From Tip to Tip-Taking Measure of Wingspan: A Wingspan Board Game Review
To half-quote another 2019 release, my picking up of Wingspan was “Inevitable.” Once my wife saw it online, she was enamored with it. And, in my typical chasing of the hotness, I fumbled into my FLGS halfway through 2020 and spotted it on the shelf. If you haven't heard, it has exceptional production, amazing components, and a mixture of engine and tableau building that makes it almost as pleasing to mind as it is to the eyes.
As expected, it was a success at the table. It had an amazing run on game night, returning as the champion of “What do we want to play?” again and again. My wife stated, after a few games in, “Let's enjoy our time trouncing Wade because it is only a matter of time before he “gets” the game and we will never win again.” Ignoring the perception that this regularly occurs (it actually doesn't, if our board game chalk scoreboard is to be believed, with Jessica's outnumbering the Wade's by a good margin), I don't ever see that ever happening with this release.
So much of Wingspan hinges on getting the good selection of bird cards at the beginning of the game. You are also at the mercy of securing goal cards where what you are shooting for actually comes out during play (birds named after a person or geographical location). And that isn't even addressing getting the resources you need from the dice when you need them. Not that there is anything wrong with ALL of the things I listed. It keeps the game fresh and accessible for everyone. But it also leads to this strange negative connotation when the game finishes. Almost every comment about the game is 'I didn't get...” “I wish I could have...” “I just never had the chance to...” Rarely are the comments about alternate strategies or epiphanies about tweaking a little something to optimize scoring. It also seems to be “What I needed simply didn't come out.”
What I did realize in my plays is that the End of round goals are skewed toward Eggs...Have at least one Egg in a specific nest type, Total Eggs in a specific habitat, sets of Eggs in all habitats, etc... And if those aforementioned Goal Cards happen to offer up Egg related bonuses? Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner (No chickens were harmed in the typing of this review). Any way you scramble it, Eggs are dominant strategy for Wingspan and, if the end rounds goals or goal cards synergize with that, mores the pity for your opponents. Literally none of the End of Round goals have anything to do with Tucking Cards and none of the end-of-game bonus cards will give you points for tucking either. (Probably more importantly, no cards you tucked are counted toward any of the other End of Round Goals).Even if you max out the number of eggs on the cards in your tableau, you will inevitably have a power that will activate that will allow you to trade them for resources or you'll need to trade those eggs in order to actually add another bird to your tableau.
As I said in my opening, Wingspan is a pleasure to look at .The Birdhouse dicetower is a beautiful touch. However, in execution, at a standard dining room table, roughly half the time, half the players can't see what in in the actual tray/tower. Thus, you end up rotating it every few turns like someone suffering from OCD trying to align it for perfect feng shui. I'm sure someone out there is 3D printing a Nest dice tray that alleviates this issue.
Wingspan is, by no means, a bad game. It is a decent one. I do not foresee Wingspan getting purged from my shelves any time soon. Everyone I have played it with has easily grasped it, enjoyed it, and would play it again. It doesn't bother me, per se, that I don't get “better” with each game. Anyone with a firm grasp on the gameplay, a realization that eggs are key to winning, and just the right amount of luck can win. Maybe that is one of the keys to why it is so popular.
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Editor reviews
Wingspan is, by no means, a bad game. It is a decent one. I do not foresee Wingspan getting purged from my shelves any time soon. Everyone I have played it with has easily grasped it, enjoyed it, and would play it again. It doesn't bother me, per se, that...
Food>Birds>Eggs
The round goals and card goals may inform some of your decisions, give you a little direction, and you can't ignore them entirely. However, you also can't let them distract you from your primary goal - produce the most eggs.
The core of my issue is that there is *zero* drama in the game---I don't mean pulse pounding chit pulls or like "HAHA FUCK YOU" moments like a caricature of an ameritrash fan. Instead I just don't feel this game really has even any texture at all, in terms of ups and downs, gameplaywise. I literally cannot remember a single thing that happened in a game of Wingspan at the end of the game. I prefer games, even breezy simple ones, to have moves of varying importance or to be building to something that is different at the end than the beginning.
