Wingspan

Overview

Wingspan is an engine-building card game about bird enthusiasts attracting birds to their wildlife preserves. Players play bird cards into three habitats (forest, grassland, wetland), each providing different benefits. As more birds fill a habitat, the associated action becomes more powerful. The game spans 4 rounds with decreasing action counts, creating escalating tension between building your engine and scoring points.

Components

• 170 Unique bird cards (each with real bird facts)
• 1 Goal board (double-sided: competitive green / personal blue)
• 4 End-of-round goal tiles
• 5 Player mats with action cube rows
• 40 Action cubes (8 per player)
• 26 Bonus cards
• 103 Food tokens (5 types: invertebrate, seed, fish, fruit, rodent)
• 75 Egg miniatures
• 1 Birdfeeder dice tower with 5 wooden food dice
• 1 Scorepad
• Rulebook

Setup

1. Shuffle bird deck; place 3 face-up in the bird tray.
2. Place food tokens and egg miniatures in supply.
3. Toss 5 food dice into the birdfeeder tower.
4. Choose goal board side (Green = competitive scoring; Blue = personal targets).
5. Randomly place 4 end-of-round goal tiles on the board.
6. Each player receives: 1 player mat, 8 action cubes, 2 bonus cards, 5 bird cards, 5 food tokens.
7. Players keep up to 5 bird cards, discarding 1 food token per bird kept. Choose 1 bonus card to keep.

Turn Structure

The game runs 4 rounds with decreasing actions per round:

• Round 1: 8 action cubes
• Round 2: 7 action cubes
• Round 3: 6 action cubes
• Round 4: 5 action cubes

On your turn, place 1 action cube and choose 1 of 4 actions:

1. Play a Bird

Place the cube on the “Play a Bird” row. Pay the bird’s food cost and egg cost (if required for the habitat column). Place the bird card in the leftmost open space of the matching habitat row. Trigger any “when played” power.

2. Gain Food (Forest Row)

Place the cube on the leftmost exposed slot in the forest row. Take food from the birdfeeder matching a die face. Then slide the cube left, activating any brown “when activated” powers on birds in that row.

3. Lay Eggs (Grassland Row)

Place the cube on the leftmost exposed slot in the grassland row. Lay eggs equal to the number shown. Then slide the cube left, activating brown powers.

4. Draw Bird Cards (Wetland Row)

Place the cube on the leftmost exposed slot in the wetland row. Draw birds from the tray or deck. Then slide the cube left, activating brown powers.

End of Round

After all players use all cubes:

1. Score end-of-round goal (place 1 cube on goal board).
2. Remove bird cards from tray; refill.
3. Reroll all dice remaining in birdfeeder.

Actions

Bird Card Powers:

• When Played (white): Triggers once when the bird is played.
• When Activated (brown): Triggers each time the habitat row is activated.
• Once Between Turns (pink): Triggers on other players’ turns under specific conditions.
• End of Game: Provides VP or scoring conditions at game end.

Birdfeeder Rules:

• Take 1 food die from the birdfeeder per food gained.
• If the birdfeeder is empty, reroll all 5 dice.
• If all remaining dice show the same face, you may reroll.

Scoring / Victory Conditions

End-of-Round Goals (2 versions)

Green Board (Competitive): Players earn VP based on rank (1st/2nd/3rd) for each round’s goal (e.g., most birds in a habitat, most eggs in a row).

Blue Board (Personal): 1 VP per qualifying item, maximum 5 VP per round goal.

Final Scoring

Source	VP
Bird card face values	Printed VP per card
Bonus cards	Per card’s condition
End-of-round goals	Per goal board
Eggs on birds	1 VP per egg
Food cached on birds	1 VP per food token
Tucked cards under birds	1 VP per card

Tiebreaker: Most unused food tokens.

Special Rules & Edge Cases

• Habitat Capacity: Each habitat row holds up to 5 birds. Birds are played left to right.
• Egg Limit: Each bird has a maximum egg capacity printed on its card.
• Food Cost Reduction: The “Play a Bird” row shows egg costs for columns 2-5 in each habitat. Later columns cost more eggs.
• Predator Birds: Some birds have “hunt” powers that check the top card of the deck for wingspan or other attributes of prey.
• Flocking Birds: Tuck cards under them when activated; each tucked card = 1 VP.
• Caching Birds: Store food tokens on them when activated; each cached food = 1 VP.
• Bonus Cards: Scored at end of game based on conditions (e.g., most birds in a specific habitat, birds with specific nesting types).
• Minimum for Goals: You must have at least 1 qualifying item to score points for a goal.
• Tied Goals (Green Board): Place both cubes on the same rank; divide points between tied players (round down).
• Mandatory Cube Placement: Players must place a cube on the goal board even if scoring 0.
• Brown Powers Are Optional: When sliding the cube through a habitat row, activating each bird’s brown power is optional.

Player Reference

Action	Habitat	Benefit
Play Bird	Any (matching bird type)	Add bird to engine
Gain Food	Forest	Take food from birdfeeder
Lay Eggs	Grassland	Produce eggs on birds
Draw Cards	Wetland	Draw bird cards

Rounds: 4 (8/7/6/5 actions)

VP Sources: Birds + Bonuses + Goals + Eggs + Cached Food + Tucked Cards