Featherlight
Featherlight Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 70 Cards
- Scorepad
Each feather card shows a color symbol, a feather illustration, a color, a reference number, a wind symbol (for solo play only), and how to score at the end of the game (when in hand).
Overview
Featherlight is a competitive card game. The goal is to optimally score each feather card in your hand in order to gain the most points.
Each feather card can earn you points, but certain conditions on the cards must be fulfilled at the end of the game. So you have to swap cards cleverly, collect sets of cards and optimize your cards in hand every turn.
At the end of the game, all the cards in your hand are scored. The cards in the center of the table - the nest - are also taken into account.
You win if you have the most points at the end of the game.
If you go on an adventure as a single feather collector, please note the rule adjustments under "Flying solo!" on page 7.
Setup
-
Shuffle the 70 feather cards facedown.
-
Depending on the number of players, remove a number of feather cards and put them back into the box without looking:
- 2 players: 8 cards
- 3 players: 7 cards
- 4 players: 4 cards
-
Now deal each player, facedown, 5 feather cards from the shuffled deck. Each player takes their cards into their hand.
-
Place 6 feather cards faceup in the playing area. This display is called the nest.
When the word "nest" is used in these rules or on the cards, it refers to the open display of 6 cards in the center of the table.
-
Divide the remaining feather cards into two equal-sized stacks and place them facedown next to each other in the playing area.
The player who can best imitate a Potoo bird becomes the starting player.
-
We're ready to go!
Setup for 4 players (illustrated in the rulebook, showing each player's hand and the nest in the center of the table).
Gameplay
The game is played in clockwise order, beginning with the starting player. Each player must perform exactly one of two available actions on their turn.
No piles or stacks may be searched during the game.
Only six faceup cards in the nest are visible to all players at any one time, which means that you and your opponents should remember where which card was placed or covered.
The game ends as soon as the last card is drawn from one of the two draw piles. The player who drew the card still has to finish their turn in the regular way, then the final scoring takes place.
Actions
When it's your turn, you always can choose between exactly 2 actions: Either you take the action "Draw & Discard" or the action "Swap". "Passing" or foregoing an action is not allowed.
- A - Draw a card and discard a card
- B - Swap a card
Regardless of which action you have chosen, at the end of your action you will have exactly 5 cards in your hand.
You and your opponents take turns going clockwise until the end of the game.
A - Draw & Discard
-
You draw a feather card from one of the two facedown feather card stacks into your hand.
This feather card must be kept secret from the other players.
-
Next, you have to place a card from your hand into the nest: You place a feather card from your hand faceup over one of the six faceup feather cards in the nest, thus covering it.
The card you place into the nest can also be the feather card you have just drawn.
The game ends as soon as one of the two facedown stacks of feather cards is depleted. You should therefore think carefully about which pile you choose for the "Draw & Discard" action, as this will delay or accelerate the end of the game.
B - Swap
- You take exactly one of the six faceup cards from the nest into your hand.
- Then you put another card from your hand back into the nest. This cannot be the card you just picked up from the nest!
If there is a gap in the nest as a result of taking the card - meaning there are only 5 cards left faceup in the nest - you must place the card from your hand faceup exactly there and bring the display back up to 6 cards.
If there is no gap in the nest, you may choose one of the six faceup feather cards in the nest and place your card faceup on top of it and thus cover it.
In Featherlight, it's all about your five cards in hand. You can only win if you optimize your cards in hand well and always keep an eye on the nest!
End of Game & Scoring
The game ends as soon as the last card is drawn from one of the two facedown stacks of feather cards. The player who drew the card still has to finish their turn, then the final scoring follows.
Each player now scores exactly the five feather cards they have in their hand to determine their final points.
Each player also considers the six feather cards lying faceup in the nest - but only the color of the feathers is relevant here. Card effects on cards in the nest do not matter in the scoring of the final points.
How exactly each card scores points is indicated on each feather card. If a card does not specifically mention "hand" or "nest" then it will score based on the cards both in "hand" and in "nest".
Refer to the "Feather Dictionary" for details on a card's scoring (page 8).
The player with the highest score wins the game.
If there is a tie, the player with the most cards of a different color in their hand wins. If there is also a tie in this case, the players involved share the victory.
Scoring Example
At the end of the game, the nest has the following 6 cards faceup (cards 4, 28, 31, 43, 60 and 68).
