Stonemaier Games: Wingspan (Base Game) by Elizabeth Hargrave | A Relaxing, Award-Winning Strategy Board Game About Collecting Birds for Adults and Family | 1-5 Players, 70 Mins

Background: I've played a ton of board/card games in my life, enough to call myself a board game enthusiast. First of all let me say that this game is beautiful. Everything from the gorgeous bird artwork on the cards to the box itself is stunning. If you're like me, you'll probably be gawking at at least some of the artwork when you play for the first time (and long after that too). Wingspan oozes theme. The board is made up of three different habitats that birds commonly live in, and you're placing birds in the specific habitat that they belong in. The actual bird cards themselves, while being beautiful, also have an interesting fact about the bird, along with their wingspan in cm. I'm definitely not a bird person, but this game really pulled me with the bird theme, and I love it. Every time I drew a new card I would say things like "Oooo would you just look at that bird!?" or "Damn, that's a nice bird right there", and would look forward to reading it's little factoid. Drawing a new bird was just as exciting as making a strategic move to gain an advantage. I won't go into the gameplay much (you can look up a how-to-play on YouTube for that), but I will say that literally every facet of it works, and exceptionally well at that. You only have a few things you can do each turn, so typically turns don't take too long, as long as you're planning ahead when others are playing. This is GOOD, as you won't be sitting for 10 minutes waiting for your next turn (at least once everyone has played once). You'll be drawing birds, playing birds on your habitats, collecting resources, and laying eggs. Your birds have effects that can be triggered in future turns, doing cool things like getting free eggs or swallowing another bird for a victory point as long as it's wingspan is small enough to fit down your gullet. You can get a bit of an "engine" going later in the game, where you can trigger a ton of effects back to back, doing a bunch of awesome bird stuff at once. There is some player interaction with some of these effects, so it pays to pay attention when it's other players' turns! This is a "point salad" kind of game, meaning you have a ton of different ways to score victory points at the end of the game. It's great because you're always looking ahead at what you think will be the most efficient way to earn points at the end, and your options are going to be different each game depending on your starting birds or playstyle. There's also different universal goals and secret individual goals that you're working on that are different every game, which greatly adds to replicability. If you're secret goal one game is to play a bunch of birds with wingspans under 40cm, you'll probably be biased towards playing a bunch of tiny birds in your habitat, which effects differ greatly from most larger birds. I would say this game has a moderate learning curve. About halfway through your first game you'll start to get the feel for what you should be doing, and by the end you feel pretty good about it. It's really not too difficult to learn, but it definitely takes plenty of time and strategy to master. Quality of game pieces is exceptional. Even the game manual is made of a thick textured (vinyl?) material that feels amazing to flip through. Overall this bird game is well worth the money. If you enjoy board games and birds, you need to own this. If you enjoy board games and don't care about birds, you should still probably own this, it's just that good. PS If you do end up enjoying this game, I would highly recommend "Parks" from Keymaster Games (a Barnes and Noble exclusive in the US). It's gameplay is different, but it has equally beautiful artwork/design and the strategies you'll employ are very similar to Wingspan.

Firstly, let's start with the physical aspects of the item. It's a well built board game, the pieces are all tactile and of great quality. The eggs especially are beautiful and fun to hold. Wingspan really is a gorgeous looking game, the art on the cards is truly stunning, and it's super educational with so many fun facts on many different species of birds. And the font size is reasonable enough for anyone with moderate vision to not have to squint deeply at the cards. Now, the more important question is, is it fun? By golly, yes it is! It is a good low-weight game (2-3 hour playthrough with decent pacing, single action turns) that incorporates some very interesting card play and clever engine building, coupled with a fascinating depleting action selection mechanic and multiple ways to score. If you love birds, you will like this game. If you enjoy hand management and simple tableau building, this game is perfect for you. And if you buy into any of the hype, this game has won multiple awards for good reason! Get ready to sit down for a few hours and throw yourself into the aviary world of Wingspan!

