Wingspan

^{review by Luka}

The setup was a bit daunting and learning the rules took some time, but the swift start guides really helped speed up the process of reading rules to playing as a new player. The swift start guides layout out a step-by-step game plan.

Once I got the hang of the game, the complexity offered by the card variety really began to shine. The game is all about using resources to play bird cards and create an engine to generate even more resources for more birds and points for the end of the game. The bird cards themselves all offer different, unique abilities and the “bonus cards” push you towards different and new strategies to maximize points. These two game systems come together in a way that creates game depth and complexity in an elegant manner.

The game also offers something for a variety of players, featuring two different versions to play and score at the end of a round: one is more competitive, rewarding players who do the best in a scoring category, and the other is more friendly for casual players and beginners, rewarding players for simply performing the desired goals. There is also a shorter version for single player.

Lastly, I want to point out the aesthetics: the game is beautifully drawn with detailed drawings for each bird, giving this game an air of luxury and quality. The tokens themselves are very fun to handle as well, especially the egg tokens which are very tactile. They all support the ludo-narrative of being a naturalist attracting birds to your preserve.

I would recommend this game to families with preteens or teens who want to try something a bit more complex for game night, anyone who wants to begin delving into longer format board games, and for any bird enthusiast!

Wingspan is now available through our webstore.