Wingspan rules: how to play and how to score

Wingspan quick rules

The goal

Each player attracts birds to their Player mat, across three habitats: forest, grassland and wetland. The game lasts 4 rounds, and the most points wins.

A turn

On your turn, place one of your Action cubes to take a single action: play a bird from your hand, gain food (forest), lay eggs (grassland) or draw Bird cards (wetland). A cube also marks each round’s goal, so you take 8 turns in round 1, then 7, 6 and 5.

Playing a bird

Pay the food shown on the card, plus the eggs the column asks for: none for the first column, 1 for the second and third, 2 for the last two. The bird goes in the leftmost empty space of its habitat. Only when playing a bird, any 2 Food tokens can stand in for 1 you’re missing. A When Played power is used once, right away.

The three habitat actions

Place your cube on the first space your birds don’t cover: the more birds in the row, the more you gain. Some spaces offer an optional trade. Then slide the cube from right to left: each bird with a brown power activates as it passes, if you want. A bird never holds more eggs than its limit.

The birdfeeder

Each Food token is taken by removing a die from the birdfeeder. If it’s empty, reroll all 5 dice; if all the dice show the same face, you may reroll them before taking. A double face gives only one token, your choice.

Bird powers

When Played: once, when the bird arrives. Brown: each time you take that habitat’s action. Pink: during other players’ turns, once between your turns. Food cached on a bird and cards tucked under it are worth 1 point each at the end.

The end of a round

Score the round’s goal with a cube. On the green side of the Goal board, players rank against each other; on the blue side, everyone scores 1 point per item that counts, up to 5. Then refresh the Bird tray, and the first player passes to the left.

Beginner traps

Forgetting to pay the column’s eggs; activating brown powers left to right (it’s right to left); paying with food cached on a bird (not allowed); forgetting pink powers during other players’ turns.

How to score Wingspan

Birds

The feather points printed on each bird you played.

Bonus cards

Based on their condition (for example, 2 points per bird of a given type).

End-of-round goals

Points earned at the end of each of the 4 rounds, tracked on the goal board.

Eggs

1 point per egg on your birds.

Cached food

1 point per food token cached on a bird card.

Tucked cards

1 point per card tucked under a bird.

Nectar (Oceania)

In each habitat, 5 points for the player who spent the most nectar, 2 for second place.

Worked example

Emma: 38 bird points, 7 from bonus cards, 17 from round goals, 14 eggs, 3 cached food and 6 tucked cards: 38 + 7 + 17 + 14 + 3 + 6 = 85 points.

Common mistakes

• Scoring the food left in your supply: it’s worth nothing, it only breaks ties.
• Forgetting the end-of-round goals, tracked on a separate board during the game.
• Mixing up cached food (on cards, 1 point) and food in your supply (0 points).
• With Oceania: nectar majorities are compared habitat by habitat.

How to set up Wingspan

Setup takes about 5 minutes. With several players, follow the first three parts; for solo, add the last one.