Pauly the Potoo bird has fallen out of his nest! Slightly dizzy, Pauly regains consciousness on the floor, surrounded by masses of shimmering feathers. In Featherlight, you help Pauly put his collection of feathers back in order, ideally scoring more for your assistance than anyone else.

In more detail, each feather card in your hand can earn you points, based on what's in your hand, and which feathers are in the nest at game's end. Each feather color has similar scoring conditions, with slight variations from feather to feather. Some may want feather sets, while some may want odd or even numbers of feathers of a certain color. The more complex the card is to score, the more points you can earn.

During the game, you swap cards to affect both your hand and the central nest, perhaps taking a card an opponent wants, perhaps bluffing desire for a card so that someone else takes it, thereby revealing what you actually wanted. The game ends as soon as the last card is drawn from one of the two draw piles, with players competing in either a single game or a three-game "Pauly's Feather Tournament" as desired.