I compare this to a game of pretty similar weight and length, Roll for the Galaxy. Roll for the Galaxy has a few of those moments where you read the board state and take a gamble on what other people are doing. It doesn't have to be conflictual or anything like that to do this.
But as you say it's fine and I'm glad people like it or whatever. It's not a crusade for me. But I'd be glad to never play it again and play an equal weight, equally simple game that gives more.
Shellhead wrote: Maybe fans of Wingspan could pick up Through the Desert and combine the games, just so they can arrange the pretty pieces in pleasing patterns.
Or you could combine it with another camel-based game and get Wyngspahan.
I like it. Shellie asked me to review it but I've actually been asked to write it up for T3 so I'm afraid it'll have to go there instead. Seems to have plenty of drama to me, you're always uncertain as to whether you'll get the food rolls you need or whether that dice'll be left by the time your turn comes round. You never know what birds cards you're going to get to work with. And it's a squeeze in the endgame to try and stay ahead of the competition in the time remaining.
There are few better engine building games, IMO, but like most folk here, engine building games are not really my thing. My biggest issue with it is simply that it takes too long and is a faff to set up. If it dusted in an hour, it'd see the table a lot more.
WINGSPAN is a good game, well executed, about a topic adored by many. I am defensive about it because folks I respect seem so annoyed by it and I can't think why? Because it's more popular than it ~deserves~? Are we the tastemakers now?
I'd never play Wingspan with just Al, or a table of experienced competitive gamers. It would be boring as hell, because so much of what needs to be done is rather obvious to us, and we could be playing something else.
I've been playing with two intermediate level gamers, my daughter and her friend, and I'm guessing Jeb is playing with his pile o' children. So I think we are just looking for more congenial games where we don't totally trounce our kids. I have beaten them every time we have played, but not by an enormously discouraging number of points. They now have the goal of beating me, and have been inching up on my score with every game. A couple more games and they will figure out it is all about the eggs, and then a few games after that they will figure out how to maximize those eggs while still being able to squeeze out a few extra points from the goals. Then we will all be on a level playing field. They will beat me a few times and then we will probably move on to a more challenging game (but return to Wingspan when we want to play something more relaxed).
I think that games like Wingspan and Pan Am are a new generation of games. Family games level the playing field between children and adults, who are at different stages of cognitive development. Whereas, these games level the playing field between players with the same cognitive abilities but different levels of experience. I think there is a need for these, as we now have, shall we call them "expert" or "advanced" gamers who have been playing worker placement, deck builders, networking, whatever games for 15 years, sitting down at the table with other adult, shall we call them "intermediate" level gamers, who have been playing Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, Catan and CAH for maybe 2 years.
That said, TO ME, I'd put Wingspan more in the category of "activity" games than an intermediate game by your definition. Wingspan fits into games that play themselves but have some pleasing aspect to them, so it's a group activity where you keep your hands busy with something physical between you but rarely need to think about it. Something like Machi Koro fits into this space, except I like Machi Koro a lot better for filling this niche. But people are going to differ on how light a game needs to be to reach the niche I'm talking about.
Excuse the pun, but a lot of these types of games is about learning that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So figure out how to optimize what's in the hand, rather than wasting turns digging for that perfect combo.
Yep. I had to nag my daughter a little bit about not spending a lot of time digging for something in particular; that you have to get the most from the cards in hand. I know that if we're into round 2 and I haven't come up with a halfway decent plan for points, then I'm dead.ubarose wrote: Wingspan only seems that way to you because simple engine building is second nature to you. Zoe still ends up with a shit load of un-played birds in her hand and a pile of unused food, which she has wasted turns collecting instead of doing things that will improve her engine or set her up to score points. It all hasn't clicked with her yet. It's still a challenge to her to identify and play to the primary objective.
Excuse the pun, but a lot of these types of games is about learning that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. So figure out how to optimize what's in the hand, rather than wasting turns digging for that perfect combo.
