How to Play Wyrmspan

Last Updated on February 26, 2026 by The Official Game Rules Team

Inspired by the popular Wingspan game, Wyrmspan is a strategy game where players control powerful dragonlords, vying for control of the mystical Wyrmspan. Compete for resources, use magical powers, and outsmart your opponents in this exciting battle for dominance. Will you soar to victory or be burned by defeat?

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Due to the rules being quite long and complex, we’ve done our best to summarize them below. That being said we do recommend taking a look at the official instruction PDF at the top of the page or watching the video tutorial at the bottom.

Central Game Area:

Place Boards: Arrange the Dragon Guild board, Card Display board, and Round Tracker in the center of the table, ensuring all players can easily reach them.
Dragon Guild Tile: Randomly select one of the four Dragon Guild tiles and place it in the center of the Dragon Guild board. Flip the tile to the side corresponding to the number of players (1-2 players or more than 2 players).
Card Decks & Display: Shuffle the 183 dragon cards and 75 cave cards. Place these decks face-down near the Card Display board. Deal three dragon cards face-up on the top section and three cave cards face-up on the bottom section of the Card Display. This area is the game’s market.
Round Tracker: Place the pink marshmallow round marker on the “Round 1” space of the Round Tracker board.
Objective Tiles: Randomly select four of the ten objective tiles and place either side face-up into the four slots on the Round Tracker. Return the remaining objective tiles to the box.
Tokens: Place the silver coins, eggs, and all other tokens in a general supply within easy reach of all players.
Optional Organization: The two turquoise trays can be used to organize the eggs and coins separately.

Player Setup (Each Player):

Player Mat: Take one player mat and place it in front of you.
Starting Resources: Take six coins and one egg. Place the egg on any empty nest icon in the bottom left corner of your player mat (egg color is cosmetic).
Starting Hand: Draw three dragon cards and three cave cards. Choose four of these six cards to keep and discard the other two, forming a discard pile near the decks. Tip: Consider the visible objective tiles when choosing.
Starting Resources (Tokens): Take three resource tokens of your choice (Meat, Gold, Crystal, Milk). Note: Coins and eggs are not resources. Tip: Choose resources that might be useful for the dragons you kept.
Player Pieces: Choose a player color and take the corresponding adventurer meeple, eight cube markers, and one shield-shaped guild token.
Adventurer: Place your adventurer meeple on the “Base Camp” space on your player mat.
Guild Token: Place your guild token on the “START” area of the Wyrmspan Dragon Guild board.
Player Markers: Keep your eight cube markers within easy reach.
Start Player: Randomly assign the start player marker (with the game cover) to one player.

Wyrmspan Game Flow:

The game lasts for four rounds.
Each round proceeds in turns, starting with the player holding the start player marker and moving clockwise.
On your turn, you perform one action.
Players continue taking turns until all players choose to pass.
Once a player passes, they do not take any more turns in the current round.
A round ends when all players have passed.
You typically pass when you run out of coins, but you can pass voluntarily.
Carry-over: Any remaining coins, resources, cave cards, dragon cards, and nested eggs are carried over to the next round.
Winning: The player with the most Victory Points (VP) at the end of the fourth round wins. VPs are earned in various ways throughout the game.

Wyrmspan Actions Overview:

On your turn, you can perform one of three actions: Excavate, Entice, or Explore.
To take an action, place your adventurer meeple on the corresponding action space on your player mat.
You must pay the cost of the action by placing the required items on the action spaces on the left side of your player mat.
The cost for the Explore action is detailed in its specific section.
Running out of supply: If the central supply of eggs or resources is depleted, use the x2 and x5 multiplier tokens and return your owned resources to the public supply.
Coins are valuable: Silver coins are generally needed for actions, so spend them strategically.

Excavate Action:

Purpose: Play a cave card from your hand onto your player mat.
Cave Rows: Your mat has three cave rows: Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto, and Amethyst Abyss, each with four slots.
Placement Rule: You must fill the cave slots from left to right.
Initial Excavation: The first slot in each row is already considered excavated at the start. You only place cards in the second, third, and fourth slots.
Cost: Pay the cost indicated in the “Excavate” section in the top left of your player mat, plus any column-specific costs:
- First Column: Already excavated (no cost or card).
- Second Column: One coin.
- Third Column: One coin + One nested egg (from your nested eggs).
- Fourth Column: One coin + Two nested eggs (from your nested eggs).
Paying with Eggs: You must use eggs currently nested on your dragons or in the two bottom-left slots of your player mat to pay these costs.
Placement: Place the chosen cave card in the desired empty slot, ensuring you do not cover the stop icon below the slot.
“When Played” Effect: After placing the card, activate its “when played” benefit (optional for you, but other players can still benefit if applicable). This effect triggers only once when the card is initially played.
Fourth Slot – “When Covered” Effect: If you place a cave card in the fourth (rightmost) slot, its “when covered” effect triggers immediately, allowing you to exchange any three items (resources, dragon cards, cave cards) for one coin.
Order of Effects: You can choose the order in which you resolve the “when played” effect of the card and the “when covered” effect of the slot.
Strategy: Ensure you have enough items to utilize the “when covered” effect before placing a card in the fourth slot to potentially gain a coin for a future action.

