Game rules

Sky Team rules: how to play and how to win

Reviewed on 13 October 2026 against the publisher’s rulebook. How we check

Sky Team is a two-player cooperative game: the Pilot and Co-Pilot land an airliner together, over seven rounds and without talking about their dice. Here are the essential rules, setup and victory conditions, based on the official rulebook.

Players: 2, cooperative
Play time: About 20 minutes
Winner: Both of you, if the plane lands; otherwise, you both lose

Sky Team quick rules

The goal: One of you is the Pilot, the other the Co-Pilot, and you land an airliner together. You have seven rounds to descend from 6,000 feet to the ground while moving toward the airport. You must be over the airport when the plane touches down, with the aircraft ready to land. You win or lose together.
A round: First, discuss your strategy, but never talk about your dice. Then each of you rolls four dice behind your screen, and total silence begins. Take turns placing one die at a time on an empty space: the Pilot on blue spaces, the Co-Pilot on orange ones. Once all eight dice are placed, the plane descends 1,000 feet.
The Axis and the Engines: Each round, each of you must place a die on the Axis and one on the Engines, or the game is lost. On the Axis, the plane tilts as many notches as the difference between the two dice, toward the higher die, and keeps that tilt; reaching a cross means a spin. On the Engines, the sum of the dice is your speed: below the blue marker, the plane doesn’t move; between blue and orange, one space; above orange, two.
Traffic and the Radio: If you must advance while an Airplane token is on your space, it’s a collision. To clear the way, place a die on a Radio space: count as many spaces as its value from your own, and remove an Airplane from the space reached. The Pilot has one Radio space, the Co-Pilot two. Advancing when you’re already at the airport also loses the game.
Landing Gear, Flaps and Brakes: The Pilot deploys the three Landing Gear, in any order; the Co-Pilot deploys the four Flaps, from top to bottom. Each space requires a specific value, and a green light appears. Each Landing Gear moves the blue marker, each Flap the orange one: you need more speed to advance. The Pilot also sets the three Brakes, with a 2, then a 4, then a 6; they only matter in the final round.
Coffee and Rerolls: A useless die can go on a Concentration space: it earns a Coffee token, three at most. When placing a die, either of you can spend Coffee tokens to add or subtract 1 from its value, between 1 and 6. Reroll tokens are gained at certain altitudes: spending one lets each of you reroll your remaining dice once.
The landing: The final round starts when the airport shows in the position screen and the ground in the altitude screen. If you touch the ground before reaching the airport, you crash. In this round, speed is compared to the red Brake marker. You win if no Airplanes remain on the Approach Track, Landing Gear and Flaps are green, the Axis is level, and your speed is less than your Brakes.
Beginner pitfalls: Don’t both save your last die for the Axis: that’s the surest way to spin. Don’t deploy all the Flaps too early, or moving two spaces gets hard. Clear the closest Airplanes first, and think about the Brakes before the final round: with no Brakes, landing is impossible.
The Flight Log: After Montréal, the Flight Log offers twenty more scenarios, sorted by color: green, yellow, red, then black for the hardest. Each one shows its Approach Track and modules, like Kerosene, Wind, Turns or the Intern, which add a rule and often a new way to lose.
Turbulence: The expansion adds new airports and five new features. An Alarm breaks an action until a die of the right color and value fixes it. With Turbulence, you reroll your remaining dice each time you place one; with Bad Visibility, you roll only two dice at the start. Altitude 5,000 removes a round, and Total Trust bans all discussion in some rounds.

How to win Sky Team

No points: Sky Team has no points: the plane lands and you win together, or the flight fails and you lose together.
Successful landing: At the end of the final round: no Airplanes on the Approach Track, three Landing Gear and four Flaps green, the Axis level, and speed less than the Brake marker.
Cause of failure: Spin, collision, overshooting the airport, touching the ground before the airport, a failed landing, a mandatory die not placed, and with modules, running out of kerosene, a missed turn or an untrained Intern.
Airport and difficulty: For the record: the scenario’s airport and its color, from green (Routine Landing) to black (Heroic Landing), Turbulence included.

Example ending

Emma, the Pilot, places a 5 on the Axis; Jake, the Co-Pilot, places a 3 there: the plane tilts 5 − 3 = 2 notches toward the Pilot. On the Engines, Emma places a 4 and Jake a 5: speed is 4 + 5 = 9, above the orange marker between 8 and 9, so the plane moves two spaces.

Common mistakes

Forgetting a mandatory die on the Axis or the Engines: the game is lost at the end of the round.
Resetting the Axis every round: the tilt carries over from round to round.
Comparing speed to the blue and orange markers in the final round: it’s compared to the red Brake marker.
Landing with no Brakes: the red marker stays left of the 2, and no speed gets under it.

How to set up Sky Team

Setup takes about 5 minutes. Start with the Montréal scenario, with no modules; other scenarios and the expansion add their tracks and modules.

The Control Panel

Place the Control Panel between the two of you, sitting side by side if possible.When you first open the box, the rulebook explains how to assemble it: Airplane Axis disc, stickers and Switches.
Make sure the arrow on the Airplane Axis disc points at the black triangle at the top, and that the 10 Switches cover the green lights.
On the Speed Gauge, place the blue Aerodynamics marker between the 4 and the 5, and the orange marker between the 8 and the 9.
Place the red Brake marker to the left of the 2, on the Brake track.

The tracks

Slide the Altitude Track into the top right slot until 6000 shows in the screen.For Montréal, use the side that shows green. The screen shows your current altitude, in feet.
Slide the YUL Montréal-Trudeau Approach Track into the top left slot until its first space shows in the screen.For another Flight Log scenario, take the Approach Track with its name and color, and the side of the Altitude Track in the same color.
With Turbulence: choose a scenario from the expansion, and take its Approach Track, the Altitude Track and the modules it calls for.Alarms module: place the Alarm board next to the Control Panel, shuffle the Alarm tokens and place them face down on its spaces.
Place a Reroll token on each Reroll icon on the Altitude Track.
On each space of the Approach Track, place as many Airplane tokens as it shows Airplane icons.
Flight Log scenario: add the modules it calls for, like Kerosene, Wind or the Intern.For a first flight to Montréal, leave all the modules in the box.

The two pilots

The player on the side with the blue spaces is the Pilot: they take the 4 blue dice.
The other player is the Co-Pilot: they take the 4 orange dice.
Each player takes a screen and reads the reminders inside.The screen hides your dice from your teammate.
Place the 3 Coffee tokens next to the Control Panel, as a reserve.In the first round, the Pilot plays first; after that, the arrow in the altitude screen shows who does.

Frequently asked questions

Who goes first in Sky Team?

In the first round, the Pilot. After that, the arrow in the Altitude Track screen shows who plays first.

Can you talk during a game of Sky Team?

Yes, during the strategy discussion, but never about your dice. While placing dice, total silence.

How do you win Sky Team?

In the final round, you need: no Airplanes on the Approach Track, Landing Gear and Flaps green, a level Axis and a speed lower than your Brakes.

Ludingo’s Sky Team sheet was last reviewed on 13 October 2026, based on: scorpionmasque.com 1, scorpionmasque.com 2, scorpionmasque.com 3, scorpionmasque.com 4, BoardGameGeek.