Every day, dozens of birds

perch on the fences

of our countryside. When it is time
to fly away, these birds jumble up,
unable to organize themselves into
flocks to fly home. Help them find
their way back
to their nest.

A game by Stefan Alexander, illustrated by Kristiaan der Nederlanden

 Setup
One player is randomly designated as the a facedown draw pile . This draw pile
dealer. The dealer then shuffles the 110 is placed near to the center of the table,
Bird cards and lays out 4 rows with three accessible to all players. The dealer gives
cards faceup at the center of the table . 8 facedown Bird cards from the draw pile
Each row must be composed of 3 different to each player: this is their starting hand.
Birds. If the same Bird is present multiple Then the dealer deals one Bird card to
times on a given row, discard the extra each player, faceup, which the players keep
Birds and place new cards until each row in front of them : this is the first Bird
contains 3 Birds from different species. All in their collection. Keep enough free space
of the remaining cards are shuffled to form next to the draw pile to form a discard pile.

There are 110 Bird cards in the game,

distributed in 8 species. The bottom-left
corner displays the number of copies of
each Bird.

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 Object of the game Game overview
The game is won by the first player A game plays in several successive rounds.
that manages to have gathered in their At the beginning of each round, each
collection in front of them: player starts with 8 cards in their hand. A
round continues until one of the players
Either 7 different species has no cards left in their hand. Starting
with the dealer and going clockwise, each
player fully completes their turn before
proceeding to the next player. On their
turn, a player lays one or more cards at the
center of the table in order to pick cards on
the table to put into their hand. Then they
can complete a Flock in order to add Birds
to their collection.
Players take turns until the end of the
round or until a player manages to win the
Or 2 species game.
of at least 3 Birds

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 Turn of a player EXAMPLE

On their turn, a player must lay one or

more Birds from their hand, then they may
complete a Flock. The play then proceeds
to the next player, going clockwise.

1. LAY BIRDS Mary has 4 Birds. As she wants to play

the Parrots, she has to play
(MANDATORY)
the 2 Parrots that she has in her hand.
The player chooses a Bird from their hand
and must play all the Birds of this species
that they have in their hand. They lay these
birds, each one next to the other on the left
or on the right side of one of the 4 rows at
the center of the table. They can choose
their cards independently of the species of Mary lays her
the Birds already present in the rows. 2 Parrots on the
If a player places a Bird in a row that already left side of the row.
As there is already
has one or more Birds of that species, the another Parrot on the
player must take all the cards between other side of the row,
these Birds into their hand. she surrounds a Pink Flamingo and an Owl.
She then puts these two cards into her hand.

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Next, the player slides the remaining Birds EXAMPLE
together, so that they form a continuous
row.
EXAMPLE

There are only Parrots left in the row!

New Birds must be added!

Once she has taken the cards,

Mary reorganizes the row by bringing
the cards together.

The first card added is a Parrot.

If (and only if) there is only one species of There is still only one species
Birds left in the row right after the player of Birds in the row, so the dealer
adds a new card.
took cards from it, the dealer must add
cards from the draw pile to this row, one
by one, until there are two different species
in it.
The Birds added from the draw pile can be
placed either on the left or on the right of
the row.
The second card
added is a Toucan.
With two different
species, the row is now complete,
and the dealer stops adding new cards
to it. There are now five cards in the row.

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It may occur that a player lays one or more 2. COMPLETE A FLOCK
Birds without surrounding any other cards (OPTIONAL)
between Birds of the same species. In this A Flock is a series of Birds of the same
case, the player takes no cards from the species. Completing a Flock allows the
center of the table. If they choose so, they player to add one or two Bird cards to their
have the option to take the two first cards collection, which is kept in front of them.
from the draw pile and add them to their
Flocks
hand.
Flocks can come
EXAMPLE in two different sizes: small or big.

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The number 9
for a small
Flock is The one for
By placing an Owl or a Magpie here, displayed a big Flock
Mary would not surround a Bird on the left. is displayed
and would not take any cards. on the right.

She would then All Birds from the same species also
have the option possess the same Flock numbers.
to take the 2 first
cards from
the draw pile. In order to complete a Flock, the player has
to reveal all the Birds of the same species
that they hold in their hand.

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If the number of revealed cards is higher EXAMPLE
or equal to the number stated for a small
Flock, the player adds one of these revealed
cards to their collection.
If the number of revealed cards is higher or
equal to the number stated for a big Flock,
the player adds two of these revealed cards
to their collection.
In both cases, remaining cards are placed
into the discard pile.
A player is not allowed to reveal cards
if they do not have enough of them to
complete a Flock.

EXAMPLE
As he completes a small Flock, Fred keeps
one Magpie and adds it to his collection
in front of him. The five other Magpies
are placed in the discard pile.

5/7
On their turn, a player can only complete
a single Flock, but they are never forced to
complete a Flock. Once a Bird has been
Fred has 6 Magpies in his hand and added to a player’s collection, it can never
decides to complete a Flock. He reveals
be put back into their hand or into the
all the magpies in his collection
and produces a small Flock (5 cards). draw pile.

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 End of a round EXAMPLE

As soon as a player has no cards left in

their hand, the current round ends. Other
players have to place any cards that they
have left in their hand into the discard pile.
The cards laid in rows at the center of the
table remain in place.
The player who just ended the round
becomes the new dealer and gives 8 cards
from the draw pile to each player. If the
draw pile gets empty, shuffle all the cards
from the discard pile to form a new draw Seb has 2 Toucans and 3 Pink Flamingos
pile. The new dealer is the first to play in in his collection. He obtains a third
Toucan by completing a small Flock.
this round. With now 2 species of at least 3 Birds,
he immediately wins the game.

End of the game The game ends immediately if it is

If a player has 7 different species or 2 impossible for the dealer to deal 8 cards to
species of at least 3 Birds in their collection each of the players even after reshuffling
at the end of their turn, they win the game. the discard pile into a new draw pile. The
The play immediately stops and the round player with the most Bird cards in their
is ended. collection then wins the game.
In case of a tie, tied players share victory.

Cubirds is a game designed by Stefan Alexander, illustrated by Kristiaan der Nederlanden, published by Catch Up Games and
distributed by Blackrock Games. Graphisc design: Manoël Verdiel - Layout: Clément Milker - Translation: Sébastien Kihm - Proof
reading: Maxene Graze. Agent: Forgenext. May 2018 - Catch Up Games.