Wingspan Rules: Quick-Start Summary

1–5 players40–70 minAge 10+

Base game (rulebook revision 24) · Checked against the rulebook, Oct 2026

In short

Attract birds to your forest, grassland and wetland. Each turn you take 1 of 4 actions: play a bird, gain food, lay eggs or draw cards. Birds in a row power up that row's action. After 4 rounds, most points wins.

Can you pay 2 food instead of 1?Do bird powers activate when you play the bird?How do ties work on end-of-round goals?

Setup

1Shuffle the bird cards and put 3 face up on the bird tray.
2Put the food tokens and eggs in the supply, and toss the 5 food dice into the birdfeeder.
3Choose a side of the goal board (green is the default, blue is easier) and place 4 random goal tiles on it. Shuffle the bonus cards.
4Each player takes a player mat, 8 action cubes, 2 bonus cards, 5 bird cards and 5 food tokens (1 of each type).
5Keep up to 5 birds, discarding 1 food token for each bird you keep. Keep 1 of your 2 bonus cards.
6Pick a first player at random.

Rulebook p. 2 (Setup)

How a turn works

Play a bird

Pay the bird's food and egg cost and place it in a habitat. Only its white "when played" power triggers.

Gain food (forest)

Take food dice from the birdfeeder, then activate brown powers in your forest from right to left.

Lay eggs (grassland)

Lay eggs on your birds, then activate brown powers in your grassland.

Draw cards (wetland)

Draw bird cards from the tray or deck, then activate brown powers in your wetland.

Rulebook p. 4 (Overview) and pp. 6–9 (The Four Actions)

How to win

Most points after 4 rounds

Points come from:

BirdsBonus cardsRound goalsEggs 1 eachCached food 1 eachTucked cards 1 each

Rulebook p. 5 (Game End and Scoring)

Rules people get wrong

When playing a bird, any 2 food tokens can pay for 1 food of any type.
Brown powers don't trigger when you play the bird, only when you use its row.
Face-up birds you take aren't replaced until the end of your turn.
You get fewer turns each round (8, 7, 6, then 5), because each goal uses an action cube.
There's no hand limit and no food limit.

Wingspan rulings

Can you pay 2 food instead of 1 in Wingspan?Do bird powers activate when you play the bird in Wingspan?How do pink powers work in Wingspan?How do ties work on end-of-round goals in Wingspan?How many eggs does it cost to play a bird in Wingspan?What happens if you lay more eggs than your birds can hold in Wingspan?When can you reroll the birdfeeder in Wingspan?Who wins a tie in Wingspan?

Official sources

Official rules and FAQ (Stonemaier)
Rulebook, appendix and FAQ downloads

Play better with

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European ExpansionExpansionCheck price at Amazon

Oceania ExpansionExpansionCheck price at Amazon

Wingspan AsiaCan also be played on its ownCheck price at Amazon

Organizer insertCheck it fits your edition's boxCheck price at Amazon

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Last checked Oct 2026 · Report an error

Wingspan rules