Wingspan Tutorial

Wingspan comes with a short tutorial on gameplay elements to help new players understand the instructions. There are four player sheets with different tasks for each player to do. If only one person is playing, use Player 1's sheet alongside the instruction manual's directions for the Automa stand-in. If you have less than four players, simply ignore the extra sheets.

Tutorial Birds

• American Redstart
• Black-Chinned Hummingbird
• Brant
• Broad-Winged Hawk
• Canvasback
• Painted Whitestart
• Red-Breasted Merganser
• Scaled Quail
• Vaux's Swift
• White-Throated Swift

Tutorial Setup

Use this guide and these cards to help a new player learn Wingspan. These instructions describe the first 4 turns of the first round. These cards can be shuffled into the deck in future games.

If you are learning to play solo follow each of your turn with the instructions in the section "The Automa's Turn" of the Wingspan Automa rulebook.

Proced with all setup steps as in the regular instructions, except for selecting birds and food tokens. Instead, start with:

• Player 1: American Redstart, Broad-Winged Hawk, 3 food tokens (invertebrate, rodent, and fruit)
• Player 2: Canvasback, Vaux's Swift, 3 food tokens (invertebrate, seed, and fruit)
• Player 3: White-Throated Swift, Scaled Quail, Brant, 2 food tokens (invertebrate and seed)
• Player 4: Red-Breasted Merganser, Black-Chinned Hummingbird, 2 food tokens (fish and invertebrate)

Turn 1

Player 1: Play the Broad-Winged Hawk in your forest

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row at the top of your player mat, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Broad-Winged Hawk in the first space in your forest. Discard your rodent token to pay for it.
• The bird's power is not activated now. You'll do it when you use the forest.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird." This marks that your turn is over.
   • While your turns are simple, moving the action cubes may seem unnecessary. They can be very helpful later in the game, so it's good to get used to using them now.

Player 2: Play the Canvasback in your wetland

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Canvasback in the first space in your wetland. Discard your seed token and your fruit token to pay for it.
• The bird's power is not activated now. You'll do it when you use the wetland.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird." This marks that your turn is over.
• While your turns are simple, moving the action cubes may seem unnecessary. They can be very helpful later in the game, so it's good to get used to using them now.

Player 3: Play the White-Throated Swift in your grassland

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your White-Throated Swift in the first space in your grassland. Discard your invertebrate token to pay for it.
• The bird's power is not activated now. You'll do it when you use the grassland.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird." This marks that your turn is over.
• While your turns are simple, moving the action cubes may seem unnecessary. They can be very helpful later in the game, so it's good to get used to using them now.

Player 4: Play the Painted Whitestart in your forest

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Painted Whitestart in the first space in your forest. Discard your invertebrate token to pay for it.
• The bird's power is not activated now. You'll do it when you use the forest.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird." This marks that your turn is over.
• While your turns are simple, moving the action cubes may seem unnecessary. They can be very helpful later in the game, so it's good to get used to using them now.

Turn 2

Player 1: Lay eggs

1. Place your action cube in the first space of your "lay eggs" row (the grassland).
2. Lay 2 eggs: Take 2 eggs from the supply and place them on your hawk.
• When you lay eggs, they can go on any combination of birds (or any one bird), as long as the birds have space for them. A bird's egg capacity is shown by the egg symbols beneath its score. If you attempt to lay more eggs than your birds have space for, the extra eggs are lost.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

Player 2: Draw cards

1. Place your action cube in the space to the right of your Canvasback, and do the action shown on that space: draw a card. If there is a bird that eats invertebrates, that might be a good pick.
• You can always draw from the face-up cards in the tray or from the top of the deck. Do not refill the empty spaces on the tray at this time.
• You also have the option to discard an egg to draw an extra card, but you don't have any eggs yet.
2. Move your action cube to your Canvasback, and choose whether to activate the Canvasback and allow all players to draw another card. We recommend you do it this time.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.
4. Refill any empty spaces on the bird tray with cards from the deck.

Player 3: Gain food

1. Place your action cube in the first space in the "gain food" row, and do the action shown there: gain 1 food from the birdfeeder. Remove any 1 die from the tray and take a matching food token.
• Dice will stay outside the tray until all the dice get rerolled.
• If the birdfeeder is ever empty, reroll all 5 dice immediately.
• At any time you are about to gain food, if all the dice that remain in the birdfeeder are showing the same face, you can choose to reroll all 5 dice. This is true even in the middle of your turn: if you're gaining more than one food, you could pick one die, reroll because the rest are showing the same face, and then continue gaining food.
2. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

Player 4: Gain food

1. Place your action cube in the first space in the "gain food" row, and do the action shown there: gain 1 food from the birdfeeder. Remove 1 die from the tray and take a matching food token. If you had a spare bird card in hand, you could then discard it to gain another food token.
• Dice will stay outside the tray until all the dice get rerolled.
• If the birdfeeder is ever empty, reroll all 5 dice immediately.
• At any time you are about to gain food, if all the dice that remain in the birdfeeder are showing the same face, you can choose to reroll all 5 dice. This is true even in the middle of your turn: if you're gaining more than one food, you could pick one die, reroll because the rest are showing the same face, and then continue gaining food.
2. Move your action cube to your Painted Whitestart and activate its power: take an invertebrate token from the supply.
3. Move your action cube to the left of your player mat.

