Wingspan (board game)

Wingspan is a board game for 1 to 5 players designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games in 2019. Wingspan is a card-driven, medium-weight, engine-building board game in which players compete to attract birds to their wildlife reserves. Wingspan has been strongly praised for its artwork,[1] its accurate portrayal of its bird habitats, and its gameplay, winning the 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres for best connoisseur game of the year.[2]

Wingspan
Designer(s)Elizabeth Hargrave
Illustrator(s)Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, Natalia Rojas, Beth Sobel
Publisher(s)Stonemaier Games
Publication date2019
Players1-5
Playing time40-70 minutes
Websitewww.stonemaiergames.com

The game sold 44,000 copies worldwide over three printings in its first two months of release,[3] with the publisher issuing a public apology for not having more copies available.[4] The game had sold around 200,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2019.[5]

The game is currently rated as the 20th best game of all time on BoardGameGeek's database of over 18,000 games.[6]

The Wingspan European Expansion was released in November 2019, which included 81 new cards[7] of European birds and new mechanisms and bird powers, such as birds which benefit from extra food and powers which trigger at the end of the round.[8]

The first digital version of the game was released on January 4, 2019 on Tabletopia.[9] Later on February 27, 2019 the game was also released on Steam.[10]

Gameplay

In Wingspan players assign birds, which are represented by 170 individually illustrated cards,[11] to forest, grassland, and wetland habitats.[3] Over the course of four rounds, players put birds in the three different habitats, which are represented by rows on each player's board with space for five birds each.[12]

Players can take a limited number of four types of action each round: drawing new birds, placing birds from their hand into their habitat, collecting food, and laying eggs, which have to be spent in order to play the birds.[13] The strength of each action depends on how many cards are already in that habitat, and additional bonus actions are activated by the birds which are already in the habitat which represents that action.

In addition to putting birds into their habitats, players score points for objectives achieved during each round and throughout the whole game, eggs accumulated, and food and cards stored on other cards, which represent food collection and predation by a player's birds.[12]

Expansions

Wingspan European Expansion is the first expansion, published in 2019. Wingspan European Expansion adds 81 new and unique bird cards to the total pool of available bird cards, 10 new end of round goals, and 5 bonus cards. Digital version of Wingspan: European Expansion was released on Tabletopia on December 13, 2019.[14] Later on January 8, 2020 the expansion became available on Steam.[15]

Wingspan Oceania Expansion is the second expansion, announced in January 2020 for later release in 2020. The Emu was the first confirmed bird from the Oceania Expansion.[16] The Oceania Expansion includes 95 bird cards, 8 end of round goals, 5 new and unique player mats, and a new food type called nectar.[17]

Background and theme

The game was inspired by Hargrave's visits to Lake Artemesia close to where she lives in Maryland, where she would create personal charts of the birds she observed there,[18] with the size of the dataset reaching almost 600 rows by 100 columns.[19] The special powers afforded by the birds in the game closely resemble the unique characteristics of the real birds documented by Hargrave's efforts.[20]

Awards and nominations
  • 2019 Deutscher Spiele Preis Best Family/Adult Game Winner[21]
  • 2019 International Gamers Award - General Strategy: Multi-player Nominee[22]
  • 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres Winner[23]
  • 2019 Nederlandse Spellenprijs Best Expert Game Nominee[24]
  • 2020 Golden Geek Award - nominated for Game of the Year, Card Game, Family Game, Innovative, Solo Game, and Strategy Game[25]

Reception

The game has received predominantly favorable reviews and widespread acclaim.[26] Board game critic Matt Thrower called Wingspan "the year's hottest game",[27] and Said Al-Azzawi of the L.A. Times called it "one of the board game industry’s most acclaimed games of the year".[28]

References
  1. Pyttlik, Olaf (August 17, 2019). "Looking for a new game? Trust the judges". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  2. Roberts, Siobhan (March 11, 2019). "She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It's Taking Off". New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  3. Whipple, Tom (March 11, 2019). "Birdwatching game Wingspan flies off the shelves". The Times. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  4. Farzan, Shalah (November 6, 2019). "Bird-Themed Game Hatched In St. Louis Soars In Popularity". St. Louis Public Radio. Retrieved November 6, 2019.
  5. FitzClemen, Robin (October 14, 2019). "Unboxing board game culture at FunAgain's Gamer Garage Sale". Daily Emerald. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  6. Elderkin, Beth (November 12, 2019). "Wingspan Expands, Magic: The Gathering Enters the Hall of Fame, and More in Tabletop News". Gizmodo. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  7. Winmai, Arran (October 2, 2019). "Stonemaier Games komt met eerste Wingspan-uitbreiding". NWTV. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  8. "All About Birds". Tabletopia. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  9. "Tabletopia - Wingspan on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  10. McLaughlin, Shaymus (November 14, 2019). "Need your outdoors fix indoors? Try these board games". Minneapolis Star Tribune. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
  11. Law, Keith (March 27, 2019). "Wingspan Is about as Perfect as Board Games Get". Paste Magazine. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  12. Zimmerman, Aaron (March 16, 2019). "Wingspan review: A gorgeous birding board game takes flight". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  13. "New Continent". Tabletopia. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  14. "Tabletopia - Wingspan: European Expansion on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  15. Design, Dave Hewer (January 16, 2020). "Wingspan Oceania Expansion". Stonemaier Games. Retrieved August 17, 2020.
  16. "Wingspan: Oceania Expansion". BoardGameGeek. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  17. Teague Beckwith, Ryan (April 2, 2019). "New Board Game Inspired by Lake Artemesia". Hyattsville Wire. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  18. Solly, Meilan (March 12, 2019). "This New Scientifically Accurate Board Game Is for the Birders". Smithsonian. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  19. West, Stuart (May 14, 2019). "A bird-based game takes wing". Nature. Retrieved October 22, 2019.
  20. "Deutscher Spielepreis 2019 - Sieger". www.reich-der-spiele.de. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  21. "2019 Nominees - International Gamers Awards". www.internationalgamersawards.net. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  22. "Flügelschlag". Spiel des Jahres. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  23. "Expertprijs 2019: nominaties". www.spellenprijs.nl. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  24. "BoardGameGeek". boardgamegeek.com. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  25. Law, Keith (December 17, 2019). "The Best Board Games of 2019". Vulture. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  26. Thrower, Matt (October 11, 2019). "Best Board Games of 2019". IGN. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  27. Al-Azzawi, Saif (November 8, 2019). "Fun board games to give this season". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 11, 2019.
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