Skybirds 2026

Skybirds is a game for 2-4 players, where you’ll fight for dominance in the skies over the battlefields of the Great War (which later came to be known as World War I). Aerial combat is simulated by – and this is a little weird but work with us – winning rounds of a ladder-climbing, empty-your-hand card game. If only real war could be so civilized!

Players start out even in skill, but as play progresses the winner of a given round of cards will be able to improve their squadron incrementally more than the second-place finisher, both of whom will improve more than third place, etc. Except in a 2-player match, the Ace left with cards at the end of the round gets no improvement at all.

After each victory, the more skillful players gain more powerful weapons (relative to those who finish the round behind them), and these weapons, represented by tokens, can be deployed for better bonuses during future rounds. These tokens also unlock further progression down the path to victory, but if you use the most recently won bonus, you cannot make further progress along that path until you reclaim the spent token. The game ends when one player unlocks the final “Armistice” token, and the winner is the player who amassed the most victory points (VPs) during the War to End All Wars.

The game doesn’t have too many rules, and game play is quick, with each hand (a “Dogfight”) lasting about a minute, each round (a “Campaign Season”) lasting a few minutes and the overall game (“The Great War”) taking 20-30 minutes depending on players’ choices.

ACE = Every card in the game is a Flying Ace Dogfight = one full hand/trick Campaign = one full round of tricks, ending when all but one of the players are out of cards The Great War = a series of Campaigns ended by a player acquiring their Armistice token

—description from the designer