Players begin each new round of CuBirds with eight bird cards in hand. Some birds also sit on four distinct fences on the table. On your turn, you lay a series of identical birds from your hand on one fence's extremity. These birds instantly gather with any identical bird already present on this fence, making all birds placed in-between them fly into your hand. With enough identical birds in your hand, you can perform a flock, allowing you to add some of these birds in your scoring area.

Your ultimate goal is to be the first player to gather in your scoring area either seven different species, or two species with at least three identical birds in each. Each bird comes with one small and one big flock scores, so you may want to wait to reach a big flock to add more birds at once to your scoring area. Beware, though, as the round ends as soon as a player empties their hand, forcing all players to discard their current hands and plans!