A beautiful sunrise rises over the garden and dips the bird feeder in golden light. In the trees all around the birds wake up and tune in to their chirping. A chaffinch flutters up and sits tentatively on one of the free places at the bird feeder. A sparrow and a bullfinch peacefully join ...

But also blackbird, greenfinch and yellowhammer are hungry! And off he goes, the fight for the best feeding place. Smaller birds join forces to compete against the big boys and then quarrel about who is allowed to occupy the vacant space. It is picked and hacked and no one notices how the next danger threatens from the forest: Squirrel and crows know the bird feeder too.

Birdie - Little Songbirds is a small card game with a surprisingly big draft. Matt Riddle and Ben Pinchback have created a game for two to four players, ages 10+, that fits perfectly in our series "Big Game in a Small Box". Players use their hand cards to influence the chaos of the bird feeder and thus try to get grain cards, bird pairs and as many birds as possible. At the same time, they must be careful not to collect squirrels or crow cards, as they will scare off the small songbirds or feed them away.

In Piepmatz, you skillfully play bird cards from your hand to collect seeds and birds at the bird feeder. Seeds and mated pairs of birds in your collection are worth points. Single birds score only if you have the most of their species. The course of play is the same for all numbers of players. On a turn, you go through these three phases in order:

Play a card — Select a bird card from your hand and place it face up at a perch of your choice.
Resolve effects — Compare the birds on the ground with the bird at the perch. Take a seed card or add a bird to your collection. Move a bird to the feeder.
Draw new cards — Replenish your hand.

The game end is triggered when you are supposed to draw a card from an empty feeder deck. Play continues until all players have had an equal number of turns. Each player now chooses two bird cards from their hand and discards them face down. Once all players have done this, add your remaining two bird cards to your collection and commence the scoring. You score points for seeds, mated pairs of birds, and species majorities. Whoever has the most points wins.

2 to 4 Players
20 to 40 Min Playing Time
Age: 12+


Released: 14 August 2018