Board games with a theme built around birds, there aren’t many of these, but there are some. It’s always cool to see unique themes like these getting more time in the limelight. So, what is a board game with birds in it?
There are several board games with birds: Wingspan, Odin’s Ravens Second Edition, CuBirds, Evolution: Flight, Crows, Seikatsu, and Songbirds.
Table of Contents
A Definition Of What A Board Game With Birds Is
Let’s start with what a board game with birds isn’t. A board game with birds isn’t the following:
- A board game that happens to have birds in the art
- A board game that happens to mention birds in its text
- A game about all animals or nature in general
Now, let’s talk about what a board game with birds is. A board game with birds is the following:
- A board game that has a theme centered around birds
- A game where birds are the main focus of the art
That might seem simple, but that’s all a board game with birds needs to be.
What Is A Board Game With Birds?
The good news is there are quite a few board games with birds. This list won’t cover all of them, but it will have enough to get you started.
So, some examples of board games with birds are:
- Wingspan
- Odin’s Ravens Second Edition
- CuBirds
- Evolution: Flight
- Crows
- Seikatsu
- Songbirds
Now, let’s do a quick overview of each so you can get an idea of what they’re like and why they belong on this list. Since we’re doing quick overviews, we won’t be covering every part of what a game is or how to play it, just enough so you get a good idea.
Wingspan
First up is one of the most popular games of all time: Wingspan! Let’s take a look.
A Quick Overview
Wingspan features birds front and center. The theme of the game is everyone is a bird enthusiast. Your goal is to attract birds to your wildlife preserves.
In terms of mechanics,
Why It Belongs On This List
This game single-handedly changed the conversation about what board game themes can do well. When it came out, it took off like a rocket. There were also many people, like myself, who were confused as to why it was so popular. This was a game about birds after all!
But over time it became clear that this game was a solid fusion of good mechanics, fast gameplay, fantastic art, and incredible components. And there’s everything in this game that is about birds. All the cards have birds on them, there are egg miniatures, food tokens, player boards with different land types on them, and more.
This game not only deserves to be on this list, but this is also the game that started this list in the first place.
Odin’s Ravens Second Edition
I have an interesting history with Odin’s Ravens. This was a game that first came to my attention through Kickstarter. I was one of the 679 backers who helped this game come back to life there.
But, even though the game was funded, it never saw the light of day, at least not in that form anyway. For whatever reason, the original company that was reprinting the game failed to complete it two years later. If you know anything about Kickstarter, you know this is a devastating situation that can, and does, happen, and it usually leaves backers having helped fund something that they get nothing in return for.
Then, a miracle happened. Out of nowhere a company called Osprey Games picked the game up and gave copies for free to backers. I cannot overstate how highly unlikely this is and how amazing Osprey Games is for doing it. Since then, any time I see their name, I’m immediately interested in what they’re doing.
Of course, that might’ve been part of why Osprey Games did it in the first place, but sometimes you gotta take a gamble, and it paid off big time for them.
Now, onto the overview.
A Quick Overview
Odin’s Ravens is a 2-player racing game that ends when a player moves their raven to the final card on their opponent’s side. The only exception is if that player went first. If so, then the other player would have 1 more turn to get their raven to the final space on their opponent’s side too.
Each card has a top and a bottom with both the top and bottom showing a type of land. These types of land could be mountains, forests, and so on. To move to the next land type in front of their raven, a player must play a Flight Card showing that land type. If there are two or more of those land types in a row, playing that Flight Card lets the raven move through all of them.
If the player doesn’t have the right Flight Card to move their raven through that type of land, they can play any two Flight Cards of the same type to move their raven through the land space they couldn’t get through otherwise.
Instead of playing Flight Cards, players can play Loki Cards. These cards do special things such as moving the other player’s raven back 1 space or rotating a land card so the top is now the bottom and the bottom is now the top. Once these cards are used, they are removed from the game, so be careful when using them!
To get more cards, players draw 3 at the end of their turn. If they have more than 7, they must discard down to 7.
Why It Belongs On This List
Aside from having the name of a bird in the title, Odin’s Ravens’ theme also relies heavily on birds. Odin actually did have 2 ravens, according to Norse mythology. They were called Huginn, which means, “thought,” and Muninn, which means, “memory” or “mind.”
According to that same mythology, these ravens fly all across the land and return to bring information to Odin. This game doesn’t exactly capture that feeling, but it does rely on that mythology and those birds to bring a pretty unique and definitely bird-feeling game to its players.