Entice Action:

Purpose: Play a dragon card from your hand onto the excavated spaces on your player mat.
Cost: Pay one coin to the “Entice” box on the left side of your player mat, plus any additional resources shown on the left side below the dragon’s name (e.g., extra coins, eggs, or milk).
Preferred Habitats: Dragon cards have colored boxes on their left side indicating their preferred habitats (Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto, Amethyst Abyss). You must place the dragon in a row corresponding to one of these colors.
Placement Rules:
- Wyrmspan Dragons must be placed in excavated spaces (slots where you have placed a cave card, excluding the first slot of each row).
- Wyrmspan Dragons must be placed from left to right in their chosen habitat row.

Dragon Card Anatomy:

Each Wyrmspan dragon card provides the following information:

Category	Information
Name	The dragon’s name (referenced in the Dragon Facts booklet).
Extra Cost	Additional resources required to play this dragon (besides the base coin).
Preferred Habitats	Colored boxes indicating the rows where this dragon can be placed.
Victory Points	The VP awarded by this dragon at the end of the game.
Size	The dragon’s size: Hatchling, Small, Medium, or Large.
Nested Egg Capacity	The number of nested eggs this dragon can hold, increasing your overall egg capacity.
Trait	The dragon’s trait: Aggressive, Helpful, Playful, or Shy.
Ability	The dragon’s special ability (When Played, If Activated, Once Per Round, End Game).

Wyrmspan Dragon Abilities:

Type	Description
When Played	Activates the first time you play this dragon card into an excavated space (unless otherwise specified).
If Activated	Triggers only when your adventurer meeple passes over this dragon during the Explore action.
Once Per Round	Triggers at the end of each round during the Round End / Upkeep phase.
End Game	Activates when scores are tallied at the end of the game, providing extra VP if the conditions are met.

You are not obligated to use your Wyrmspan dragons’ abilities, but if an ability benefits other players, they can choose to use it even if you don’t.

Terms You May Encounter In Dragon Abilities:

Term	Description
Caching A Resource	Place a specified resource from your personal supply onto the indicated dragon. Each cached resource is usually worth 1 VP. Unless stated otherwise, you can cache the resource onto the dragon triggering the effect.
Tucking A Card	Place a dragon card face-down underneath another dragon card (usually from your hand and onto the triggering dragon). Each tucked card is worth 1 VP at the end of the game but no longer counts as a dragon for other effects.
Lay An Egg	Take an egg from the public supply and place it on one of your dragons with a nest icon or in an empty nest slot on the bottom left of your player mat. Dragons cannot hold more eggs than their nest icon capacity. An egg laid due to a dragon’s effect must be placed on that dragon if possible. Each nested egg on your player mat is worth 1 VP at the end of the game.
Pay An Egg	Spend a nested egg from one of your dragons or from the two slots on the bottom left of your player mat.

Differences Of Wyrmspan Hatchlings:

Unique Cost: Pay one egg and at least one milk resource (check the top left of the card for the exact requirements).
Three-Row Ability:
- First Row (“If Activated”): Triggers when your adventurer passes over the hatchling during the Explore action, typically requiring you to cache a resource or tuck a card.
- Second Row: Triggers when you cache a resource on or tuck a card underneath the hatchling (can be triggered by your adventurer or another dragon’s effect).
- Third Row: Provides a one-time bonus when you place the indicated third resource or third tucked card on the hatchling. This also triggers the second-row effect. This bonus can only be claimed once per hatchling.
Preferred Habitat: Most hatchlings prefer the Amethyst Abyss.

Explore Action:

Purpose: Move your adventurer through a chosen habitat row to trigger “If Activated” effects and potentially advance on the Dragon Guild board.
Choose Habitat: Select one of the three rows (Crimson Cavern, Golden Grotto, or Amethyst Abyss).
Pay Explore Cost: Pay the increasing cost for exploring the chosen habitat, placing the paid coins and eggs on the matching symbols to the left of the habitat entrance on your player mat:
- First Time: One coin.
- Second Time: One coin + One egg.
- Third Time: One coin + Two eggs.
- You cannot explore the same habitat more than three times per round.
Adventurer Movement: Place your adventurer at the far left of the chosen habitat. Move it from left to right along the path.
Triggering Effects: Each time your adventurer reaches an “If Activated” icon (on your player mat or a dragon), resolve the effect before continuing movement.
Ending Your Turn: Your turn ends when your adventurer reaches a stop icon (an empty space without a dragon).
Return to Base Camp: Place your adventurer back in the “Base Camp” area on the left of your player mat.

