Isle of Feathers
Isle of Feathers Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
What's In The Box
- 52 x Bird Cards
- 1 x Rulebook
- 54 x Ability Tokens
- 18 x Vegetation Tokens
- 30 x Land Tiles
- 1 x Playmat
- 40 x Bird Tokens
Note: the component list does not name Flit tokens separately; the Solo Mode section refers to Flit tokens.
Setting Up The Game
Your Island Home
First, lay out the Playmat, and set up the initial six (6) Land tiles in the formation as shown in the diagram above. Place the rest of the Land tiles, Vegetation tokens, and Ability tokens off to the side where everyone can reach them.
Then, deal out a starting hand of four (4) Bird cards to each player. Players can immediately look at their own cards, but are to keep them hidden from other players.
Next, lay out the Flight Path. Lay out four (4) Bird cards, face up, in the four middle spaces on the Playmat, then place the rest of the deck face down on the 'Draw' space.
Finally, choose the player who will take the first turn, and deal them one extra Bird card from the top of the Draw pile, giving them a starting hand of five (5) cards.
Note: the setup diagram labels ("Initial Land Tile Set Up", "First Player's Hand (with extra card)") are graphics, not text-layer content.
Turn Overview
On your turn, you must perform two (2) actions, then pass a card to the next player.
These actions include:
- Add a Sand, Grass, or Cliff tile.
- Add a Vegetation token.
- Place one of the Birds in your hand on the island, then draw a new card from the Flight Path.
- Discard a card from your hand. Immediately use its ability, then draw a new card from the Flight Path.
You may perform any combination of actions in any order, and you may choose to perform the same action twice.
Building Land
The island is formed by placing our land tiles on the player mat, which serves as the ocean.
Sand tiles are placed directly on top of our 'ocean' to establish and expand the island. Grass and Cliff tiles are stacked on top of Sand to build upwards. Vegetation Tokens are then placed on top, helping to lock the island in place.
The three types of Land tiles represent different heights; Sand tiles go flat on the table, Grass tiles go directly on top of Sand, and Cliff tiles go on top of Grass.
Placing Sand Tiles
Sand tiles are nice and straightforward; you can place them anywhere on the table that's connected to another Tile (i.e. they cannot be free floating).
Stacking Grass and Cliff Tiles
Grass and Cliff tiles are for stacking, but in order to stack a tile you need to make sure that it's properly supported.
To stack a Grass tile, you need to find a spot on the island that has two adjacent Sand tiles, or, one adjacent Grass tile that somebody's already placed.
You can place this Grass tile in the middle here (Figure A) as it has two neighbouring Sand tiles.
You can also place a Grass tile here (Figure B), as it has a neighbour of the same height.
You cannot place it on the edge here (Figure C) as there is only one Sand tile that's next to it.
Note: Figures A, B and C are diagrams; their labels are in the artwork.
Cliff tiles work like Grass tiles, only one level higher. You can stack a Cliff tile anywhere with two adjacent Grass tiles, or one or more Cliff tiles that somebody's already placed.
Placing Vegetation Tokens
Vegetation tokens are much simpler. You can add them to the island by placing them on top of any tile that doesn't already have vegetation on it. Once you plant trees, that tile becomes fixed; you cannot stack any other tiles on top of it. Imagine the roots 'locking in' and securing the ground in place.
Introducing Birds To The Island
Every player has their own hand of Bird cards. Each card is unique, and they all represent different species that we might want to introduce to the island.
The diagram at the top of each card is that bird's Habitat. On your turn, you can introduce a Bird card from your hand to the island, by placing a meeple of your colour on a set of tiles that matches its Habitat diagram exactly. The diagram can be rotated in any direction, or even flipped, but the formation of tiles need to match exactly, including any Vegetation.
If there's vegetation on the diagram, there has to be vegetation on the island, and the opposite is true too; if there's a tree on the island, and no tree on the diagram, than the bird cannot be placed.
Once you've found a part of the island suitable for one of your birds to inhabit, you can introduce a bird to the island. Firstly, place its card face up in front of you, announce its name to the table, and then place one of your Bird Tokens onto the tile indicated by the icon on your card. Make sure you also take an Ability Token (see pg. 9).
During your turn, you've always got to have five cards in your hand, so immediately grab a new one from the Flight Path to replace it.
And just like Vegetation, when you place a Bird that tile then becomes fixed. You can't place or stack anything on top of it, and you can only place one bird per tile.
Note: the Points Awarded For Placing Bird table on this page (labelled "Ability Token", "Habitat Diagram", "Points Awarded", "Habitat Match On The Island") is graphic. The point values it shows are NOT in the PDF text layer and are not transcribed here. See the Winning The Game section.
