions. Cards generate different resources depending on which row they are in. This will be explained in more detail in the Play a Card section later.

There are no physical player boards in Birdscaping. Players must instead picture an imaginary tableau that they fill in when they play cards.

2) Bird Abilities

Every bird has an ability, the text found below the bird image. There are 3 different types of abilities. Look at the icon to the left of the ability to know what type it is.

• When Activated abilities are resolved immediately after a card is activated, before activating the next bird in the row, if there are any.
• Scoring abilities are resolved at the end of the game when scores are tallied. The scoring ability's text will explain what conditions apply to the ability being scored, and how many points are up for grabs. When a player plays a card into their tableau with a scoring ability, they must announce to the other player they have done so. The Announce icon is present on these cards to remind players of this.
• Ongoing abilities are resolved based on certain conditions, have an ongoing effect or add some restriction to your tableau. Consult the text of an Ongoing ability to learn what it does.

If a bird's ability conflicts with the rules of the game, the bird ability overrides the game rules. Some of the abilities are intended to be powerful and feel game-breaking. But often there are downsides to these powerful birds, so be careful!

3) Discarding Cards and Replenishing the Bird Offer

At all times, there should be a face down deck and an offer of 2 face up birds to the right of the deck. Whenever a bird is drafted from the offer, draw the top card of the deck and replace the drafted bird in the offer. If a card was taken from the offer as part of a Draft Cards action (explained in detail later) that allows multiple cards to be drafted, the player completes their entire draft action before replenishing the bird offer.

To the left of the deck is a space for the discard pile. Whenever you discard a card, place it face up in the discard pile. If you discard more than one card during an action, you choose the order in which you place them in the discard pile. If the deck becomes depleted while a player is taking a Draft Cards action, do not shuffle and replace the deck until they have completed the entire action.

4) Important Terms

These terms will come up often and are important to know before you learn the rest of the game:

• Activate – Activating a card means rotating the card slightly to the right and resolving its When Activated ability, if it has one.
• Spend – Spending a card means rotating a card that is currently tilted slightly to the left so it is once again oriented straight vertically. You spend cards while in the process of resolving a Play a Bird action, and in this way you get to use the card's resources for that action.
• Tilt – When you tilt a card, rotate it slightly to the right, but DO NOT resolve its When Activated ability if it has one. (You can see that most of the time activating a card is more desirable than tilting a card).
  • Note: if a card effect refers to tilted cards, it means all cards that are currently rotated slightly to the right, regardless of how they got that way.
• Untilt – Untilting a card means rotating a card that is currently tilted slightly to the left so it is once again oriented straight up vertically. Untilting a card DOES NOT provide any resources. (Untilting a card is typically a bad thing, since the player would have preferred to spend the card for its resources instead).

5) Explaining the Theme

Cards in Birdscaping are multi-use and have close ties to the theme of landscaping your yard to attract birds. To make the game simpler to teach and play, however, this rulebook will use terms that more closely describe what you are doing in the game rather then what you are doing thematically.

Those who want to know the details of how the theme ties in can read the rest of this section. If you are not interested, feel free to skip the rest of this section.

The rows in your tableau represent the different features of your yard (pond, garden and trees). As in real life, upgrading these features can help you attract more birds. Cards that are in your tableau represent two things: improvements you have made to your yard features, as well as birds that have decided to hang out in your yard. When you activate cards, you are really doing two things: reaping the benefit of the birds in your yard (via the bird's ability), and preparing one of your yard improvements to be used at a later time. When you spend cards, that is when you are reaping the benefits of your various yard improvements. That's why spending cards provides you with nesting areas, food and curious birds.

But what about discarding cards from your hand? Why does that also give you resources to be used for drafting and playing birds? Resources discarded from your hand are like supplies. Perhaps you've gone to the store and purchased some bird seed. Discarding a card for Seeds is like putting that seed out into a bird feeder for a temporary way to attract birds that like seeds. Supplies like this example are a short-term way to attract birds to your yard. Improvements, on the other hand, are a more permanent and reliable solution.

