Grab your binoculars and your birding journal because it's time to hit the trails and see some birds. Choose a habitat each round to visit along the western coast of North America, and see what rare birds you can find. Don't forget to keep an eye on what your fellow birders are tracking down — they might just lead you to the bird that finishes your watch list and earns you extra points! Who will outsmart their opponents, spot the most birds, and be the best birder?
In Birds of a Feather: Western North America, you and the other players explore different habitats to spot birds. In the first round, each player chooses and reveals a card from hand, then marks off on their score sheet or the app the bird they played as well as all other birds played in the same habitat. The deck contains cards from five habitats, with some birds being more common than others. In the second round, you each play a card again, then you mark all birds in your current habitat as well as all cards played the previous round in that habitat. Apparently word spread about all the great finds! Remove all cards from the first round, then keep playing additional rounds in the same manner.
When each player has only one card left in hand, the game ends. For each ace bird you've seen in a habitat, you score 2 points; for each other non-common bird you've seen, score 1 point; and if you've seen all seven types of birds in a habitat, score 3 bonus points for a total of 10 points in that habitat. Whoever has the most total points wins.
Birds of a Feather: Western North America differs from Birds of Feather thanks to new graphic design and improved rules for two- and three-player games to make them more strategic.
Images
- Simple and quick to play
- Engaging solo mode with emergent tactics
- Cute artwork
- Works well as a quick solo game
- Box is too large for the components
- Can feel 'on rails' initially in solo play
- Bird watching
- Western North America
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Hand Management — Players must decide which card to discard from their hand and which to keep for scoring or future turns.
- Set Collection — The core mechanic involves collecting sets of bird cards from different habitats.
- Set collection with bonuses — Collecting all birds of a specific habitat grants bonus points.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- what greets us when we open the box are mainly bird cards
- you only need to watch these once because you're trying to watch like every different kind of bird
- I was about to sell the game at first right I really thought like okay I'm at least going to record the video for you and then I'm going to sell it then I played more often I thought like you know what that's actually pretty good
- and that is how you play Birds over feather Western North America by snowb studio designed by teal frto
References (from this video)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you are a bird watcher trying to play your cards at the right time to see the most unique birds and score
- the game hits the bird watching theme very well
References (from this video)
- Gorgeous art and bird names; appealing visual presentation
- Clear emphasis on a lightweight, accessible learning curve
- Interesting drafting/variant options and score tracking mechanics
- Strong bird-watching theme with habitat-based scoring
- Prototype components and non-final rules noted in video
- bird watching; seeing diverse birds
- Western North America; various habitats
- card-drafting with simultaneous reveal; predator/raptor dynamics
- Microsoft Hearts
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Compound Scoring — score is tracked on a paper sheet or an app; tick off colors and symbols; habitat bonuses apply
- Drafting — players draft cards from their hand; variants allow passing unwanted cards or drafting entire hands
- end_condition — the game continues until one card is left in a player's hand
- habitat_scoring — scoring bonus for having birds in the same habitat; three extra points for diversity within a habitat
- raptor_cards — raptor cards have powers that activate first, adding uncertainty
- round_discard — previous rounds' cards of the same color are discarded, restricting opponents' scoring
- score_tracking — score is tracked on a paper sheet or an app; tick off colors and symbols; habitat bonuses apply
- Set Collection — players collect birds by color and symbol and tick off items on a score sheet; cannot tick off more than one of the same color and symbol
- Simultaneous Reveal — each round, players select a card from hand and reveal simultaneously
- simultaneous_card_reveal — each round, players select a card from hand and reveal simultaneously
- variant_card_passing — strategic variants include passing unwanted cards or drafting the entire hand at certain player counts
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- you are a bird watcher trying to play your cards at the right time to see the most unique birds and score
- the game hits the bird watching theme very well