Kira has the following 5 cards in her hand at the end of the game (cards 3, 6, 8, 15 and 65).
Kira now scores each of these 5 hand cards individually:
- The red feather (3): This card scores 15 points because Kira has 4 different colored feather cards in her hand. (Having a 5th different color in hand does not score additional points.)
- The blue feather (6): This card is worth "only" 5 points because only 2 feather cards in the nest are the same (white: 31, 68).
- The purple feather (8): This card scores 6 points: 4 points for the card itself and 2 more points for the other purple card (43) in the nest.
- The green feather (15): Kira can form the set of 4 (purple, blue, white, & black) twice from her hand cards and the cards from the nest: once entirely in the nest (43, 4, 31, 60), and once with three cards from her hand (8, 6, 65) and the second white card in the nest (68). This card is therefore worth 50 points!
- The black feather (65): This card scores 7 points because the total number of black cards in the nest and in Kira's hand is even (2 cards).
The points for each card are totalled: Kira has 83 points at the end of the game. Not bad! If she has scored the highest number of points, then she has won the game.
Flying Solo!
Rules for solo play
In a solo game of Featherlight, all rules for 2-4 players apply with the following exceptions:
Setup:
Instead of steps 1 and 2 of the game setup, you will sort the feather cards by their seven colors. Then shuffle each facedown color pile individually and remove 2 random cards from each of these color piles.
Put these 14 feather cards back into the box without looking at them. They will not be used in this game. Then shuffle the remaining 56 cards into a feather stack.
Next, count off exactly 21 feather cards from this stack and form a separate stack - we call it the wind stack - and place it facedown in the playing area.
Then continue with the rest of the game setup at step 3.
Gameplay:
In solo play, a turn is completed by another step: After you have performed an action, "the wind blows" through the nest. You bring the top card from the wind stack into the nest.
The feather card from the wind stack is placed faceup over an exposed card in the nest. Look at the wind symbol (up-pointing triangle ▲ or down-pointing triangle ▼) on the feather card.
- If the up-pointing triangle ▲ is on the card, you cover the card with the highest card number.
- If the down-pointing triangle ▼ is on the card, you cover the card with the lowest card number.
End of the game:
In addition to the regular game end condition (the facedown feather card stack is empty), the game end is also triggered as soon as the wind stack is depleted.
Try to improve your score with every game! We wish you a pleasant flight!
Alternative display: For a better card overview, you can also arrange the nest in a 3 x 2 grid.
Feather Dictionary
Scoring the cards
You score points in Featherlight by using the colored feather cards. There are seven colors: red, purple, blue, green, yellow, white and black.
General rule:
- If the exact condition of a feather card in the hand has not been fulfilled at the end of the game, the card does not score any points.
- If a set (of 2, 3 or 4 feather cards) is scored for a card, each feather card may only be used once for the consideration of the possible sets.
Below you will find all feathers sorted by card number and explained in detail:
Reminder: If a card does not specify "hand" or "nest" it means you will look at both places to fulfill a feather card's scoring condition.
Card reference
1 - This card scores 4 points. For each additional purple card, score 2 points.
- Example: Hanno has this and another purple card in his hand. There is also 1 purple card in the nest. This card will score 8 points - 4 for itself and 2+2 for the other two purple cards.
2 - This card scores as many points as the highest stack of cards in the nest. If several card stacks are the same height and the highest, only one of these stacks is scored.
- Example: At the end of the game, the highest stack in the nest is 14 cards high. This card therefore scores you 14 points.
When determining the height, do not change the order of the cards, as the top cards in the nest are relevant for scoring!
3 - If you have four different colors in your hand, this card scores 15 points. This card counts as a red card itself.
4 - This card scores 20 points if there are no black cards in the nest.
5 - This card scores 20 points if there are exactly 4 white cards.
6 - This card scores 5 points. If there are 3 or more cards in the nest with the same color, this card scores an additional 20 points.
7 - This card scores 35 points if 4 or more cards in the nest have the same color.
8 - Card effect identical to 1.
9 - This card scores 35 points if each of the 7 feather colors are present at least once. This card counts as a yellow card itself.
10 - This card scores 10 points.
11 - This card scores 5 points. If every card in the nest has a different color, this card scores an additional 40 points.
12 - This card scores 20 points if there are exactly 3 green cards.
13 - This card scores 24 points if there are exactly 3 purple cards.
14 - This card scores 6 points for each purple card in the nest.
