Trickadee Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• If you're new to trick-taking
• Components
• Setup
  • Deal player hands
  • Draw round abilities
  • Prepare for play
• Bird Cards
  • Birding Lingo
  • Eponymous Birds
  • What's that Starling doing here? They're invasive!
• Gameplay
  • Choose a starting player
  • The Trick
    • Trick Example
  • Order Players
  • Gain Rewards
  • Use Abilities
  • Next Trick
  • Next Round
• Scoring Flocks
  • Valid Flocks
  • Flock types
  • Scoring Examples
• Ability Glossary
• FAQs

If you're new to trick-taking

A trick-taking game is typically a card game in which play, across rounds, centers on a series of "tricks". A trick is formed by each player, in turn, playing one card from their hand to the middle of the play area. The trick is then "taken" by one of the players per the rules of the game– usually by having the highest rank of the lead suit. Many trick-taking games, including Trickadee, feature a "trump" suit that will win a trick automatically. Try out games like Hearts, Spades, or Euchre to get a sense of the genre!

Components

• 55 Bird Cards (5 each of 11 bird species)
• 1 Lifer Card
• 9 Ability Cards
• 5 Reference Cards
• 25 Sunflower Seed Tokens
• 5 Player Order Tokens
• 1 Rulebook
• 1 Scorepad

Setup

Deal player hands

1. Shuffle the Bird Cards and deal each player the number of cards based on the round, with 6 cards in the first round, 7 cards in the second round, and 8 cards in the final round.
2. Deal 1 additional Bird Card to each player face-up. This is their Spark Bird, which is the first bird players can use to form Flocks.
3. Place the Lifer Card to one side of the play area. Deal 1 Bird Card beside the Lifer Card, face-up. This is the Lifer Species, which sets trump for the round based on the species only.
4. Place the remaining Bird Cards above the Lifer Card to form a draw pile.

Draw round abilities

1. Shuffle the Ability Cards and draw 3. Place them next to the Lifer Card in ascending order, using the number in the top-left. The lowest numbered card will go next to the single sunflower seed icon and the highest numbered card will go next to the three sunflower seeds icon.
2. Place the remaining Ability deck above the 3 cards drawn for the round.
3. Make a pile of Sunflower Seed Tokens below the Lifer Card.

Prepare for play

1. Place one Player Order Token per player in the middle of the play area. Place any remaining tokens back in the box.
2. Give each player a Reference Card. Keep the Scorepad and Rulebook within reach.

Bird Cards

Trickadee is centered around playing a hand of Bird Cards into each trick. Each Bird Card consists of three key components:

Rank: Ranging from 1 to 15, the number on the card indicates its order.

Suit: There are five distinct suits, each represented by a different color and feather icon: purple, blue, green, yellow, red.

Bird Species: Each Bird Card features a specific bird species.

There is only one of each combination of species, suit, and rank. However, the range of ranks varies by species:

• Black-capped Chickadee: ranks 1-5
• Dark-eyed Junco: ranks 2-6
• European Starling: ranks 3-7
• Downy Woodpecker: ranks 4-8
• Spotted Towhee: ranks 5-9
• Mourning Dove: ranks 6-10
• Rufous Hummingbird: ranks 7-11
• Red-breasted Nuthatch: ranks 8-12
• American Goldfinch: ranks 9-13
• Cooper's Hawk: ranks 10-14
• Steller's Jay: ranks 11-15

Additionally, the rank within each suit varies:

• Purple suit: ranks 1-11
• Blue suit: ranks 2-12
• Green suit: ranks 3-13
• Yellow suit: ranks 4-14
• Red suit: ranks 5-15

This structure sets an implicit hierarchy (Red is usually higher ranked than Yellow) between suits and species (Jay is usually ranked higher than Goldfinch). See the Gameplay section below for how this works.

The Bird Cards have a helpful range indicator on the bottom-left to remind you which ranks exist in each suit.

Birding Lingo

A Spark Bird is the first bird species that gets you into the birding hobby. A Lifer is a bird species you're seeing for the first time. Many birders keep "Life Lists" on eBird to keep track of what they've seen.

Eponymous Birds

Many birds are named after people who had problematic beliefs and actions. The birding community is working to rename these birds (bird names for birds), but, at the time of publishing, new names have not yet been adopted.

What's that Starling doing here? They're invasive!