The Flight Path
The Flight Path is how you get new cards, and shows the birds that are visiting the island, looking for the right Habitat.
Birds come in from the Draw pile, slide along, and eventually fly away into the Discard pile. Think of it almost like a conveyor belt, with the birds closer to the Discard pile having been there the longest.
When you draw from the Flight Path, grab any of the face-up cards, OR draw blind from the top of the deck. Then, the bird that's closest to the Discard pile flies away and is discarded. You can then slide the remaining birds over, and draw new ones from the Draw pile until there are four face up cards again.
If you see that the Draw pile is empty, shuffle the Discard pile and refill it again, so there will always be new birds visiting the island.
Note: the "Draw Pile" and "Discard Pile" labels on the Flight Path diagram are graphics.
Discarding A Card
The final action you can take is discarding. You can discard one card from your hand to instantly use its ability, without collecting a token (we'll explain what that means on the next page).
Again, just like when you place a Bird, replenish the card you've discarded by picking up the top card from the Draw Pile and adding it to your hand.
Abilities
On the lefthand side of every bird card is a different coloured icon. This represents the Ability Tokens. When you successfully place a Bird, pick up an Ability Token that matches the one on the Bird Card, and place it in front of you.
Ability Tokens are like currency, and they can be spent at anytime during your turn to enable you to perform actions you normally wouldn't be able to.
For example, you can instantly raise or lower a tile, even if it breaks the stacking rules, you can move vegetation around, and you can even place multiple birds in the one spot.
Once you've spent a Token, it goes back into the pile. You can spend any number of Ability Tokens during your turn, and they do not count towards your two (2) actions (see pg. 4).
Types of Abilities
There are six types of Ability tokens that each do different things. The source text layer does not print the name of each token; the six entries are given below in the order printed on the page.
- Raise the height of any tile by one (1). Any Birds or Vegetation there stay unchanged.
- Lower the height of any tile by one (1). Any Birds or Vegetation there stay unchanged.
- Move an already-placed Vegetation token to another tile that doesn't already contain Vegetation.
- Instantly take another action.
- Place a Bird on a tile that already contains a Bird. Note: You may place multiple birds per turn this way.
- Move a Bird token to a neighbouring land tile, one (1) space across, even if that tile already contains a Bird.
Note: the FAQ refers to abilities by name ("Burrow", "Mound", "Shoo", "Flit"), but the printed icon-to-name mapping is graphic and is not in the text layer, so the names are not assigned to the six entries above.
Abilities are actually super useful in this game, because you can combo them together to pull off some pretty complex moves. If you're ever feeling like you're stuck or you can't place anything, take a look at the birds in your hand and see if you can discard one of them to use their ability instead.
Bird Facts
The last part of the game is Bird Facts. Every time you successfully place a Bird you're encouraged to announce its name, make up a 'fun fact' about the Bird and deliver it to the table in your best nature documentarian's voice. We use the term 'facts' loosely; you can be as scientifically accurate or as outrageously untrue as you wish.
Bird facts are by no means mandatory, however we find it adds a lot of fun to the game if you get into the spirit of it.
Example bird facts printed in the booklet:
- "The American Timberdoodle slowly rocks as it walks to coax worms to the surface"
- "The Diabolical Nightjar stole my car and got me fired from my job"
Winning The Game
When the last sand tile is placed, the Endgame is triggered. Once your turn finishes, every other player gets to have one last turn, then the island is complete and the game is over.
Everyone adds up points for the birds that they've successfully placed, and the player with the most points at the end is the winner!
Note: the printed point values for placing a Bird and for a Habitat match on the island are shown in a graphic on the Introducing Birds page and are not present in the PDF text layer. They are not transcribed here; consult the printed rulebook page directly before relying on scoring values.
Solo Mode: Migration Season
It's migration season, and all of the birds are flocking to the Isle for the Summer.
In this solitaire-like single player variant, find homes for the influx of visiting bird species before the migration season ends. Earn Flit tokens for every bird placed, and keep on extending your turn before the Migration pile runs out.
Keep expanding the island until every bird in the Flight Path has either found a home, or flown away into the Discard pile.
This game mode introduces a separate, smaller deck of Bird cards called the Migration pile. Set up the game as usual, but deal five (5) cards face-down in a separate pile beside the Draw pile. This is the Migration pile.
If you end your turn without placing a bird, immediately discard a card from your hand and replace it with the top card from the Migration pile. If the Migration pile is empty when you attempt to draw from it, then the game is over.
