Discover many species of birds in your wildlife preserve!
It’s time to return to another well-loved board game giant: Stonemeier Games. With many of their games nominated for Board Game Geek awards, Wingspan won the Game of the Year in 2019 (not to mention the myriad of other awards the same year).
Wingspan blends nature and strategy beautifully with artwork, education, and various game mechanics we all have grown to enjoy. Rather than focusing on just one mechanic that some audiences might dislike, Wingspan gives all players a taste of many mechanics and lets them strategize in the format they enjoy the most.
Players are bird enthusiasts seeking to attract various birds into their natural habitats to study and photograph them. As ornithologists, you aim to gather food to draw birds into your preserve, watch populations grow as they lay their eggs, and study as many unique varieties as possible. Whichever player has the most points at the end of the game wins!
Mechanics: Card, Resource management, Dice rolling, Educational
ART: 10/10
I don’t think anyone could provide an argument why this artwork is not a complete ten. The style contains realistic paintings of hundreds of bird species that you would expect to find in a textbook. Each bird is exceptionally detailed, from their colors and anatomy down to the textured wisps of their feathers.
The background of the player habitat board is a relaxing, ambient setting with calm waters, fields of golden grass, and a luscious forest. The brush strokes give off this serene essence along with vibrant colors that are easy on the eyes. The player board also collapses like a leather journal, bound by thread, with water splotches that have covered the surface from up–close encounters studying the birds.
Even the birdhouse dice tower and the backs of the cards are beautiful. The color choices for the eggs, the color and artwork for the food resource tokens, everything was taken into account to create a realistic world full of the world’s wildest birds.
STORYTELLING: 7/10
Is there a fictional story? No, but this game is entirely non-fiction and eloquently displayed through card details and habitat. As mentioned above, players are using journals to research birds around the globe. You are constantly learning about new species and their appetite, global location, size, natural habitat, and even how they nest!
Storytelling doesn’t just mean creating a fantasy world and playing a part in it. A player can learn so much from every card in this game, and that is a story in itself. If you want to get creative, you can tell a fictional account of how your bird arrived in your habitat!
COMPONENTS: 9/10
One of the first things I notice is that the cards are synthetic and more durable than most cards in other games. They stand up to shuffling much longer than others, but given this game is so beautiful, it might be worth sleeving up in a perfect-fit type sleeve so they can still fit into the (also beautiful) card tray.
The card tray is soft blue, with the lid doubling as a center row for bird cards. The tray's base has engravings that match the card backs of the bonus cards and the bird cards.
Don’t get me started on the eggs. These things are the absolute best part of the game, in my opinion. You don’t use them often, but they are hard plastic in the shape of an egg but with a flat base so they can stand up on your bird cards. The colors are unique, unlike any other game I have seen.
Also, the dice tower. It is literally a birdhouse with soft, wooden dice with screen-printed resource iconography on them. It feels like you are filling out the bird feeder to attract all the different bird types to your house. A fantastic touch and user experience detail that makes this game better than many others. Who wants to roll on a table when you have a fancy dice tower!?
It’s tough not to give this a full score, but I have some ideas from other games I have played to make this one even better. If the journals were playmats, that could be a nice touch or a cool way to scroll them up like an adventurer might. There could have been an option for a birdhouse dice tower made out of thin wood (just like you can purchase separately for Everdell) since after a few plays the cutouts to slide pieces together get damaged. One quick Google search and you have hundreds of dice towers for Wingspan you can purchase at a low price.
COMPLEXITY: 4/10
Let’s put it this way. I hadn’t played this game in a long time; I looked at the player board and already vaguely remembered how the game worked. Took a quick glance at the simplified rules and was good to go in a matter of minutes. A few tiny details can be relevant to strategic planning, but like any game, you just have to remember those rules.
There are only four things you can do: play a bird, gather food, lay eggs, or draw bird cards. The rest of the gameplay is written on each bird card, and the abilities are clearly explained. While there may be some synergies and engines to build between bird cards, Wingspan is far less focused on that and more on optimizing how to get the most bonus points in any given round.
There are two modes for gaining bonus points: compete for the most or score additional points for each. Having the ability to configure how you want to play can ease up some complexity for newer players.
Wingspan is another game with many different components, looks overly daunting, and has a hefty rulebook, but the rules are straightforward. More than half the rule book is clarifications on the hundreds of birds in the game rather than explaining the game itself! This game can be classified as a gateway game; that’s how straightforward it is.
TRAVEL-FRIENDLY: 2/10
I wouldn’t fly with this game. A road trip, sure, if my friends or family were into it or if it was my favorite game. The box is a good size, but the components and table space required make you think before bringing this along.
For two players, you might be able to squeeze on a coffee table, but any other player counts, I wouldn’t bet on it. There are also a lot of resource tokens with the potential to get lost. So if you are prone to that, keep this masterpiece at home.
UNIQUENESS: 4/10
This game is not unique regarding gameplay. There are so many games out there with cards that require resources to play them. Then those cards help you draw other cards or earn resources to continue playing other cards. Rolling dice to gain resources is also found in other games as well.
The price you pay for including a variety of mechanics in a game is that you end up being a combination of “x” other games. I’ve said it before, but just because its gameplay is not unique doesn’t make it a bad game.
This game is unique because it strives to teach its players a little bit about ornithology by captivating audiences with its breathtaking artistry. I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of any game solely about birds.
Innovation:
This game took user experience and education to the next level. Most often, we think of educational games as children’s games. Just stop and think for a moment: what was the last game you played that you learned something about the world?
Of course, there are some games out there with minor tidbits to learn. Wingspan, however, finds an aesthetically pleasing way to introduce the intricacies of birds to those who otherwise wouldn’t care to look up a fact about a bird in their life.
The other innovation was including a dice tower in the base version of their game. It was worth it for the developers to spend the extra component cost for the sake of their customers. There is a reason it won Game of the Year when it came out.
Final Comments
I have so many amazing things to say about this game. However, this is not my favorite game at all. I honestly don’t get the insane hype about this game. It’s wild to me how many people go berserk talking about Wingspan.
Overall it is a great game, but the gameplay isn’t overly invigorating for me. Without that stronger layer of engine building between birds, I prefer Everdell, since I enjoy woodland critters more than birds. But to each their own.
Don’t get me wrong; I am a sucker for artistic games, and this game nails that category. The level of detail is astounding to me. I enjoy playing it, but it feels more relaxing and simple than the games I often go for.
If your affinity for a theme doesn’t affect you when playing games, then I think you will enjoy this game. It is a great family game and an excellent choice for friends you feel are ready to take on a bit more of a challenge!
For no other reason, having this game in your collection for artwork alone is a totally fair judgment. It won Game of the Year for a reason, so it’s a safe bet to have it on hand. It’s a fun game to play no matter what, and maybe it will become a staple in your household!
Similar To: Everdell, Seasons, Terraforming Mars
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Publisher: Stonemaier Games
Artist(s): Ana María Martínez Jaramillo & Natalia Rojas
Game(s) Pictured: Wingspan + European Expansion
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