Wingspan (no, not that kind... exactly) the Game

Besides flight simulation, some of us like games--boardgames even. This one has been around a couple of years and the buzz was so good I finally picked it up at Target when I was with my wife. You don't have to like birds, but with 170 beautifully illustrated bird cards, and extremely high production values, it's hard to imagine anyone not enjoying it. It's not your typical cut-throat competitive game, and a bit hard to describe. There is very little player interaction, for one thing. You can game what's in the old bird feeder a bit, and your bird's power might be triggered by the action of another player, but that's about it. The mechanics are "engine building," which means you're choosing one action per round to get birds, place birds, hunt for food or lay eggs in various environments. Each player even has his own board, or "tableau." Every bird has a value for scoring, but also a "special power" which is actually related to the species. For example, birds of prey can draw another bird from the deck and if its wingspan is small enough, eat it! A similar mechanic is that small flocking birds can tuck other birds behind them to represent numbers, and so many different things go into scoring it's hard to say who's really ahead until the final tally at the end. It's nice to play a game where you don't feel hopelessly behind early. (Love King of Tokyo, but you can be on the sidelines watching other players have fun real fast.) What's cool is you learn a little bit about the birds, and they bear some relation to their real feathered counterparts. Plenty of space for strategy, but it has a very relaxed feel to it, since you're more focused on getting some synergy going, meeting different public and individual goals that vary from game to game, and / or just collecting birds you like. It's the rare game my wife and I can equally enjoy. There are lots of YouTube reviews and playthroughs if you're interested, and lots of stuff at Boardgame Geek. It's a game, a work of art, and while not really simple to learn (none of the usual mechanics). It's not a "gateway game" for the uninitiated but it's not hard once you get your head wrapped around it and it moves fast. The new edition has (cleverly named) SWIFT rules that walk you through programmed instructions. For 2-5 players. Highly recommended. Anybody else tried this?

Edited July 19, 20223 yr by Tim_Capps