Additional Wyrmspan Rules:

Rule	Description
Ability Benefits Order	If an ability benefits all players, the active player resolves their benefit first, followed by the other players in clockwise order. If there are limited resources (e.g., from the market), later players might miss out.
Item Placement	Acquired dragon and cave cards go into your hand. Resource tokens go into your personal supply. If an effect allows you to acquire and then cache/tuck, but you choose not to, the item remains in your hand/supply.
Multiple Actions/Exchanges	Abilities allowing multiple actions or exchanges must be resolved one at a time, completing each before starting the next.
End of Turn Discarding	At the end of your turn, you must discard down to a maximum of nine total items (dragon cards, cave cards, resources, and coins). If you gain items at the end of another player’s turn, you don’t discard until the end of your next turn.
Refreshing the Display	The dragon and cave cards in the market (Card Display board) are discarded and replaced with new face-up cards from their respective decks at the end of each round.
Gaining Cards/Dragons	If an effect allows you to “gain” a dragon or card, you can choose to take either one of the face-up cards from the market or the top card from the corresponding deck.
Taking Cards from Display	If an effect specifically says to “take” a card from the display, you must choose one of the face-up cards. You cannot draw from the top of the deck in this case.
Drawing Cards	If an effect says to “draw” a card, you must take the top card from the corresponding deck. You cannot take a card from the display in this case.
Revealing Cards	If an effect says to “reveal” a card, show the top card of the specified deck to all players.
Don’t Check Tucked Cards	Effects that check your dragons or cave cards never include tucked cards.
“Dragon” Word	A card is considered a dragon card even if the word “dragon” is not in its name (this includes hatchlings).
Eggs & Coins Not Resources	Eggs and coins are not considered “resources.” The resources are Milk, Gold, Crystal, and Meat.
Resource Conversion	At any point, you can exchange any two of your resource tokens for one resource token of your choice (indicated by the symbols at the bottom left of your player board).

Wyrmspan Dragon Guild:

The Dragon Guild board header has a dragon head on a shield icon.
You advance on the Dragon Guild track and gain benefits whenever you trigger this icon during the Explore action or through card effects.
For each triggered icon, move your shield-shaped guild token one space clockwise on the track and gain the benefit of the space you land on (you also gain the benefits of any spaces passed over). Multiple guild tokens can occupy the same space.
Placing Player Markers: Each time you reach a brown area above or below the main Dragon Guild track (after the initial start), you must place one of your cube markers on an empty spot on the central Dragon Guild tile within that brown area. Then, apply the effect to the right of the spot where you placed your marker.
Each spot on the Dragon Guild tile holds one player marker, except for the bottom-right spot which has unlimited capacity.
Each player can place a maximum of four markers on the Dragon Guild tile. Even after placing all four, you continue to advance on the track but can no longer place markers.

End Of Turn, End Of Round, And Start Of Round:

End of Your Turn: After taking an Entice, Explore, or Excavate action, your turn ends. Discard down to a maximum of nine total cards (dragon + cave), coins, and resources. The next player clockwise takes their turn.
End of a Round (When all players have passed):
1. Return all coins and eggs used to pay for actions during the round back to the public supply.
2. Activate the “Once Per Round” abilities of all your dragons in any order you choose.
3. Score the round objective: Based on player ranking for the objective, place your cube marker on the corresponding VP section beneath the objective on the Round Tracker. Ties for first place both use the first-place spot. Players with zero qualifying items place their marker in the 0 VP section.
Start of the Next Round:
1. Move the round marker one space to the right on the Wyrmspan Round Tracker.
2. Discard all remaining face-up dragon and cave cards from the Card Display and replace them with new ones from their respective decks.
3. Each player gains six coins and one egg (if they have an empty nest slot on their player mat or a dragon).
4. The start player marker passes to the next player in clockwise order.

Game End And Scoring:

At the end of the fourth round, calculate your final score by adding up the Victory Points from the following:

Dragon Guild Tile: Total VP gained from the effects of the spaces your guild token reached.
Dragons on Player Mat: The printed VP value of all dragons on your player mat (not in hand or tucked).
End Game Abilities: VP from any “End Game” abilities on your dragons.
Nested Eggs: One VP for each nested egg on your dragons and in the bottom-left slots of your player mat.
Cached Resources: One VP for each resource cached on your dragons.
Tucked Cards: One VP for each card tucked underneath your dragons.
Public Objectives: The VP value indicated by your cube markers placed on the Round Tracker’s objective sections.
Excess Items: One VP for each remaining coin. For other items (dragons, cave cards, resources), every four items (rounded down) are worth one VP.

Winner and Tie-Breaker:

The player with the most total Victory Points wins. In case of a tie:

The player with the most dragons on their player mat wins.
If still tied, the player with the most nested eggs wins.
If still tied, both players are considered winners.

By blending resource management, strategic summoning, and tactical spellcasting, Wyrmspan offers a deep and engaging experience. Whether you’re a fan of Wingspan or new to strategy games, Wyrmspan will keep you on your toes as you build a powerful dragonlord empire.