CuBirds
When I first found out about CuBirds, it reminded me of a game I had played at Dave & Buster’s called Crossy Road. Crossy Road is a popular Frogger-like mobile game that Dave & Buster’s uses the arcade version of. There are some differences though.
One difference is in Crossy Road you get to choose among different animals to play as. Also, everything is cube-shaped such as the trees, cars, animals, and so on. In addition, it’s an endless runner, which means it goes on and on until you die.
What does all of this have to do with CuBirds? Nothing except the art style, but if you’ve never played Crossy Road, give it a shot. It’s a fun time.
Now, onto how to play CuBirds.
A Quick Overview
In CuBirds, you are collecting cards with birds on them. You win if you collect 7 different species of birds or 2 species of at least 3 birds per species. So, how do you do that?
Well, in each round players start with 8 cards in hand. The round ends when a player has no cards left in their hand.
On a player’s turn, they do 1 of 2 actions. The first action is to put one or more of their Bird Cards from their hand into the center of the table. When they choose the card to play, they must place down all the cards in their hand that share the same species as that card.
In the center of the table, there will be 4 rows of birds. When placing cards from their hand, players place their Bird Cards either to the left or right of 1 of those rows. If by doing so, this means that the same species of bird is at both ends of that row, the player takes all the cards between those species of bird and adds them to their hand.
A player can also complete a flock. Each Bird Card will show two numbers at the top right of the card. The smaller number is the number of that species of bird needed to complete the small flock. The bigger number is how many they need to complete the big flock.
When completing a flock, the player reveals all those cards from their hand. If they revealed a small flock, they put 1 of those cards face up in front of them. If they revealed a big flock, they put 2 of them face up in front of them. Either way, the rest of the cards in that flock are discarded.
Why It Belongs On This List
This is a game that could feature any animal species or even something as crazy as types of screwdrivers, and it would still work. But this game belongs on this list because out of all the possible themes it could’ve chosen, it chose birds. Plus, they went with a unique cube-inspired art style that gives it a little extra flair.
So, welcome to the list of board games with birds, CuBirds.
Evolution: Flight
The Evolution game series is a game series I’ve been fascinated by since the first game came out in 2014. That’s due, in large part, to its psychedelic art style. 9 times out of 10, a game like this is going to feature hyper-realistic art, but somewhere in the design process, the team decided that wasn’t good enough.
So, as a result, Evolution and all its subsequent games, are bursting with color. And that might also be the result of the game mechanics too.
I’ve never played the game, but from what I’m gathering, it feels a good mix of, “Hey, this is a game that follows the rules of evolution to some degree, but also this is a game so let’s make it a bit over-the-top too.” Games like that are always a good time, so let’s talk about how Evolution: Flight, an expansion that came out right after Evolution did, plays!
A Quick Overview
In Evolution, the goal is to get the most points. Players get points at the end of the game from food eaten, Population, and Trait Cards. The final round takes place when the Trait Cards deck has to be shuffled.
Phase 1
During the game, each round has 4 phases. In Phase 1, players are given 3 cards plus an additional card for each species they have in front of them.
Phase 2
In Phase 2, players choose from 1 Trait Card from their hand. Each Trait Card has a number in the bottom right that represents how much Plant Food that card provides. The card they choose is placed face down on the Watering Hole board in the center of the table. These cards will be revealed later to show much Plant Food is available for that round.
Phase 3
In Phase 3, players play as many of their Trait Cards as they want. They can play the card to add its trait to one of their species while keeping in mind they can’t play the same Trait Card twice for a species. Each species can also only have 3 Trait Cards total, but a player can get rid of a species card to make room for a new one.
Players can also discard one of their Trait Cards to get a new species. Or they can discard a Trait Card face up to increase the Body Size or Population of any of their species by 1.
Phase 4
In Phase 4, the First Player flips the Trait Cards over on the Watering Hole. They add up the numbers on those cards and then add that many Food Tokens from the Food Bank to the Watering Hole. It’s possible for the numbers to add up to a negative number, which means the First Player would remove Food Tokens from the Watering Hole.
Players then feed their species, starting with the First Player. If species are still hungry at the end of this phase, their Population shrinks, and if it shrinks too much, then it goes Extinct!
Afterward, the next round starts!
What The Flight Expansion Adds To The Base Game
The Flight expansion comes with new flight species, Trait Cards, and more. To get a flight species, the player must discard 2 Trait Cards instead of 1. Flight species can also only go up to half the Body Size of a land species, and flight species need more food than land species.
However, flight species can take food from the Cliff board as well as the Watering Hole board, giving them more options for food during feeding. Also, they can’t be attacked by carnivores unless that carnivore has the ability to fly.
