Wingspan is a light-hearted game all about managing food and resources to collect birds to your wildlife sanctuary!
Wingspan is a game all about bird collection, but there are other options if birds are not the desired theme; there is also a variation for fish and dragons. While there are quite a few components, Wingspan is a relatively straightforward game with friendly competition instead of a cutthroat one.
I appreciate the information on the bottom of each bird card. They identify which country the bird is located in as well as an interesting fact about each bird. As the game is called Wingspan, each card also shows the wingspan of the birds. Birds have a range that their wingspan falls into, and the game does choose its wingspan volume for each card.
The goal of the game is to get the most points. Birds in your tableau or wildlife preserves will be the main source of points. Not all birds are worth the same number of points. Birds of higher value are more difficult to get and require more resources to get them into your wildlife preserve.
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This is a general overview to provide context for the review, not an in-depth how-to play. Some rules may be glossed over or missing.
Game Flow
The game works in rounds. During the round, each player will have a set number of turns. The number of turns reduces each round until four rounds have been completed. (There are 8 turns for the first round, 7 for the second, 6 for the third, and 5 for the fourth)
SetUp
There are a few steps involved when it comes to setting up Wingspan. Each player has their own area, and there is also a center section that needs to be accessible by all players.
In the center, there are various globally used components. The deck of bird cards is the core of the shared component area. Three cards from the deck should be placed face up in front of the players. These cards are effectively a market. Piles for the food tokens, eggs, dice, and bonus cards should be in the center as well. There is a dice tower for the dice as well. Is it needed? No. Does it help? Yes, for reasons I will get into later. The goal board should also be in the center to be visible for all players.
Each player will have their own board (or wildlife preserve), 8 action cubes, 2 random bonus cards, 5 random bird cards, and a food token of each type (5 in total). Players will have to pick birds to keep or let go. For each bird card kept, a food token (of a type) must be discarded. Keeping all 5 cards means no food tokens; keeping 1 card means keeping 4 tokens. Players will also have to choose one of the two bonus cards to keep.
Player Turns
During a turn, a player will choose one of four actions: play a bird, gain food, lay eggs, or draw cards. The player will place the action cube on the section of their player board to indicate which action they are taking. For the three rows that take cards, the action taken should be the leftmost visible section.
The top of the board represents playing a bird card from your hand. The cost of each card is in the top left corner. That area will also indicate which of the three rows that cards can be played in. In addition to the cost on the top of the card, each column will have its own cost. The cost gets more expensive as more birds are placed in a row.
The next area is the forest. Activating this section will allow a player to gain food from the central area. This is where the food dice come in. The only food available is shown on the active dice. If a die is chosen, it is moved to be inactive. The player will take the food token associated with the die chosen. Players will only get one food token per die.
The second is the grasslands. This will allow players to take eggs from the global resources and place them on bird cards within a player’s tableau. Each bird card has an egg limit. This egg limit on bird cards will be the egg limit that players can get from this action.
The last section is the wetlands. This allows players to draw bird cards from the center market. There is no hand limit, so players don’t have to worry about drawing more and more bird cards.
Concept: Activating Bird Cards
The birds in each of the rows of the forest, grasslands, and wetlands will also affect the actions. Some birds have powers that start with “when activated” and a brown background. When an action is taken in the row, bird cards within the same row that have this when activated powers will also trigger. The bird on the rightmost will activate first and move left.
End of Round Goals
At the end of each round, players will score the goal identified for the round. Each player will place an action cube on the goal board based on their rank order. This is how the actions per round continuously reduce.
End Game
The game ends at the end of the fourth round. Final scores will be the combination of points on bird cards on the player tableau, points for bonus cards, points for the end-of-round goals, and points for components (eggs, food tokens, and tucked cards).
Who Will Like IT?
Wingspan is a very calm game but does have some good complexity. This is a great game for players who want to have a chill game night. There is little player-to-player interaction, which makes it a good game for gamers who don’t want aggression. I think this game also has a good balance of complexity.
What I Think
What Did I Like?
I am a collection addict, so giving me a game about collecting is always going to be appealing to me. The balance of resources is also quite interesting since players are at the mercy of the dice and the cards. Being able to find a way to work with the chaos of randomness is something I find very appealing.
What Didn’t I Like?
The bird market is something I struggle with. There is no way to really plan on drawing cards, as the three-card market is dynamic and quick to change. And if the three cards end up not working for any of the players, then players are just drawing blind. Cards are supposed to be a random but controlled resource, but they can feel fully random sometimes.
My Take
Wingspan is a light-hearted game that is perfect for a relaxed game night. It does have some complexity, which puts Wingspan above a beginner game or something for a more casual game night.
Other BReakdowns
How was the rulebook / learning the game?
The rulebook for Wingspan is well laid out, allowing for easy learning. There is an overview for the game up front, general structure, and the endgame scoring. Starting with how to win before getting into the more in-depth details of the game.
The layout of the rulebook is well thought out, and the visual examples help in explaining the game details. There are some random images (like a pencil) that don’t necessarily fit the rulebook in my opinion, but that’s neither here nor there. One thing I do appreciate is the links and places to go on the internet for more live help.
MCG Rating
6/10
While I do love light-hearted collection games, there are some other collection games that I would probably choose before Wingspan. I also like a bit more conflict than Wingspan has to offer.
*See my rating scale Here
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