When the players get good in Wingspan, I think it can be a runaway with the right cards at the start, but in general it turns into players trying to not waste turns. You can get a lot of 73-71-70 sorts of games.
I agree. Players with the same level of experience and skill tend to cluster within a 5 point spread, and those 1-5 points can usually be attributed to luck of the draw.
What I'm seeing is that any game has a maximum number of points if someone plays a perfect game, and a minimum number of "give me" points that a person can score even if they just flail through and play procedurally without totally fucking up. The minimum and maximum depend upon player count, what goals come out, and how many cards that gift things to other players are in play. However, that minimum and maximum are always within 20-25 points of each other. Assuming no one can play a perfect game, and no one is a total flailer, and that there is a bit of a swing due to the luck of the draw, what you usually get is the inexperienced players clustering together about 10-15 points below the experienced players' cluster. That's not overwhelmingly discouraging. As more games are played, the experienced players' scores don't get better, because of that max points ceiling, but the less experienced players' scores quickly creep up and close the gap.
And yes, there is always the possibility that you will have a game where someone pulls a way awesome combo on the first draw and runs away with it, and someone else can never get anything going, but those games are rare.
ubarose wrote: BTW my secret plan is to get work them them up from Wingspan to Argent.
Depending on what they like about Wingspan, that might not work. Wingspan is a very pretty game that sounds relaxing to play. Argent is an ugly sprawl of information overload that generates chaos and take-that exchanges.
dysjunct wrote: WINGSPAN is too complicated for my non gamer wife, non-gamer in-laws, and pre-literate child. I suspect, but don’t know for sure THANKS QUARANTINE, that it is too simple for my game group. Perhaps our bird sanctuaries are in Uncanny Valley.
This is exactly where this game falls. Too complicated for non-gamers. Too simple for advanced gamers. Just right for the intermediate gamer.
Any annoyance that does occur may be a backlash to the immense popularity of the game; as is always the case with almost any game that wins Game of the Year, 15 Geek awards, etc. Then you come across people who have played a lot of games (like us) and been in the hobby for a long time and we're all like: "Eh. It's an average engine builder." But, again, sometimes that's what's necessary to open the door for new(er) people. I don't begrudge the game its success or favor one bit. It's just not something I'm particularly excited about because I'm not the target audience.
(Plus, 51st State is just better.)
Jackwraith wrote: Any annoyance that does occur may be a backlash to the immense popularity of the game; as is always the case with almost any game that wins Game of the Year, 15 Geek awards, etc. Then you come across people who have played a lot of games (like us) and been in the hobby for a long time and we're all like: "Eh. It's an average engine builder." But, again, sometimes that's what's necessary to open the door for new(er) people. I don't begrudge the game its success or favor one bit. It's just not something I'm particularly excited about because I'm not the target audience.
I saw a lot of ugly backlash directed against Elizabeth on Twitter after the awards were announced. I guess I am still salty about it. It was cruel and hurtful and, I felt, undeserved. I think that the "old guard" (i.e. people like us who have been playing for many years and have played sooo many games) need to recognize that the board game market has expanded dramatically and we are in the minority.
On BGG, look at the number of ratings and owners of older games that we consider "classics" or "better than" the newer games that we might feel are derivatives of these older ones. In many cases the numbers on the older games are lower than the newer ones. And when they are greater, it isn't by as much as you would think for a game that has been in print for 10 years vs a game that has been in print for 10 months. All these older,"better," classic games that the "Old Guard" keep referring to are as old, and clunky and obscure to the majority of today's board gamers as Merchant of Venus, Talisman etc. were to the denizens of BGG in 2005. Like, just last week I saw someone post on Facebook that they had found some old game they had never heard of in the Goodwill, and wanted to know if anyone had ever heard of it and if it was any good. The game was Dominion.
So yeah, not only are we not the market for Wingspan, we also need to come to terms with the fact that we are a tiny, niche market.
Compare that to the hot game of 2005:
Caylus has 26k ratings and 26k owners - and that is the number of owners and ratings it's accumulated over 15 years.