On your turn in Go Cuckoo!, you will take one standing stick and put it on the nest. If both ends of the stick have the same color, you may choose to lay an egg on it. Otherwise, you will take another stick whose top color is the same as the hiding color of the previous one, up to three sticks. After laying an egg or placing the third stick with different colors, your turn ends. There are penalties for a stick touching the ground or eggs falling out from the nest.

The first person to lay all of their eggs can then put the cuckoo on the nest and wins.