The birds represented in Trickadee paint a real picture of the birds found in the backyards of the designer's home city, Seattle. European Starlings didn't choose to be here– people introduced them. When we talk about invasive species, we're talking about living creatures, and the language we choose to use can be harsh and militaristic. Starlings can be harmful to their local environment, but they can also be a familiar and beloved species; either way, they're definitely here to stay. Let's rethink the words we use to talk about these animals. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/trickadee-invasive-species

Gameplay

Trickadee is played over 3 rounds. In each round, players will play a series of tricks, determining player order, choosing birds, and adding them to flocks. The player with the highest score after 3 rounds is the winner.

Choose a starting player

In the first round, the starting player is the person to go birding most recently. Alternatively, choose a starting player randomly. In subsequent rounds, the starting player is the player with the current highest score. In the case of a tie, the player who most recently finished a trick in first place will go first in the next round.

The Trick

In clockwise order, all players will select one Bird Card from their hand and place it in front of them, face-up. This is the "Trick". The starting player may select any Bird Card from their hand to play. Each following player must play a card that matches any suit already played, if possible. If a player doesn't have a card in any matching suit, they may play any card.

For instance, if the first player played a Green card and the second player has no Greens, they may play any color. If they chose Red, the third player must play either Green or Red, if possible.

Alternatively, on their turn, a player may play any card matching the Lifer Species, even if they have another eligible card in their hand. A card matching the Lifer Species may always be played regardless of the suits previously played.

Trick Example

1. Staci is the lead player and chooses to play a Blue Dove.
2. Femi has one Blue card in his hand and must play it.
3. Heidi doesn't have a Blue card or a Chickadee (Lifer Species). She chooses to play a Yellow Woodpecker.
4. Goran may choose to play Blue or Yellow, but only has a Blue in hand.
5. Amber has both Blue and Yellow in hand, but chooses to play Yellow. She wants to get more Sunflower Seeds by coming in last place.

Order Players

After all players have played a card, determine the player order. Place the Player Order Tokens next to each card in ascending order of card "strength" in the trick.

1. First, any player that played a card matching the Lifer Species will finish highest. Multiple cards matching the Lifer Species will be ordered by the card rank.
2. Next, determine the most common suit by the number of cards played in each suit. In case of a tie, the sum of the ranks of cards in each suit is used. Within each suit, cards are ordered based on their rank. In the rare case there is still a tie in the most common suit, the tied card played earliest in the turn order will win.

Example 5 player game: No player played a bird matching the Lifer species (Chickadee). The majority suit is Blue. Order follows the card ranks, starting with the majority suit followed by the other suit.

Example 4 player game: No player played a bird matching the Lifer species (Chickadee). There's a tie for majority suit because there are 2 Blue and 2 Yellow cards played. The majority suit is determined by the highest total value between tied suits. In this case, Blue adds up to 15, while Yellow adds up to 12. Order then follows the card ranks, starting with the majority suit followed by the other suit.

Example 5 player game (with Lifer Species played): One player played a Chickadee, matching the Lifer species. This player finishes 1st. Next, the majority suit is Blue. Order then follows the card ranks, starting with the majority suit followed by the other suits.

Gain Rewards

All players will take turns, in order of their Player Order Token, selecting any bird played in the trick. Players must either assign the bird to any existing Flock or create a new Flock. Once placed in a Flock, birds may not be moved unless the player uses a specific Ability.

Additionally, all players except the 1st ordered player will earn Sunflower Seed Tokens. Sunflower Seed Tokens are spent to perform Abilities matching the seed cost depicted on the Lifer Card. The last ordered player will earn 2 Sunflower Seed Tokens. All other runner-up players will earn 1 Token.

Unspent Sunflower Seed Tokens are kept between rounds and are worth 1 point per 3 Tokens at the end of the game.

Use Abilities

After selecting a Bird Card and adding it to a Flock, players may choose to spend any Sunflower Seed Tokens they've earned to use a single Ability per trick. Players do not need to wait for other players to select a Bird Card or use an Ability– using an ability may be done simultaneously.

Transcriber's note (describing the printed Lifer Card illustration, not printed text): the Ability Cards beside the Lifer Card show the cost: the lowest numbered card costs 1 Sunflower Seed Token (the card next to the single seed icon), the middle card costs 2 Sunflower Seed Tokens, and the highest numbered card costs 3 Sunflower Seed Tokens (the card next to the three seed icons). See the Ability Glossary.

Next Trick

The 1st place finisher of this trick will lead the next trick. Seeds earned by players are kept between rounds.

