W is for Wingspan

By Stonemaier Games

I played this one at a gaming convention 15 or so months ago and really enjoyed it. I tried 14 games that weekend and this was the one I knew was coming home with me. Only it was completely sold out from the vendors room, so I had to wait a few months before picking it up so I could introduce it to my husband. 

  

Players: 1-5
Time: 40-70 minutes
Ages: 10+
Theme: Birds
Mechanics: Card Drafting, Set Collection, Resource Management

This one is going to be short and sweet, because I love this game and don't have any complaints. In Wingspan, you play as bird enthusiasts, attracting birds to various habitats, feeding them, getting them to lay eggs, etc. over the course of four rounds. At the end of the game, the enthusiast with the most points wins. There are so many ways to get points: Personal goals, public end-round goals, laying eggs, having predator birds eat smaller birds, caching food, etc.

Why do I love this game?

1. It's simple-- I had the rules totally down after just one round-- yet complex. There's a lot going on and a lot you can do. We've explained this game to non-gamers and they were able to figure it out (mostly) pretty quickly.

2. The boards and components are designed well, which aid in learning the rules quickly. Everything you need is pretty much on the board. The "bird-feeder" dice tower is adorable. The eggs are colorful. The artwork is gorgeous. You can tell that a lot of love went into this game.

3. Personal and public goals change every game, so the replayability is solid.

As I mentioned above, I don't have any complaints. Well, maybe one: It can be discouraging to not get any of the cards you need to score or any of the food you need to play the cards you need to score. That's a bummer and can screw you up for a couple of turns.

Overall, I give this one a 9/10. It's very well done and I'm always open to play. My husband rates it 8-8.5/10 because of "balance issues" when playing with predator birds, but I'm cutting him out of this review, because this game is awesome.