The Sights and Sounds of Spring with the Game of Songbirds
Listen to the cacophony of sounds from the colorful and noisy residents of a cheerful forest with Songbirds.
Back to something a lot cuter! Songbirds rarely makes it to my table, often due to its rather large amount of required table space. Yet it features some absolutely wonderful bird-related artwork that I’ve never been able to resist. I have some of my favorites, but winning comes down to picking the right type of bird. Who will be the loudest of them all?!
Game Overview
Game Name: Songbirds
Publication Year: 2016
Designer: ゆお (Yuo)
Artist: ことり寧子 (Kotori Neiko) and Claire Donaldson
Publisher: Daily Magic Games
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
How I do love birds! With a little decoration to add some flair, the experience was all set. Within a 5×5 grid, bird cards must be placed. Each filled column and row is scored based on the sum of each bird type. The highest wins… But it comes down to choosing the right one before the end!
First Play
December 11, 2018
Complexity
2
Latest Play
September 11, 2025
Expansions
1
Setup Time
Almost None
Lifetime Plays
52
Play Time
10 Minutes
High Score
68
Game Area
20" x 28"
Low Score
-46
A Quiet Forest
The setup might be the least attractive part of the game. It sets the variable berry tokens for the columns and rows. Victory points are quite important with this one!
Birds flock to all different areas. Available in 4 types, the highest total will win the corresponding berry token.
So what’s the catch? The goal is to choose a single bird type before the end of the game. Any other birds who score berry tokens subtract those values. Very challenging!
Interesting situations can also happen when different birds have the same totals and drown out their songs.
Relying on the Shrike
With just the base game, I wasn’t all that thrilled with the way the game progressed. Yet adding in the promo cards for the owl and shrike changed it all so much!
I even started out with the shrike as my starting card. This little fellow lowered the volume of all adjacent birds.
See how this simple addition can add more strategies? Including 2 more cards in the deck adds a lot of variability since not all of the birds will come out during every play.
Even with a slightly drab appearance, I had a feeling this bird was going to play a starring role in the forest!
Filling the Branches
From that relatively bare starting setup, the forest grew in volume. So many birds! I chose early on, which can be a bit of a hit or miss. Things changed quite quickly, indeed.
As luck would have it, I didn’t start completing rows and columns until right near the end. That gave me a chance to set up a lot of excellent scoring opportunities.
The owl swooped in at one point to trade places with an already placed bird. Very, very useful at the right time!
I failed to stop all of the berry tokens from being distributed, yet my chosen bird type looked awesome.
Collecting Berries
It’s sometimes difficult not to pick the white birds… Look how cute and cheeky this one near the lower right is!
However, the blue birds were in a good starting position and I built off of that. Lots and lots of points all piled up!
My final score was nothing amazing, yet I had a nice time at least pulling together a respectable outing. Negative scores are hard to avoid on a consistent basis.
All in all, I remembered why I liked to play this from time to time. I’m not particularly great with spatial puzzles or planning out moves with maths… But this works for me!
Cheering the Winners
This tiny shrubbery bustling with birds showed up again to congratulate me on backing the blue birds. Ha ha!
It was interesting to choose the bird type, though. This was obvious from the start, but other times I’ve waited until closer to the end to decide who would be the loudest.
With that in mind, I headed back to the forest and reset everything a few more times. My scores kept improving, although it wasn’t always the blue birds who won.
As expected, the owl and shrike cards were the real reason why I felt like I was having fun. 2 cards can be powerful!
Bad Berries and Birds
Things then took a turn for the worse. I figured it was going to turn out well, yet the deck was very unlucky.
Perhaps this pair of green birds says it all! There were a lot of berries to choose from, all fully revealed, yet it was like I could only claim the lowest values out of them all.
I laughed at the bird in the background, who looked positively confused about this terrible 5-point berry. And then its companion seemed so proud and smug. Ha ha!
As I mentioned before, negative scores can be very common and I didn’t escape this session unscathed.
Session Overview
Play Number: 39-42
Expansion: Songbirds: Promo Cards
Solo Mode: Included in the Base Game
Outcome: 29, 39, 42, and -1 (1 Win and 3 Losses)
According to the scoring tiers, I had a fairly good outing… Save for that final play that clearly put me in the rookie category! This likely won’t ever make it onto a list of my favorite games, yet it has its place and offers a cute and cozy challenge with plenty of happy birds. As I’ve learned so often over the years, a game doesn’t have to be amazing to be great. And where else can you find these silly birds?
%
50 Plays
Affordability
Price & Value
8
Functionality
Challenges & Mechanics
10
Originality
Design & Theme
5
Quality
Components & Rules
10
Reusability
Achievement & Enjoyment
9
Variability
Distinctness & Randomness
5
+ Pros (Positives)
- Each card depicts 1-2 unique birds with adorable artwork that gives every bird its own sort of personality.
- Sets are easy to tell apart by the 4 different bird colors and associated symbols that are colorblind-friendly.
- There is enough variability with the solo setup to provide interesting decisions and challenges with each play.
- Managing the volume of each bird type in the rows and columns takes practice to score in the highest tiers.
- Although uncommon, finding a way to neutralize 2-3 bird types to claim the berry token is quite exciting.
- Not all of the cards are used before the end, so deciding when to choose a bird type can be a bit of a strategic risk.
– Cons (Negatives)
- Although gameplay is short and quick, the play area feels unnecessarily large for what the game offers.
- A good deal of luck is involved with the order of the cards and despite many decisions, luck plays a major role.
- The ability to add many different sums can feel a little overwhelming at times, especially near the end.
- Without the owl and shrike, interesting decisions don’t always show up consistently over the course of play.
Victory Conditions
Score 40+ Points
- Overall Goal Progress 88%
Goals and Milestones
Score at least 30 points.
Score at least 40 points.
Score at least 50 points.
Score at least 60 points.
Win at least 1 game with the owl card in play.
Win at least 1 game with the shrike card in play.
Score at least 70 points.
Continue the Conversation
What do you think of Songbirds? Do you have any other games that might not make it onto your list of favorites, yet are still enjoyable? Maybe this explains why I have such a hard time parting with most of my games. Ha! I like to find the positives in each one. A few definitely don’t work for me, yet these birds will always call to me. Loudly and constantly.
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