Songbirds
Songbirds Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview
Each turn you will play one songbird with a specific volume (number) from your hand into the forest (play area). You try to win majority on columns and rows to gain delicious berries (points), but your opponents will be trying to do the same for the secret color they wish to aid. After two rounds, the forest spirit with the most points wins the game!
Components
The Songbird cards are songbirds that you play into the forest. There are 4 songbird colors: Red, Blue, Green and White. Each color has cards numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. This value represents the strength of the card.
- 28 Songbird Cards
- 1 Crow Card
- 2 Score Cards
- 10 Berry Tokens
- 5 Negative Tokens
Setup
The following is the basic setup instructions for a 2- or 3-player game. See "Four Player Rules" for a 4-player game.
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Shuffle the Berry tokens face-down. Place 5 Berry tokens in a column, then place the remaining 5 Berry tokens in a row using the top left corner of the play area as a guide. Flip all the Berry tokens face-up. The twenty five (5×5) spaces where the Berry tokens intersect create the forest.
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Place the 2 Score Cards above the forest.
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Leave the Crow card in the box. Shuffle the Songbird cards. Draw one card and place it in the center space face-up.
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Deal cards to each player according to the total number of players:
- 2 players: 13 cards each;
- 3 players: 9 cards each.
This is each player's hand. (Note: In a 2-player game, place the 1 remaining card aside, face-down. It will not be used in the current round.)
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The last player to win a game (of anything!) will be the starting player. See "Game Play" to begin play.
Game Play
Game play begins with the starting player and proceeds clockwise. Each player takes a turn playing a card from their hand and placing it onto a space in the forest. You must place the card adjacent to a card already in the forest.
Example: In the image to the right, you can place a card in one of the seven spaces highlighted in yellow.
Players continue to take turns until all spaces in the forest are filled. All players should have 1 card left in their hand. The color of the songbird on your last hand is your favored songbird, based on which your score is calculated.
End of Game and Scoring
The game ends when all spaces are filled in the forest.
Berry tokens are awarded to the strongest songbird color in a column or row. To decide the strength of each songbird color, add up the numbers of the same color in the same column or row. The higher the sum, the stronger the color.
there is a White 5 and a White 1, so the strength of White is 6; there is a Red 2 and Red 3, so the strength of Red is 5; there is only one Blue with a strength of 2. Therefore, White is the strongest color in this row.
The Berry token above a column is awarded to the strongest songbird color in that column. The Berry token to the left of a row is awarded to the strongest songbird color in that row.
In the case of a tie in a given column or row, the tied songbird colors cancel each other out. The Berry token is awarded to the next strongest songbird color in that column or row.
If strengths all match and/or cancel each other out, the Berry token is not awarded to any color for that column or row.
in the upper row, Green is 7, Red is 7, Blue is also 7 in total, and White is 3. Since Green, Red and Blue are tied, their strengths cancel out. No color is awarded the Berry token of 7.
In the lower row, White is 5 and Green has a total strength of 5, so they cancel each other out. Blue is 1 and Red is 1, so they cancel each other out. No songbird color is awarded the Berry token of 7.
Place the awarded Berry tokens on the Score Cards. In this way, you will be able to easily count up the accumulated value of all the Berry tokens.
After assigning the tokens of the 5 columns and 5 rows, each player reveals their favored songbird. You score victory points equal to the strength value of your favored songbird and the total Berry value of your favored songbird's color.
It is possible for another player to have the same favored songbird color as you do. If you favor the same songbird color, the same calculation applies.
Example: Red wins 17 points. You reveal a Red 5 as your favored songbird. Your score is 22 (17+5). Another player reveals a Red 3. Their score is 20 (17+3).
Four Player Rules
In a 4-player game you must play with the Crow Card.
During setup, in step 3, instead of dealing a Songbird card from the shuffled cards, place the Crow Card with either side face-up in the center of the forest. Deal each player 7 Songbird cards.
During scoring, the Crow(A) gives negative points to the strongest songbird color above, below, to the left, and to the right of it. The amount of negative points is relative to the position of the Songbird cards around the Crow.
The Crow(B) gives negative 4 points to the strongest songbird color above and to the right of it, and negative 4 points to the strongest songbird color below and to the left of it.
All other rules are unchanged in a 4-player game.
If the Crow(A) was in the center space, Green would receive -2 points for being the strongest above the Crow (Green 6, Red 2). Green would receive -4 points for being the strongest to the right of the Crow (Green total 5). No color would receive -5 points because Red and Green are tied below the Crow (Red 7, Green 7). Blue would receive -3 points for being the strongest to the left of the Crow (Blue total 5).
If the Crow(B) was in the center space, Green would receive -4 points for being the strongest above and to the right of the Hawk (Green total 11, Red 2). Red and Green are tied, so Blue would receive -4 points for being the strongest below and to the left of the Hawk (Red 7, Green 7, Blue total 5).
Solo Variant
Setup
Follow the basic Setup instructions. During setup, in step 3, instead of placing 1 Songbird card at the center, place 9 cards in 2 diagonal lines in the forest.
During setup, in step 4, instead of dealing out all of the Songbird cards, only deal 1 to yourself. Leave the rest in a stack as the draw deck.
Game Play
The game is played over a series of turns. In each turn, first draw 1 card from the draw deck. Then, take 1 action from the following:
- Play 1 card from your hand and place it in a space in the forest using standard placement rules.
- If a favored songbird has not been picked, play 1 card from your hand and place it face-up in front of you. This is your favored songbird. This action can only be performed once per game.
End of Game and Scoring
The game ends when all spaces are filled in the forest.
Award Berry tokens as normal and calculate your victory points with your favored songbird card and color. To get your final score, take your victory points and subtract the total victory points of the other 3 songbird colors.
Example: Red gets 44 points, Blue gets 17, Green gets 23, and White gets 7. Your favored songbird is Red 5. Your score is 2 (5+44-17-23-7).
If you finish the game without choosing a favored songbird, your score is 0.
Score Evaluation
- 0 victory points or below = Rookie
- 1-19 victory points: Amateur
- 20-39 victory points: Student
- 40-54 victory points: Professional
- 55+ victory points: Superstar
Co-Op Variant
The Co-Op Variant is played the same as the Solo Variant with small differences.
Setup
Deal each player 1 card. The starting player is the player who has most recently eaten an egg dish.
Game Play
Game play begins with the starting player and proceeds clockwise. Each player performs the same type of turn as in the Solo Variant.
Only 1 player may choose the favored songbird for the game.
End of Game and Scoring
The End of Game and Scoring are the same as those in the Solo Variant.
Discussion Between Players
You may not show or tell another player what is in your hand.
You may tell another player the space in a forest you would like to keep empty.
You may discuss which player will pick the favored songbird and which color to choose.
Only you may choose which card to play from your hand, but after choosing the card, you may discuss the best space to play the card.
After choosing which card to play from your hand, you may not change it and must play that card.
Credits
Publisher: Homosapiens Lab
Author: Yuo
Illustrator: Kotori Neiko, Claire Donaldson
Copy Editor: Chih Fan Chen