Overall, this is the kind of expansion I like. It comes with just enough to make the game feel fresh but doesn’t push the game’s formula beyond what made it special in the first place.
Why It Belongs On This List
Sometimes it’s all in the name, as is the case with all of the games on this list. The Evolution: Flight expansion added a whole new dimension to the Evolution game. Since it focused on adding flying species to the game, it’s a worthy addition to this list of board games with birds.
Crows
I have played Crows exactly once in my life. A friend of mine brought it in during a board game night. I remember liking it and wanting to buy it, but, for some reason, never did.
I also love the name for some reason. It’s so simple, but it’s that simplicity that drives my curiosity and fascination with the game. It might also be the fact that the word, “crows”, has a sinister connotation to it, but whatever the reason, this is a game I would readily play again even all these years later.
So, what’s it all about?
A Quick Overview
In Crows, players win if they end up with the most points. The game ends when the last tile is drawn from the stack of Board Tiles which show things like empty trees, trees with crows, trinkets, and cemeteries.
On a player’s turn, they take a tile from either the stack of Board Tiles or the one trash tile they have at the start of the game. The player places that tile so that at least one of its edges is touching the edge of another tile that was already placed. If the newly placed tile shows any crows, the player places that many crow tokens on it.
Next, the player places their Shiny Object on any tile that is not a Trash Tile, has no crows, and doesn’t already have a Shiny Object on it. Then, crows move toward Shiny Objects, heading towards the nearest one.
Afterward, all players score points. Players get 1 point per crow on a tile with their Shiny Object and 2 points if that tile is a Cemetery.
At the end of a round, crows are moved either off the board or to different spots on the board, then the new round begins. The game ends when the stack of tiles is empty. The player with the most points wins!
Why It Belongs On This List
It’s a game about crows, and crows are birds too! It even features the fact that crows like shiny things. This game definitely deserves a spot on this list.
Seikatsu
Seikatsu is a beautiful-looking game. It has a watercolor feel to it that is pleasant to look at. I haven’t played this game yet, but if I saw it at a gathering or a convention, I’d definitely want to give it a try. With that said, let’s see how it plays.
A Quick Overview
Seikatsu is a game about placing tiles. When the last tile has been played, the game is over. Also, that last tile should fill the last spot on the Garden Board.
During a player’s turn, they will play a tile, score matching birds, and draw another tile. When playing a tile, the player must play it on an empty space, and it must be next to another tile on the Garden Board.
Next, a player scores matching birds. If any adjacent tiles match the tile you just placed, all those tiles score 1 point each. Then, that player draws a new tile from the bag.
There are also Garden Tiles that show different types of flowers. Players will score these too, but these are based on which flower is the largest flower in a row. Only that flower will score.
Why It Belongs On This List
Like the other entries on this list, Seikatsu is a game with birds front and center. Seikatsu also has a great art style, and, from what I can tell, it’s an enjoyable way to pass the time.
Songbirds
I have not played Songbirds, but I will say that looking at its art while writing this article makes me want to. Some games are beautiful showcases of how amazing art can be, and Songbirds is one such game. With that said, let’s get to the overview of how it plays.
A Quick Overview
A game of Songbirds ends when all are filled. The “forest” with the spaces in it is marked by the berry tokens the game comes with. 5 berry tokens are placed so that they form 5 rows, and the other 5 are placed so that they form 5 columns. Together, they create a space that can be used as a grid to place up to 25 cards.
On a player’s turn, they place one of their cards into this grid. It has to be placed adjacent to a card that was already placed. That really is all a player does, but there’s a lot of strategy to Songbirds.
First, the berry tokens are only given to the combined total of the same-color songbirds with the highest number on its card in a column or row.
Second, players add points from the remaining card in their hand (because one will be left over at the end of each game). These two numbers are their total. The player with the highest total wins!
Why It Belongs On This List
Aside from the amazing art, Songbirds belongs on this list because it’s all about those songbirds. The cards feature birds, and most of the tokens are berry tokens, which they eat. This is a game that easily deserves to be on this list.
Did You Know?
(Each time you refresh the page you will get a new “Did You Know” fact!)
Did you know that Terror Below is a game inspired by the movie, Tremors? It’s not a filler game, but it’s a fun game nonetheless. Head over here to check out my review of Terror Below!
Conclusion: What Is A Board Game With Birds?
So, there you have it, 7 board game choices with birds in them. Not too bad, huh? While I haven’t played all of these choices, each one definitely belongs on this list, and there should be something for everyone.
So, which one are you most excited to play first? Let me know which one and why in the comments below!
And, as always, keep on gaming, fellow board gamers.
Leave a Reply