In this way, we don't have to pretend that the birds themselves are providing these resources (which would actually be the opposite); it's your yard improvements and supplies that are providing resources to attract more birds.

But in terms of what you are mechanically doing in the game to get resources: you are activating and spending cards along with discarding cards to generate resources to play more cards.

Setup

The game begins with an initial draft. This is how players create their starting hand of three cards.

The Initial Draft

Complete the following steps to create each player's starting hand of three cards:

1. Shuffle the deck of 18 cards. Deal four cards face down to each player.
2. Each player chooses one card to keep and passes the remaining three cards to the other player.
3. Players then choose one card to keep from the three cards passed to them. Then they pass the remaining two cards to the other player.
4. Players choose a final card to keep from the two cards passed to them.
5. The two cards left unchosen are placed face up to the right of the deck. These are the first two cards in the bird offer.

After the initial draft, players have their starting hand of three cards and the initial bird offer has been created. Shuffle the remaining 10 cards and place them face down in a stack in the center of the table, with the "I" (1) edge of the card backs oriented upright. This stack of cards will be referred to as the deck going forward.

Leave an imaginary space to the left of the deck. This is where the discard pile will be, once a player has discarded any cards.

Setup is now complete. Reference the image in the Areas of Play section above for an example of complete setup.

How to Play

Birdscaping is played in a series of turns and rounds. Players alternate taking turns. Players take two actions per turn.

The player who has the best bird story takes the first turn of the game. Remember which player took the first turn of the game, as it will affect game end (explained in more detail later).

Round End

The game lasts four rounds. When a player draws the last card of the deck, shuffle the discard pile, along with the two birds from the offer, to become the new deck. Orient the new deck so the card backs indicate the new round number (e.g., at the start of the second round, orient the deck card backs so "II" is upright). Then deal out two cards from the top of the deck to become the new bird offer.

Game End

When the final card from the deck in Round 4 is taken—either drawn by a player or flipped face up to replenish the bird offer—the end game is triggered. If the player who triggered the end game was the player who took the first turn of the game, they finish their turn and the other player gets one final turn—and then the game is over. If the player who triggered the end game was not the player who took the first turn of the game, the game is over at the end of their current turn.

Note that at the end of Round 3 there must be at least 3 total cards left in the bird offer and discard pile to create the deck and bird offer for Round 4 (two cards in the offer and at least 1 in the deck). If there are not at least 3 cards remaining to set up for Round 4, the game ends immediately. Players tally up there scores as normal.

Scoring

To calculate final scores:

1. Sum the points on every card in your tableau.
2. Add or subtract any relevant bonus points from scoring abilities.

The player with the most total points wins.

Actions

There are 5 different actions a player can take on their turn. You may do these in any combination for the two actions on your turn, meaning you could even take the same action twice if you choose.

1. Activate a feature row
2. Play a card
3. Draft cards
4. Untilt a card
5. Draw a card (this is different from the draft cards action).

Please note that you must generate the needed resources first, and then carry out the chosen action. For example, if you take the Play a Card action, you will be spending and discarding cards prior to placing the new bird into your tableau.

1) Activate a Feature Row

To activate a feature row, choose one row of cards in your tableau that has at least one card in it. Then, starting with the right-most card in the row, activate each card in the row. To activate a card, tilt it slightly to the right. Be sure to resolve any When Activated abilities as you go.

Cards remain tilted until spent, or until forced to untilt by some other game effect, such as a bird ability. Tilted cards can be spent to pay certain action costs (more on this later).

When you take the Activate a Feature Row action, it is only considered one action, regardless of how many cards are in the row. But you only activate the cards in that row. If you want to activate another row, it costs another action.

2) Play a Card

The Play a Card action allows you to place a card onto the table into your tableau.

Before playing a card, you must pay its food and nesting area costs—and must also comply with the bird's Feature Row restrictions (i.e., the bird must be played into a compatible row).

You may do as much as is required for you to pay the costs while playing a card. For example, you may need to discard two cards from your hand and spend another two cards in your tableau to generate enough nesting area and food resources to play a certain bird. But this is still considered one single Play a Card action!