I was able to get a copy of this game around Black Friday in 2019 for a good price. Shortly after, from what I remember, it was either sold out or the price was heavily inflated. I tend to wait for games to be more than 40% before purchasing, but I just had this feeling that this game would be worth it. And I was right. REWIND: Ever since I was young I loved playing board games even though I was an only child and I spent hours playing Sorry!, Jumanji, chess, Chinese checkers, Monopoly, etc. all by myself (I would call it research now). And the year culminated at Christmastime when my cousins would all come together and we would play board games together. FAST FORWARD: I played more computer games as I got older and then games on iOS. I found Ticket to Ride or Scotland Yard on iOS and I thought those games were great! Little did I know there were PHYSICAL board games of these games, until my neighborhood friend said he played Ticket to Ride too and brought over the real copy and my mind was blown away. I started sneaking into the toy section at Target and found Pandemic. I acquired some expansions on Amazon and that's where I was for 7 years. I played other games in the mean time but I didn't care to own them, because my friends owned them. I moved out of the country and was busy with school. I graduated and came back and low and behold it was Black Friday! I had to do research for prices for Black Friday and I stumbled on Ars Technica that mentioned Wingspan. I didn't care for birds...but the box was pretty...and what? All the cards had different art on them? That's what sold me. FAST FORWARD again! And here we are 6 months later down a rabbit hole with 80+ games, several game groups (mostly online now due to social distancing), and family who are stuck at home and have no other choice but to play games with me :) I also enjoy birding now and recognize the local birds. A silver lining with Covid is that it is during the Spring so I am able to see multiple different bird species flying around in my suburban backyard which fuels my newfound birding hobby. Pros: 1. Wingspan is pretty to look at. Nothing ugly. Even the boring American crow starts to look pretty because it feeds the other birds in your bird "engine" - which is a combination of cards with birds on them that add on powers and help you on your way to victory. 2. Even if I lose, I don't mind it because I enjoyed playing. 3. It's fun to read the little info tidbit and learn something new on every single card. 4. Information is from reputable sources. 5. The game is pretty. 6. It is relaxing...and at the same time NOT because there are so many possible combinations that could happen your brain cog wheels are always spinning. Or at least mine are. 7. It has a solo mode. 8. There is a Swift-Start pack - which are separate instruction mats for players with instructions to help everyone as a group learn how to play the game. This is a helpful tool for people who have no idea what they're doing or you want to teach this game to other people. Cons: 1. This could potentially lead you to hobbies like board gaming or birding 2. If you're a completionist/OCD and you buy this game, know that you're in for at least 5 more expansions 3. If you love artsy craftsy stuff and find the fan-made things on Etsy...you might spend more money than what you thought you were going to spend 4. The bird feeder dice tower is a cool gimmick. I say gimmick, because I let my dumb 12-year-old cousin put it together and it was frayed before I even played the game for the first time. However, my husband bought me a proper bird house dicetower from Etsy...and after you have one of those, why would you ever go back to that cardboard thing? 5. The game tray. It's flimsy plastic...it looks nice...but when you start to plan on sleeving your cards (which I did after I had to hold back from saying anything while tearfully watching Frito fingers manhandle my cards) you end up spending a lot of time trying to figure out which sleeves to buy and if all the cards will fit in the tray...or do you buy a new tray...and the cycle continues. Apparently these cards are American standard card size, because there is a European standard card size. I got the cheapest Mayday sleeves which are also the thinnest, so all the cards still fit in the trays. BUT they feel so thin...and plasticky...They aren't like the NICE sleeves my husband got for Terraforming Mars. ROLL EYES. The cards from Terraforming Mars are wearing out though on the edges and the Wingspan cards are way nicer in quality. SO good luck to you if you choose this dark path toward pretty birds and board game nights. Seriously though, if you think you might like a pretty card game about pretty birds that isn't cartoony and has real information you can learn from, try out Wingspan!

This game well designed both from a gameplay perspective but also with how beautiful everything is. There is a dice tower included that you put together and it really brings me a lot of joy every time I look at it. The game may feel a bit complicated on first read through, it is pretty intuitive once you understand it which makes teaching new players fairly quick and painless, which is something I have definitely run into with some other games. As a fun little side note I have found that the game does really seem to help you learn about birds. Between all the illustrations and similar types of birds having similar effects some of it does stick with you. Somehow one of the wooden dice that came with the game went missing. I was able to reach out to Stonemaier and they sent me a replacement free of charge. Now my game is complete and looking beautiful again. Highly recommend Stonemaier as a company as they make great products and stand by them.