Next Round

Play continues until all players have emptied their hands. This should happen at the same time for all players. If, by accident, there are any leftover cards, discard them.

Scoring happens at the end of each round. See the Scoring Flocks section for how this is done.

When scoring is complete, discard all Flocks and the Lifer Species. Return the Ability Cards used this round back into the box. Shuffle the discard and draw piles together and deal a new hand to each player (7 cards in the second round, 8 cards in the third round). Deal 1 face-up Spark Bird to each player and a new Lifer Species. Deal 3 new Ability Cards and place them in ascending order next to the Lifer Card.

Scoring Flocks

Scoring is done at the end of each round. Only valid Flocks are scored. The cumulative score after three rounds determines the winner.

Valid Flocks

• Each bird can only belong to one Flock.
• Every bird in a Flock must match the scoring conditions for the Flock to score in that category. For instance, if you have a Flock with 3 Red suited birds and 1 Green suited bird, the Flock cannot score for the Same Suit category.
• A Flock can score in multiple categories.
• Solo birds do not make a flock and are worth zero points. They fly away!

Flock types

Type	Points per Bird
Sequence (consecutive ranks)	1x
Same Suit	1x
Same Species	1x
Same Rank	2x
Leftover Sunflower Seeds	1 point per 3 seeds (end of game)

Scoring Examples

• AK: Flock of Blue Dove 7 + Blue Hummingbird 8: 4 points, Sequence & Same suit, 2pt x 2 birds. Flock of Chickadee 1 + Chickadee 2 (Sunflower seed used to make color wild, Purple): 6 points, Sequence & Same suit & Same Species, 3pt x 2 birds. Solo Junco 5: 0 points, solo birds fly away! Flock of Woodpecker 7 + Woodpecker 5: 2 points, Same species, 1pt x 2 birds.
• CW: Flock of Hawk 11 + Goldfinch 11: 4 points, Same rank, 2pt x 2 birds. Flock of Dove 6, Towhee 6, Starling 6, Junco 6 (Sunflower seed used to make rank wild, 6): 8 points, Same rank, 2pt x 4 birds. Flock of Nuthatch 11 + Hawk 12: 2 points, Sequence, 1pt x 2 birds.
• EV: Flock of Jay 15, 14, 13, 12 (four suits): 8 points, Sequence & Same Species, 2pt x 4 birds. Flock of Goldfinch 12 + Nuthatch 8: 0 points, no sequences or matches.

Ability Glossary

1. Move a bird to another flock (cost 1 seed in the example): Move a bird from any of your flocks to any of your other flocks. You may start a new flock.
2. Draw 1 bird, discard 1 bird: Draw a new bird card to your hand and then discard any bird card from your hand.
3. Move up to 2 birds to different flocks: Move up to 2 birds from any of your flocks to any of your other flocks. You may start new flocks. Both birds may go into the same destination flock.
4. Draw 1 bird directly into any flock: Draw a new bird card and place it directly into any of your own flocks. You may also start a new flock.
5. Swap any bird in your hand with any bird in a flock: Swap a bird from your hand with a bird in any of your flocks. The bird you place from your hand can go in any flock or can be used to start a new flock.
6. Draw 2 birds, discard 2 birds: Draw 2 new bird cards to your hand and then discard any 2 bird cards from your hand.
7. Cache 1 seed on a bird to change the color, number, or species: Place 1 seed on a bird card to indicate that the color, number, or species is now wild. Pay the remaining cost of this ability to the seed supply. You may use this ability twice to make multiple aspects of the card wild. For instance, if the cost of this ability is 3 seeds this round, you'll place 1 seed on the card you wish to make wild and place 2 seeds back into the supply. (Illustrated: wild number, wild color, wild species.)
8. Draw 1 bird, then move any bird from your hand to any flock: Draw a bird card into your hand. Then take any bird card from your hand and place it in any of your flocks. You may also create a new flock.
9. Swap up to 2 birds in your hand with the same number of birds in flocks: Swap up to 2 birds from your hand with the same number of birds in any of your flocks. The birds you place from your hand can go in any flock or can be used to start a new flocks.

FAQs

Can I use an ability on another players flocks? No.

Are seeds finite? Yes. When giving seeds at the end of the round, go in order from last to first place until seeds in the supply run out. Distribute all seeds before using abilities. It's almost always better to spend seeds instead of hoard them.

Does the order of birds in a flock matter? No. Even for sequential scoring, the order of the birds doesn't matter as long as there are no gaps between the numbers.