Paying Food Costs

Above the bird's image on each card is the food cost to play that bird. Food in the game is of three types: seeds, insects and fruit. You must pay food equal to the icons present above the bird's image. If there is a "+" between icons, it means you must pay both icons. If there is a "/" between icons, it means you may choose to pay one or the other.

There are two ways to generate food. You may use one or both of these in combination when paying food costs:

1. Discard cards from your hand
2. Spend cards in your tableau

1) Discard cards from your hand

In the food resource area in the improvements section on the left side of each card, there is some combination of food icons (some cards provide no food, in which case no icons are present, while others provide up to 2 icons). You may place any number of cards from your hand into the discard pile (in an order of your choosing) to generate food resources equal to the icons present in their food resource area.

When discarding cards to generate resources, you DO NOT have to think about a bird's feature row restrictions. For example, even though the Robin card may only be played into the Garden or Pond rows in your tableau, you are still allowed to discard the Robin card from your hand for the resources in any of the 3 areas. I.e., you could discard the Robin card from your hand to generate 2 nesting areas, even though the Robin cannot be played into the Trees row in your tableau.

2) Spend cards in your tableau

You may also spend (untilt) any tilted cards in your Garden row to generate the food values in their food resource areas. You may do this in combination with discarding cards for food.

IMPORTANT: When you discard a card to generate resources, you must choose only one resource area on the card. For example, if you discard a card to generate a nesting area, you cannot also use the food from that card. You must discard another card for its food resources and/or spend appropriate cards from your tableau for food.

Paying Nesting Area Costs

Birds also need plenty of space if they are going to join your bird sanctuary! To play any bird into your tableau, you must pay a number of nesting areas equal to the column number the bird is being played into.

For example, if it is the first turn of the game I am only able to play birds into the left-most column of my tableau (column 1). To play a bird into column 1, I must pay 1 nesting area resource. But if later in the game I want to play a bird to the right of that first bird, I must pay 2 nesting areas since the new bird is going into the second column.

Nesting area resources are generated much like food resources, except you reference the top area of the improvements section on the left side of the card. Some cards provide no nesting areas, in which case this area has no icons present, while other cards provide up to 2.

You can generate nesting area resources by discarding cards from your hand, by spending cards in your Trees row, or by a combination of the two.

Feature Row Restrictions

Not all birds prefer the same things. The Feature Row restrictions section of a card tells you which features are able to attract a bird to your yard. This section is found to the right of all bird images. The three rows of your tableau are represented here—pond on bottom, garden in the middle and trees on top. If the bird is able to be placed in a feature row, that row's icon will be colored in. Birds may not be played into rows that are grayed out. Birds are considered to be compatible with the color-filled rows (terminology you may find on some bird abilities).

Once you have paid the appropriate food and nesting area costs, you may play a bird into a compatible feature row. Place the bird in the left-most open space in that row.

You may not play more than one bird with a single Play a Card action, and you lose any resources that you did not use up to complete this action. If you want to play another bird, you must take another Play a Card action.

Remember, if you play a bird with a scoring ability into the row that triggers its ability, you are required to announce this fact to the other player. For example, if you play the Eurasian Wren into your Trees row, you must tell the other player you have done so. (It's no fun to lose from not realizing the other player got one of these cards out).

3) Draft Cards

Cards in your hand represent curious birds—birds that are interested in your yard but haven't yet decided to join in. The Draft Cards action is one way to get new cards into your hand. Curious birds are a resource represented by the icon in the bottom area of the improvements section of each card.

When you take the Draft Cards action, you will be taking cards into your hand from the bird offer, the discard pile (starting from the top), the top of the deck, or a combination of these.

There are two ways to pay for the Draft Cards action. You must choose one of these methods or the other. You may not do a combination of both for a single draft cards action.

