The round ends when a player has no cards in their hand. At this point all other players have to discard their hand of cards and new cards are dealt. Knowing when to play cards to the table and which row, together with choosing the right time to end the round is where the tension and excitement comes from in CuBirds. A game plays in several successive rounds. At the beginning of each round, each player starts with 8 cards in their hand. A round continues until one of the players has no cards left in their hand.

They lay these birds, each one next to the other on the left or on the right side of one of the 4 rows at the center of the table. They can choose their cards independently of the species of the Birds already present in the rows. According to BirdLife International, which has designated 28 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Cuba, “Over 370 bird species have been recorded in Cuba, including 27 which are endemic to the island and 29 considered globally threatened. Due to its large land area and geographical position within the Caribbean, Cuba represents one of the most important countries for Neotropical migratory birds – both birds passing through on their way south (75 species) and those spending the winter on the island (86 species).“

Playing birds from your hand into the central tableau is mandatory but players have a lot of choices of what and how to play, even with one major restriction: they always have to put down all cards of the same species they have in their hand. The game is won by the first player that manages to have gathered in their collection in front of them:

The dealer then shuffles the 110 Bird cards and lays out 4 rows with three cards faceup at the center of the table a. For example, if a player added the two Parrots to the left of this row, they would take the Owl and Flamingo:If RobinBird would get more cards by adding the drawn card on the left side in the row, she prefers that. All of the remaining cards are shuffled to form a facedown draw pile b. This draw pile is placed near to the center of the table, accessible to all players. The dealer gives 8 facedown Bird cards from the draw pile to each player: this is their starting hand. Our itinerary provides opportunities to see many of Cuba’s endemic species and subspecies, as listed below. The trip will also focus on the many Neotropical migrant species that migrate south to Cuba in the fall and are abundant in Cuba during the winter months (endemic species and endemic subspecies in italics): Be the first player to gather seven different species, or two species with at least three identical birds in each, to end the game!