Turn 3

Player 1: Play the American Redstart in your forest

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the second column.
2. You must pay the egg cost shown on that space: discard 1 egg from your hawk.
• As you play more birds in each habitat, you'll need to discard more eggs for them. You always discard the number of eggs that is directly over the space where you play the bird. You do not need to pay this cost when you're taking other actions, only when you play a bird.
3. Play your American Redstart in the second space of your forest. Discard your invertebrate and fruit tokens to pay for it.
4. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

Player 2: Play the Vaux's Swift in your forest

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Vaux's Swift in the first space in your forest. Discard your invertebrate token to pay for it.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird."

Player 3: Play the Brant in your wetland

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Brant in the first space in your wetland. Discard your seed token and one other food token to pay for it.
3. The Brant has a "when played" power, so activate it now: take the 3 face-up cards from the bird tray and add them to your hand.
• "When played" birds are different from other birds. You will use their power just once, immediately when you play the bird. On future turns, when you activate your wetland, you will not reactivate this bird.
4. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird."
5. Refill the bird tray with cards from the deck.

Player 4: Play the Red-Breasted Merganser in your wetland

1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
2. Play your Red-Breasted Merganser in the first space in your wetland. Discard an invertebrate token and a fish token to pay for it.
3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird."

   Turn 4

   Player 1: Gain food

   1. Place your action cube in the space to the right of your Redstart.
   2. Take the action shown where your cube is: choose two dice that are in the birdfeeder tray. Remove them from the birdfeeder, and take the matching food tokens. (If you can, choose some food that can be used by the cards that are face-up in the bird tray.)
   • Dice will stay outside the tray until all the dice get rerolled.
   • If the birdfeeder is ever empty, reroll all 5 dice immediately.
   • At any time you are about to gain food, if all the dice that remain in the birdfeeder are showing the same face, you can choose to reroll all 5 dice. This is true even in the middle of your turn: if you're gaining more than one food, you could pick one die, reroll because the rest are showing the same face, and then continue gaining food.
   3. Move your action cube onto the Redstart, and activate its power: gain 1 more food from the birdfeeder.
   4. Move your action cube onto the Hawk, and activate its power: take all of the dice that are currently outside the birdfeeder tray, and roll them. If at least 1 is a rodent, take a rodent token from the supply and put it on the Hawk.
   • Placing a food token on a bird card is called caching. The food token is worth a point at the end of the game. You cannot use it to feed a bird or for any other bird powers, unless that option is written on the bird card.
   5. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

   Player 2: Gain food

   1. Place your action cube to the right of your Vaux's Swift in the first uncovered space of your forest, and do the action shown there: gain 1 food from the birdfeeder. Remove 1 die from the tray and take a matching food token. If you can, pick something that matches one of the cards in your hand.
   • Dice will stay outside the tray untill all the dice get rerolled.
   • If the birdfeeder is ever empty, reroll all 5 dice immediately.
   • At any time you are about to gain food, if all the dice that remain in the birdfeeder are showing the same face, you can choose to reroll all 5 dice. This is true even in the middle of your turn: if you're gaining more than one food, you could pick one die, reroll because the rest are showing the same face, and then continue gaining food.
   • You also have the option to discard a bird card to gain 1 additional food from the birdfeeder. Skip this for now.
   2. Move your cube to the Vaux's Swift. Activate its power: choose 1 of the cards in your hand, and place it behind the swift. Then gain an invertebrate token from the supply. The card you tucked is worth 1 point.
   3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

   Player 3: Lay eggs

   1. Place your action cube in the space to the right of your White-throated Swift.
   2. Lay 2 eggs.
   • When you lay eggs, they can go on any combination of birds (or any one bird), as long as the birds have space for them. A bird's egg capacity is shown by the egg symbols beneath its score. Each egg on your mat at the end of the game is worth 1 point. You have the option to discard any 1 food to gain 1 additional egg. Skip this for now.
   3. Move your action cube onto the swift and activate its power. Tuck one of the cards you drew on the last turn behind the swift, then place 1 egg on any bird that isn't at capacity.
      • This tucked card represents part of a flock of birds. (In some cases, they represent birds eaten by a predator.) Each tucked card is worth 1 point.
   4. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat.

   Player 4: Play the Black-Chinned Hummingbird in your grassland

   1. Place your action cube in the "play a bird" row, above the first column where cards can go.
   2. Play your Black-Chinned Hummingbird in the first space in your grassland. Discard your last remaining food token to pay for it.
   3. Move your action cube to the left part of your player mat, where it says "play a bird."

   Turn 5 and Beyond

   Depending on your player number, you may be in need of cards, birds, eggs, or food. Now that you know the basics, work hard to make your habitats the best they can be and win the game!