Wingspan is a medium weight engine building game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games in 2019. It’s ranked 20th all-time on BoardGameGeek’s user rankings, and is already considered a modern classic in gaming.
If you are interested in more detail I highly recommend reading the following long form New York Times profile on Elizabeth Hargrave https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/11/science/wingspan-board-game-elizabeth-hargrave.html
Board Game Scores & Ranks:
- BGG Weight: 2.42
- Play Time: 40-70 Mins
- Player Count: 1- 5 players
- Year Published: 2019
Board Game Designer:
- Elizabeth Hargrave
Game Mechanisms:
- Card Drafting
- Dice Rolling
- Hand Management
- Set Collection
- Resource Management
Board Game Theme:
Production
Needless to say the production is one of, if not the best, at the price point across the entirety of board games. Linen finish rules books, cool egg minis, super high quality cards, thick player boards and on and on.
The newer versions (which our copy is) come with the Swift Start pack. We did not open this, as we know how to play.
However, it was a major purchase factor in the past when we bought the game for non-gamers as a wedding gift. The pack should help ease them into the game and teach the core mechanics.
Game Play
As for the gameplay itself, we like how fast gameplay is and the interesting combos that we can make. We (like others), have found that adding eggs to cards late in round 3 and most of round 4 (the last round) is a huge factor in scoring VP. When we play in groups of 3-4 we usually employ this strategy, but when it’s just the two of us we have a unofficial agreement to go easy on the eggs and explore other strategies.
We find that this game is more interactive than most of this genre. Some cards give you bonuses on other players turns, such as added eggs, resources, draw cards, etc. This makes you at least somewhat interested during other players turns to see what they play and which cards they scoop up from the market.
Replayability
Outside of the egg play, this game includes a ton of replayability in the box based on the sheer number of cards in the deck. You have to be nimble, and while Goal cards do give some direction, you have to be tactically flexible based on card draws, and bonus powers.
All told throughout the years we’ve played over 10 games, and each game has told it’s own story throughout.
You will find yourself getting better at the game as you gain more experience in terms of which cards to play, when to chain bonuses, when to tuck cards and resources management.
Overall
There’s a reason why this is game is a continual best seller. It has a great mixture of a gateway plus game that is also enjoyed by ‘regular hobby gamers’.
Who is this game for?
We think if you are a fan of medium weight games and/or engine builders than you’ll be very adding a physical copy of Wingspan to your board game collection very soon!
If you on the fence, and have yet to play there are a number of digital implementations, which you can view at: https://stonemaiergames.com/games/wingspan/digital-versions/