This game mode also introduces the Stamina pool. This is a stash of extra Flit tokens you can use to extend your turn.
Upon placing a bird, add one or more Flit tokens to refill the Stamina pool, as specified by the challenge level you're playing at.
Place any Flit tokens in your Stamina pool on top of the Migration pile, so you can easily see how many remain.
Take two (2) actions on your turn as in the standard game, plus as many free actions as you have Flit tokens (both from the Stamina pool, and any birds you've placed).
When you place a bird, a new turn is triggered immediately, effectively refreshing your two (2) actions.
If you do not place a bird before your turn ends, draw from the Migration pile as described overleaf.
The game ends if you attempt to draw from an empty Migration pile, or there are no more sand tiles left to place. Add up points for every bird placed to determine your final score, then play again!
In this variant, the discard pile is never reshuffled into the draw pile - once the draw pile is empty, the migration season is over and the game is complete.
Once the Draw Pile is empty, and every card in the Flight Path has either entered your hand or the Discard Pile, you have reached the endgame. Do not pick up an additional card when you Place a bird.
If you can completely empty your hand, you've played a perfect season! Take a photo of your island, add up your score, then tag us at @isleoffeathersgame. We'd love to see your creation!
Stamina Pool Table
As in the standard game, spending Flit tokens gives you extra actions; use them to extend your turn and place birds to avoid drawing from the Migration pile.
The table below gives the Draw Pile contents and the Stamina action upon placing a Bird for each level. The row labels (the Stamina level symbols) are graphics and are not in the text layer, so the rows are given in printed order.
| Row (printed order) | Draw Pile | Action Upon Placing a Bird |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Contains half of the full deck. | Refill the Stamina pool up to three (3) Flit tokens. |
| 2 | Contains half of the full deck. | Add one (1) Flit token to the Stamina pool, up to a maximum of three (3). |
| 3 | Contains the full deck. | Add one (1) Flit token to the Stamina pool, up to a maximum of two (2). |
| 4 | Contains the full deck. | Refill the Stamina pool up to a maximum of one (1) Flit token. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Question: Can I stack tiles on top of Cliff tiles? Yes, you can! You can stack Cliff tiles on top of any space with two or more adjacent cliffs, or another 'double cliff' that has been placed previously.
Question: Can I use the 'Burrow' ability on a Sand tile to turn it back into water? Yes, you can! Any Vegetation or Bird tokens on the tile will then be sitting flat on the table (and are presumably rather wet). You can actually use this to split the island, though it's not easy to do!
Question: Can I use the 'Mound' ability to turn a patch of water into Sand? Yes, but only on a space that's directly connected to the island.
Question: Can I 'Shoo' away multiple birds on the same tile? Nope! The 'Shoo' ability lets you move a single bird. You will need to use 'Shoo' once for each individual bird you want to move.
Question: Can I 'Shoo' a bird into the water? Nope! The wording says 'Move a Bird token to a neighbouring land tile'. There is no tile placed on a water space, so a bird can't move there.
Question: What happens if I discard a Bird card with the 'Flit' ability? You immediately 'get back' the action you used to discard. Discarding a card with 'Flit' is effectively a free action.
Player Reference Sheet
Keep this page open as you play, so you can easily check the rules without flipping through the entire rulebook.
On your turn, you must perform two (2) actions, then pass a card to the next player. These actions include:
- Add a Sand, Grass, or Cliff tile.
- Add a Vegetation token.
- Place one of the Birds in your hand on the island, then draw a new card from the Flight Path.
- Discard a card from your hand. Immediately use its ability, then draw a new card from the Flight Path.
You may perform any combination of actions in any order, and you may choose to perform the same action twice.
You may place a tile on a space if it satisfies at least one of these two requirements:
| Adjacent | Higher |
|---|---|
| Two (2) or more neighbours of the same height. | One (1) or more neighbours of a greater height. |
Certain birds let you pick up an Ability token when you successfully place them on the island. These tokens can be spent at any time during your turn to instantly perform the relevant action.
The six Ability tokens, in printed order:
- Raise the height of any tile by one (1). Any Birds or Vegetation there stay unchanged.
- Lower the height of any tile by one (1). Any Birds or Vegetation there stay unchanged.
- Move an already-placed Vegetation token to another tile that doesn't already contain Vegetation.
- Instantly take another action.
- Place a Bird on a tile that already contains a Bird. Note: You may place multiple birds per turn this way.
- Move a Bird token to a neighbouring land tile, one (1) space across, even if that tile already contains a Bird.