Tabletop games
Wyrmspan
MatagotConnie Vogelmann2024
- players
- 1–5
- minutes
- 90
- years
- 14+
In the box
Wyrmspan box
Official rules (publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Connie Vogelmann
- Artwork
- Clémentine Campardou
- Publisher
- Matagot
- Mechanics
- Hand ManagementOnce-Per-Game AbilitiesOpen DraftingSolo PlayTrack Movement
- Expansions
- Wyrmspan: L'Académie des Dragons · 2026
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
Affiliate link: Marquoir may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
The basics
Each player excavates the caves of their sanctuary, entices dragons into them and chains their abilities. On your turn, pay at least one coin for an action: excavate a cave, entice a dragon by paying its cost, or explore a cave to trigger the abilities of the dragons you pass; you keep playing until you decide to pass. After four rounds, Guild, dragons, objectives, eggs, cached resources and coins make the total, and the highest wins.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
3 caves, 6 coins, 1 egg, 4 cards kept
- Each player receives a player mat with three caves: the Crimson Cavern, the Golden Grotto and the Amethyst Abyss. Only the leftmost space of each cave starts excavated.
- In the centre: the Dragon Guild board (with one Guild tile drawn at random), the card display board (three dragons and three cave cards face up), the round tracker board with four objective tiles drawn at random, one per round, and the supply of resources, eggs and coins.
- Resources come in four kinds: meat, gold, crystal and milk.
- Each player takes the pieces in their colour, 6 coins and 1 egg.
- They draw 3 dragon cards and 3 cave cards, keep 4 of them in total (split as they wish) and discard the other 2.
- Finally they choose 3 starting resources, in any combination. The start player is chosen at random.
How to play
4 rounds, 1 coin per action, Play until you pass
- The game lasts **four rounds**. Players take one turn at a time, clockwise, until they decide to pass; once you have passed, you take no more turns that round.
- Every action costs at least 1 coin, placed on the action space of your mat.
- **Excavate**: play a cave card on the leftmost empty space of a cave. The 3rd column also costs 1 egg, the 4th 2 eggs.
- **Entice a dragon**: pay the card's cost (mostly gold, crystal and meat, sometimes milk, an egg or a coin), place it from left to right on an excavated space of a cave that suits it, then apply its "when played" effect.
- **Explore** a cave: your adventurer walks through it from left to right and triggers every "if activated" ability it passes, until it reaches the first space without a dragon, which ends the turn; Guild spaces move your token along the Dragon Guild track. Exploring the same cave again in the same round costs one or two extra eggs (three visits at most).
- At any time, you may exchange 2 resources for 1 resource of another kind.
- At the end of your turn, you keep no more than 9 coins, 9 cards and 9 resources.
- Once everyone has passed, the round ends: the coins and eggs paid on the mats are discarded, "once per round" abilities trigger, then each player places a marker on the round tracker according to their ranking for that round's objective.
- At the start of the next round, the card display is refreshed, everyone gains 6 coins and 1 egg, and the start player marker moves one player clockwise.
Scoring
Guild and dragons, 1 point per egg, 1 point per coin
- The counter adds up the final scoring, category by category.
- Points from the markers placed on the Dragon Guild.
- Printed points of the dragons visible on your mat (not in hand, not tucked), then their end-game abilities.
- Points from the markers placed on the round tracker over the four rounds.
- 1 point per egg, per resource cached on a dragon and per card tucked under a dragon, unless stated otherwise.
- 1 point per coin left.
- 1 point per complete group of four other items left (resources, dragon cards and cave cards in hand), rounded down.
End of the game
After the 4th round, Highest total, Tie: most dragons
- The game ends **at the end of the fourth round**.
- Add up all the categories above.
- The highest total wins. In a tie, the player with the most visible dragons on their mat wins; otherwise the victory is shared.
House rules and pitfalls
Wyrmspan is the dragon cousin of Wingspan: the engine of abilities is similar…
- Wyrmspan is the dragon cousin of Wingspan: the engine of abilities is similar, but excavating your caves adds space management all of its own.
- Many points hide in the small "1 point" items: do not overlook eggs, cached resources, tucked cards and coins at final scoring.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · Rules on video · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds does a game last?
Four. Each round is played until every player has passed, then the round's objective is scored.
How is it different from Wingspan?
The heart is still a card engine that you trigger by walking along a row, but Wyrmspan first asks you to excavate your caves to make room for dragons: managing your mat plays a bigger part.
What does a tucked card score?
1 point each at final scoring, unless a card says otherwise.
How do the objectives score?
At the end of each round, players are ranked on the current objective and place a marker on the matching space of the round tracker. Ties are friendly: tied players all mark the same space. The points of these markers are added at final scoring.
What does "group of four items" mean?
Leaving coins aside, add up what is left at the end of the game: resources not cached, dragon cards and cave cards in hand. Each complete group of four scores 1 point, rounded down. Coins, for their part, score 1 point each.
Rules on video
Videos in French, hosted on YouTube.