1. Discard 1 card from your hand.
2. Spend any number of tilted cards in your Pond row.

1) Discard 1 card from your hand

You may take the draft cards action by discarding 1 card from your hand. You may draft a number of birds equal to the number of curious bird icons in the improvements section of the card discarded. For example, discarding the Robin allows the player to draft 2 cards into their hand, since the Robin has 2 curious bird icons. You may choose to draft cards from the bird offer, the discard pile or the top of the deck. Note that when you draft from the discard pile, you must choose birds starting with the top card of the discard pile and working your way down.

If you choose to draft one or more cards from the discard pile, set the discarded card aside for a minute while you draft from the discard pile. After you have taken the desired cards into your hand, move the discarded bird onto the top of the discard pile.

Note: You may not discard more than one card at a time when taking the draft cards action.

2) Spend any number of tilted cards in your Pond row

The other way to pay for the draft cards action is by spending tilted cards in your Pond row. Spend any number of tilted cards in your Pond row first. Then, draft a number of cards up to the number of curious bird icons on the cards you spent. Note that players could potentially draft a large number of cards this way if they have a lot of birds (or birds with multiple curious bird icons) in their pond row.

NOTE ON ROUND END: When you take the Draft Cards action, you do not interrupt that action to shuffle up the discard pile and reset the deck if the deck is depleted. You must wait until after the entire Draft Cards action is completed before resetting the deck for the next round.

REMINDER: You cannot pay for the draft cards action by both discarding a card and spending cards in your pond row. You must choose one method or the other.

At the end of your turn, you may have a maximum of 3 cards in your hand. If you have more than 3, you must choose cards to discard so you are left with a hand of 3. This applies no matter the reason you gained the cards into your hand.

4) Untilt a Card

You may use an action to choose one card that is currently tilted and untilt it. Remember that untilting a card does not provide any resources. This is not a very efficient use of an action, but might be necessary for your strategy. The Song Thrush is a good example of a bird that you may want to use an action to untilt occasionally.

5) Draw a Card

You may use an action to simply draw the top card of the deck. This can be done twice per turn if you use both your actions to draw cards. The Draw a Card action does not require you to pay any costs. It is an inefficient way to get cards into your hand, but will sometimes be necessary.

If you have actions remaining on your turn but have no other actions you are able to take, you must draw a card.

Solo Mode

You can play Birdscaping by yourself with the following rules. You play against an AI opponent. The AI does not create a traditional tableau in a grid like real players do. Instead, the AI collects cards and simply puts them in a vertical column to be scored at the end of the game.

Start a solo game by shuffling the deck. Draw the top 4 cards, choose 3 to keep, and give the remaining card to the AI player. This gives you your starting hand, and gives the AI the first card in their column.

Play alternates between the player and the AI, with the player taking the first turn of the game. For their turn, the player takes two actions as normal.

For the AI's turn, discard the oldest card in the bird offer. In a solo game, the oldest card in the offer is the one furthest to the right. If the right-most bird is ever drafted, slide the remaining bird to the right into the vacated space before replenishing the offer.

Before starting rounds 2, 3 and 4, the AI opponent receives more cards. After shuffling the discard pile, draw the top two cards off the top of the new deck and place them in the AI opponent's column.

Thus at the end of the game, the AI opponent should have a column of 7 cards, one that you gave them at the beginning of the game, and 6 more from giving them 2 cards at the beginning of rounds 2, 3 and 4.

The game ends after the player's turn if on that turn the player caused the last card of the deck in Round 4 to be drawn. If the AI opponent causes the final card of the Round 4 deck to be drawn, the player gets one final turn before the game ends.

Compare the total points of cards in your tableau with cards in the AI player's column. If you scored more points than the AI, you win.

Note that the abilities of cards with Scoring abilities have no effect in a solo game. Likewise with abilities that affect the other player in any way. For example, you do not gain the extra nesting area from the Nuthatch if the Woodpecker is in the AI player's column.

You may make the following changes to the solo rules to tweak the difficulty.

• Easy Mode – The AI only receives one card at the start of round 2.
• Hard Mode – The AI draws and keeps the top card of the deck at the start of round 1 (in addition to the card you gave them at the start of the game).