15 - This card scores 25 points for each set consisting of one purple, one blue, one white, and one black card.
- Example: Hazel has this card in her hand as well as one blue, one purple and two yellow cards. There are two black, one white, and three red cards in the nest. Hazel can form one set from these cards, scoring 25 points.
16 - Card effect identical to card 1.
17 - Each missing feather color that is neither in your hand nor in the nest scores 10 points.
- Example: At the end of the game, the colors blue and red are neither in Leia's hand nor in the nest. Leia therefore scores 20 points for this card, as these two feather colors are missing.
18 - This card scores 8 points for each green card in the nest.
19 - If you have 3 cards of the same color in your hand, this card scores 18 points. This card counts as a red card itself.
20 - This card scores 8 points.
21 - This card scores 20 points. However, each black card reduces that score by 2 points.
22 - This card scores 25 points for each set consisting of one red, one blue, one yellow, and one black card.
23 - Card effect identical to card 1.
24 - This card scores 15 points for each set consisting of one red, one yellow, and one black card.
25 - This card scores 18 points if there are exactly 2 red cards.
26 - This card scores 5 points for each blue card in the nest.
27 - If you have five cards of different colors in your hand, this card scores 20 points. This card counts as a red card itself.
28 - This card scores 20 points if there are no yellow cards in the nest.
29 - This card scores 5 points for each yellow card in the nest.
30 - Card effect identical to card 1.
31 - This card scores 7 points.
32 - This card scores 15 points for each set consisting of one red, one purple, and one blue card.
33 - This card scores 15 points if there is exactly 1 blue card.
34 - This card scores 4 points for each white card in the nest.
35 - This card scores 8 points for each black card in your hand.
36 - This card scores 13 points for each set consisting of one blue, one yellow, and one white card.
37 - Card effect identical to card 1.
38 - This card scores 13 points for each set consisting of one red, one blue, and one yellow card.
39 - If you have four cards of the same color in your hand, this card scores 35 points. This card counts as a red card itself.
40 - This card scores 8 points for each set consisting of one yellow and one black card.
41 - This card scores 6 points.
42 - This card scores 5 points for each blue or yellow card in your hand.
43 - Card effect identical to card 1.
44 - This card scores 4 points for each red card in the nest.
45 - This card scores 5 points for each green or white card in your hand.
46 - If the number of all black cards is even - meaning 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10 black cards - this card is worth 7 points.
47 - If the number of all black cards is odd - meaning 1, 3, 5, 7 or 9 black cards - this card is worth 5 points.
48 - This card scores 7 points for each set consisting of one red and one white card.
49 - This card scores 15 points for each set in your hand consisting of one green and one yellow card.
50 - Card effect identical to card 1.
51 - This card scores 7 points for each set of one blue and one yellow card.
52 - This card scores 10 points for each set in your hand consisting of one purple and one blue card.
- Example: Hazel has this card in her hand at the end of the game, as well as two purple cards and two blue cards. Hazel can score the required set twice and thus scores 20 points for this card.
53 - Card effect identical to card 46.
54 - Card effect identical to card 47.
55 - This card scores 7 points for each set consisting of one red and one blue card.
56 - This card scores 10 points for each set in your hand consisting of one white and one black card.
57 - Card effect identical to card 1.
58 - This card scores 5 points.
59 - Card effect identical to card 46.
60 - Card effect identical to card 47.
61 - This card scores 5 points.
62 - This card scores 5 points.
63 - Card effect identical to card 1.
64 - This card scores 4 points.
65 - Card effect identical to card 46.
66 - Card effect identical to card 47.
67 - This card scores 4 points.
68 - This card scores 4 points.
69 - Card effect identical to card 46.
70 - Card effect identical to card 47.
Pauly's Feather Tournament
You may agree to play a feather tournament. You and your fellow players play exactly three games.
After three games, add up all the scores from each player and the player who has the highest score overall wins the tournament!
To determine the starting player in games two and three, the player who scored the fewest points in the previous game becomes the new starting player. If there is a tie, the starting player does not change.
Feather Overview
Player aid, printed on the back cover.
- Rainbow symbol: any feather color
- Green feather: green
- Red feather: red
- Yellow feather: yellow
- Purple feather: purple
- White feather: white
- Blue feather: blue
- Black feather: black
It's your turn? Make a decision:
- A - Draw a card and discard a card
- B - Swap a card