I've played this game online hundreds of times, I absolutely love it. Can't add much to the other five-star reviews, the physical game is beautiful and components are well-made. My only criticism of the gameplay is that it ends too soon! You lose a turn each round, so by the last round you've often just gotten your engine going. The beauty of the physical game is that you can house rule in an extra round at the end. If you need help learning the game, google "rodney smith watch it played wingspan" for an excellent intro. Don't give up on it if it seems confusing at first - there really are only four different moves you can make on your turn. Once you get to know the different bird cards, you'll figure out which ones work best together or to meet your bonus cards or EOR goals. Also, you will learn about birds as you play! This game is low on player interaction, but as an introvert I love sitting around a table with friends building up our bird habitats. It's also not a very competitive game, you're not out to thwart other players or block their moves, which I appreciate. 10/10 recommend!

The artwork on every piece in this game is truly remarkable. The level of detail in this is incredible and it’s obvious how much effort went into crafting this. The game is definitely complex and hard to pick up at first but their are game cards that walk you through the first few plays and it made it a lot easier to get started. The variety of birds to play with is super fun and as a birder, it has been a great addition to our family’s game collection. I like the ability to play multiple rounds and gives you the ability to modify how long you want to play for, could be a short game or long game depending on time. The wooden egg pieces feel great and overall quality of all the components is very well designed and crafted. I highly recommend this to birders, nature enthusiasts, or even just seasoned board game players.

It's like no other game I've played before, though I'm not an avid board game player. But it's very interesting and strategic.

I love Wingspan! This game has become the go-to for board game night and I definitely recommend adding it to your collection (or starting your collection with this game). Ideal for experienced board gamers and novices alike. Everyone will have something to like about this game ranging from beautiful art, in-depth engine building game design, or just learning about birds. Seriously, after playing this game a lot, I am finding I can identify more birds and recall names better. The construction of the player mats, cards, food tokens, egg tokens, and 3D birdhouse (!) are fantastic looking and high quality. The packaging comes with plenty of plastic bags and containers to hold and organize the tokens. Even the player manual is gorgeous to look at and has a delightful texture to hold. The artwork across all of the printed material has a pleasing watercolor brushed theme. The game is not very competitive in the sense of interacting with the other players - it tends to feel more like a mildly interactive game of solitaire with friendly competition to see who can rack up the most points. I found that even in games where I didn't win, I genuinely felt good about the gameplay and enjoyed trying to create an efficient point-generating flock of birds. The 40-60 minute gameplay keeps all players engaged throughout 4 rounds with a different randomized goal each round. Nobody is left out as the winner takes all here, everyone is still having fun laying eggs and playing bird cards each turn until the very end when all points are tallied up. There are enough changing elements built in to make you feel like you're playing a new type of game every time - the individual and group goals change and enough cards are shuffled to give you a fresh experience every time. After 20+ playthroughs with my board game group, we decided to buy the Oceana expansion and it made the game even better! We will definitely be buying all of the expansions. Lastly, there is a single player mode called Automa that is included in the box. I haven't had the opportunity to try it out but appreciate the inclusion of a single player mode by Stonemeier Games.

Adds extra birds to the game~ buy this after you've bought and played the base game and the Oceania expansion a number of times. Overall Wingspan is one of my favourite games so i would recommend this expansion to see more cute birdies

We play a lot of board games with our daughter and they can get a bit same same. Wingspan is so much better than any other board game we've played. There is so much complexity and things to think about when you play and the expansions with birds from different continents make it even more interesting. We love this game and would recommend it to any family. Disclaimer though, make sure you have a cuppa and snacks, it takes us about 1.5-2 hours to play a game.

Amplia muy bien el juego base, lo suficiente para sentirse diferente con las nuevas cartas de ave y los nuevos objetivos de fin de ronda. Aunque es algo complejo notar las nuevas cartas durante las primeras partidas. Lo recomiendo si ya se la han dado bastantes partidas al juego base.

I bought this game against my GF's will (she said we had enough games). Well, for the first time in a long time she was wrong... She and I (I don't really love board games) fell in love with this game. It's nice. Not 2 games are the same and there are a thousand ways to win. We are considering buying the expansions too

A must have for every board game lover :)