ROOKERY

The goal

Be first to collect three Prizes. Prizes are scored at season checkpoints — every 4 turns, when the season wheel turns, whoever controls more zones claims a Prize.

The field

Imagine the space between players is divided into three zones, a middle, left, and right zone. Each zone is a habitat — Forest, Shore, Meadow, or Wetland — and holds up to 6 birds. Decide who goes first, then player 1 drafts (selects) a habitat for the middle zone, player 2 then drafts habitats for left and right.

Controlling a zone

At each season checkpoint (every 4 turns, when the wheel turns), if you control more zones than your opponent, you claim one Prize. First to three Prizes wins. Between checkpoints, build your hold and fight for zones — the countdown bar shows when the next checkpoint scores. You control a zone by holding an uncontested claim there via bird cards. Bird cards claim zones in one of three ways:

• a Flock — 3+ bird cards nested or roosting in a single zone creates a claim, or
• a Territorial pair — two Territorial birds nested or roosting in a single zone creates a claim, or
• a Keystone single bird — claims a zone by itself nested or roosting.

You control a zone when you hold a claim there and have strictly more birds in it than your opponent. Tie the bird count and neither player controls it — break the tie with predation, a habitat flip, or an event. A few unique birds make uncontestable claims that hold even when outnumbered (see Card Abilities).

Song

Song (♪) is the only resource. Tap a nested bird (its ♪ button) to add its Song value to your pool, then spend Song to nest birds, loose predators, change the season, play events, and build habitats. Song is not banked — your pool empties at end of turn, so spend it before you pass. Players earn the Dawn Chorus, a payout of free Song, at the start of their turn. Dawn Chorus payout determined by season.

The five cards

• Bird Your units. Stats read Song / Evasion / HP. Pay its ♪ cost to nest it from your hand into target zone, where it stays until defeated, migrates, or is otherwise removed. It takes all bird cards one turn to successfully nest, and they are considered roosting until successfully nested. Roosting bird cards cannot be tapped for Song but still count towards zone claims.
• Habitat Zones can be flipped from one habitat to another with habitat cards. Three habitat cards flip target zone from its previous habitat to the last played habitat type, discarding all bird cards nested or roosting there — unless they match the new habitat type. Only the third and final habitat card played on any zone is used to determine the new habitat type, but three habitat cards are required to complete a flip. Your first habitat card each turn is free; the next costs ♪1, then ♪2, then ♪3…
• Predator Stats read Threat / Stealth / HP. Play either face up or face down from your hand into a zone to hunt your opponent's bird cards nested or roosting there. Face up predators hunt once on your turn (unless otherwise stated); face down predators can't be targeted by events and their first hunt occurs as a reaction to an opposing bird card roosting in its zone. Face down predators are activated at the discretion of the player that played them, and once activated remain face up.
• Event One-time effect cards — Weather event cards tend to manipulate the field of play; Human event cards tend to be draw & utility. Play from your hand via the Song cost, resolve, then discard unless otherwise stated.
• Season Seasons determine how much free Song you get at the start of your turn — a payout called the Dawn Chorus. All seasons last 4 turns, unless otherwise stated. The game begins in Spring. Season cards may be played to immediately alter the current season and its duration.

Your turn, in order

1. Begin (Dawn). Tap I'm ready on the pass screen to draw the top card, untap your birds, and collect the Dawn Chorus — free Song set by the Season (Spring 2 · Summer 4 · Autumn 2 · Winter 1).
2. Act, in any order. Tap birds for Song; nest birds; loose predators; play events, seasons, and habitats; move Migratory birds; hunt and mob. There is no phase split — do things in whatever order you like. One limit: a bird can tap or move in a turn, not both.
3. End turn. Click End Turn. Unspent Song is lost — spend it first! Then pass the device to your opponent.

Scoring is by checkpoint: only when the season wheel turns (every 4 turns) does the zone leader claim a Prize — a lead only pays out if you still hold it when the checkpoint arrives.

Hunting

A predator may hunt once per turn (unless otherwise stated). Compare Threat vs the target's Evasion:

• Threat > Evasion → the strike lands for damage equal to Threat against target bird's HP. HP damage is permanent; once total damage equals total HP the bird is defeated: its owner puts it in their discard pile.
• Threat ≤ Evasion → the hunt fails; Predator and target bird remain in habitat.

A bird in a flock is harder to hunt: +2 Evasion for each friendly bird sharing its zone if targeted while in a flock — nested or roosting.

Exposed

At Home means a bird is in its native habitat (a Forest bird in a Forest zone, and so on), shown by a small ⌂ on the card — many bird abilities only work while At Home. A bird that is alone in a zone, or not At Home without a flock, is Exposed: Predator cards hunt Exposed targets with +3 Threat. Pair your birds in their native habitats or group them into flocks to clear the Exposed tag.

Mobbing

If your flock shares a zone with a Predator, you may mob it (its ▲ button): your flock's combined Evasion is checked against the predator's Stealth to harry it.

• Combined Evasion > Stealth → the mob is successful, for damage equal to the largest single Evasion against target predator's HP. HP damage is permanent; once total damage equals total HP the Predator is defeated: its owner puts it in their discard pile.
• Combined Evasion ≤ Stealth → the mob fails; Predator and target flock remain in habitat.

Each flock may mob once per turn.

Seasons

The wheel turns every 4 turns (or when a Season card is played). Each turn of the wheel is a checkpoint: the zone leader claims a Prize, and the new season sets the Dawn Chorus payout — the base Song you gain each turn. Season cards are tempo weapons: rush the checkpoint while ahead, or delay it while catching up.

Winning & losing

First to 3 Prizes wins. If neither side reaches 3 Prizes within 2 years (8 season-turns), the most Prizes wins — a tie goes to sudden death. You can't be decked out — when your deck is empty, shuffle your discard pile into a new deck and keep drawing.

Card abilities

Most birds and predators carry a named special ability in their text — these can change costs, stats, hunting, and scoring, or have you draw, discard, or search cards. Click any card's ⓘ to read it in full.

Hotseat note: in this digital build, cards marked Instant resolve on your own turn.