Skybirds 2-4 players fight for dominance in the skies of the Great War (World War I). Aerial combat is simulated by –and this is a little weird but work with us– winning rounds of a ladder-climbing card game. If only real war could be so civilized!
Hello, everyone. the Skybirds game was inspired by a gift from my father. When I was a boy, I was somewhat obsessed with WWI aviation. My father has always been a collector of trading cards -- mostly sports cards, but also the many other quirky things sold with bubblegum across the 20th century. He has been slowly curating the best of the best of his collection and selling off the rest and asked me whether I wanted him to keep his nearly complete set of Sky Birds (two words) collectable cards from 1933 and 1934. Did I ever!!
Roland Garros from the original 1933 Sky Birds trading cards
He sent me a binder full of them and I went out and grabbed the 5 missing items to complete the set. And then I realized the artwork was a great trigger for a campaign-style climbing/shedding game I'd been thinking of. Since the best way to win a WWI dogfight was to attack from above, it seems the perfect fit for a climbing game.
The idea of the game springs from the classic shedding game of Zhēng Shàngyóu, which has morphed and changed as it spread across the globe to become the game President/Bastille (also "Scum" or "Asshole") and a host of other names (Richard Garfield turned it into The Great Dalmuti, which I finally played for the first time in August 2026, but which I pretty much already knew by heart because it is riffing on the same game as Skybirds).
However, unlike all of these other takes on the concept, which employ a "rich get richer" mechanism (where the poor performers give their best cards to the successful ones), in Skybirds that has been converted into special ability tokens that players earn (and can spend/lose) over the course of a multi-hand campaign.
And voila, the story of Skybirds (one word)!
Sky Birds cards versus their Skybirds equivalents
I am printing 50 to 100 copies of the game. The print run will happen regardless of this campaign and the product will be ready by November 1, 2026 (inshallah!!!). The more people who sign up for a copy, the more likely I'll print 100 copies. The fewer? Then only 50. Heck, if enough people sign up, maybe I'll print, gasp, 200!
One of the four "Aerodrome" progression mats showing the path from starting tokens (far left) to Armistice token (far right)
Even if no one backs this kickstarter, I will be producing 50 copies of the game, and making them available for sale at the Night Market at San Diego HistCon, the first weekend of November.
Thus I can, with a very high probability, ensure that product will be ready to ship on or around Halloween (Oct 31) 2026. If I have time to ship before the Night Market, I will. Else I will ship in the second week of November 2026.
Shipping within the continental US will cost around $20 (including the box and tape and dealing with the annoying guy at my local UPS). That will be included in the Backerkit price you'll pay when you go into the Pledge Manager, but if you are outside the continental US, I will price the shipping exactly and ask for the additional amount before I ship. If it's too expensive, I'll happily refund your purchase, but overseas shipping KILLED me on my past crowdfunding, so I have to be a little vague on overseas shipping charges.
