This card game is meant to be fun, educational and support bird conservation!

House rules are encouraged. The point is to have fun and learn about seabirds. If you have ideas for improving the rules, please try them and let us know!

Objective 

Play is similar to Go Fish (E Lele = Go Fly)  – ask other players for cards and make sets consisting of bird pairs (♀+♂)* in their nesting habitats, which are laid down in front of the player to create an ecosystem of bird colonies. Each habitat has a capacity to host a number of nesting pairs, each representing a thriving colony. Nesting pairs are worth points.

Each player can play Threats that block other players’ colonies, and Protections that counter the Threats on their own colonies.

* Mōlī (Laysan albatross) contain one ♀♀ pair.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 – 8 players

AGES: 8+*

CARDS: Custom deck with 123 cards + 3 reference cards

CATEGORY: Card Game, Educational, Animals: Birds, Ecology, Environmental

MECHANISM: Matching, Set Collection, Memory, Hand Management, Take That

AUDIENCE: Family, Educational

PLAY TIME: 45-90 minutes, with option to set time or turn limit for shorter game

(Note: see the solitaire, cooperative and concentration rules that can be played with 1-2 players, and Concentration with younger than 8)

A note on age: E Lele! is designed to scale with your players. Younger children (ages 4–7) can engage meaningfully with the cards through the Concentration-style memory game, building familiarity with Hawaiian seabirds and their habitats in a fun, accessible format. The simplified Go Fish version — Bird and Habitat cards only — offers a rich and engaging game experience for players ages 8 and up. The full game, including Threat and Protection cards, introduces ecological strategy and hand management that is best suited for ages 10 and up, or for younger players with adult guidance.

Card Types

Four types of cards:

●  72 BIRDS (36 Pairs) - 20 species with wahine (♀) and kane (♂) of each pair

●      23 HABITAT cards - 8 Habitat types with capacity from 2-4 nesting pairs

●      11 THREAT cards - 10 Threats (including duplicates)

●      17 PROTECTION cards  - 12 Protections (including duplicates)

●      3 REFERENCE cards  — habitat icons, threat icons, and Hawaiian language phrases for game play (not played as game cards)

The basic mechanics of Threat and Protection cards are described on the card faces. Translocation, Social Attraction, Sea Level Rise, and Carbon Reduction have special mechanics not fully covered on this page — review Card Types before playing for full descriptions of these cards and more details on each card type.

Note: The Sea Level Rise threat card can dramatically affect the game when it’s played, so you may consider removing it and the Carbon Reduction protection card from the deck, especially if you’re just learning the game.

Dealing

Before dealing, sort the deck into two piles, Bird and Habitat cards in one pile, and Threat and Protection cards in another pile.

Shuffle each pile, and deal each player 8 Bird/Habitat cards.

(If you have a smaller group, like 3 or 4 players, you may consider dealing each player 9 Bird/Habitat cards to start the game.)

Make two face-down draw piles, one with Bird/Habitat cards, and one with Threat/Protection cards.

(A discard pile will be made when Protection cards are used to remove Threat cards.)

Turn play

Turn starts to the left of the dealer.

Beginning the game

💡Tip: Organize your cards to have matching types of cards together i.e. habitats, birds, threats and protections grouped together. Organize your birds alphabetically, or by value. 

Before turn play begins, any matching set any player is dealt (one female and one male of the same species with a nesting habitat) can be immediately laid down on the table in front of the player in their ‘bird environment.’

Rules to note for later

No Bird Cards - Draw 2 Cards 

• If at any point during their turn (including at the start of a turn), a player has no bird cards in their hand—either from laying down their last bird pair or having their last bird taken by another player—they draw two cards from the Bird/Habitat pile. If no bird cards are drawn, they keep drawing one card at a time until they get a bird card. This way, each player always has at least one bird card in their hand during their turn.

Pass and Draw 2

• Once per game, each player, instead of asking for a card, may pass (“hala”) and draw two cards, from either draw pile. They may still lay down cards, or play threats or protections, during their turn. 

Asking for a card

Each player starts their turn by asking any other player for a Bird, Habitat or Protection card. (Threat cards may not be asked for.)

Ask for a Bird card, “He inoa manu kāu?” Do you have a bird name?

○  In order to ask for a Bird Card, the asker must have at least one of those Bird cards in their hand. Ask for the species, but not the gender.

○  If the player being asked has the card asked for, they hand over all the birds of that species that they have in their hand.

Ask for a Habitat Card, “He ʻano noho kāu?”

○  The asker must have a pair of birds that can nest in the habitat asked for.

○  The player being asked hands over ONLY ONE of that card, even if they have multiple. They can hand over the one with the lowest capacity.

○  Asker must play the Habitat when they get it.

Ask for a Protection Card, “He type of protection kāu?”

○  The asker must have a Threat played against its colonies that can be removed by the Protection Card.

○  The person being asked hands over ONLY ONE of that card.

○  Protection cards may only be requested when you have the corresponding Threat against your colonies — this prevents Protection cards from being asked for repeatedly without being played.

●  If the player being asked doesn’t have the card, they say “E Lele!” (Go Fly!), and the asker draws one card from each pile (Birds/Habitats and Threats/Protections). Once the Threats/Protections pile is exhausted, draw only from the Birds/Habitats pile.

●  If the player asking draws the card they ask for, they can show the card and their turn continues.

●  If the player doesn’t draw the card they asked for, the ask ends and they proceed to laying down cards.

Laying down cards

The player can take multiple actions of laying down cards.

Note: Cards may be laid down at any point during your turn.

1. Lay down a Habitat card with a nesting pair (♀+♂) side by side on top of the habitat, so the top section of the Habitat card with the type and capacity visible. (Make sure the sex of both birds are visible so players can make sure it is a pair.)

○  Subsequent Bird pairs can be laid down on the habitat up to its capacity.

2. Lay down Threat cards on other players’ cards. Lay Threat cards across a Bird pair for Bird pair level threats, and across a Habitat for Habitat level threats.

3. Lay down Protection cards on your own habitats, to prevent or remove Threat cards or protect Habitats.

Important: If a player has a bird pair that can be played with a matching Habitat—in their hand or on the table—they must lay them down. (No holding onto high-point birds to avoid threats.)

Laying down Threat and Protection cards is optional. i.e. If you want to hold onto a card to play it strategically.

💡Tip: To increase the educational value of the game, each player reads the factoid on their bird cards when they lay them down.

End of Turn

Once done asking and laying down cards, say “Ua pau” and the turn moves to the next player.

End of Game

Once the Bird/Habitat pile is exhausted, the game ends at the close of the turn in which the active player has no Bird cards remaining in their hand — either by playing their last Bird card, or because their last Bird card was taken by another player on a previous turn.

Note: It is possible—especially if Sea Level Rise has been played—that Bird pairs in players’ hands have no suitable Habitat available on the table. If that appears to be the case, count the Habitats that have been played to confirm no additional pairs can be placed. If none can, then the game is over.

Final Protection Round

Before scoring, each player may play any Protection cards remaining in their hand. Threats and Protections are resolved normally before scoring begins.

Alternative ending: If time is limited, the game may be ended after a set period of time or number of turns, or just when all players agree to end the game, with a full final round so all players get the same number of turns. The Final Protection Round still applies. 

Winner

At the end of the game, each player counts up the total point value of all the Bird cards they have laid down that are not canceled by Threats. (Each bird is worth points, so a pair of 3-point birds is worth 6 points.) The winner is the player with the most points.

A tie–with two or more winners– is possible.