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Mariposas

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Mariposas Board Game

Game Information

Game Name
Publisher
Players
2 - 5
MSRP $
49.99
AEG

Every spring, millions of monarch butterflies leave Mexico to spread out across eastern North America. Every fall, millions fly back to Mexico. However, no single butterfly ever makes the round trip.

Mariposas is a game of movement and set collection that lets players be part of this amazing journey.

Mariposas is played in three seasons. In general, your butterflies try to head north in spring, spread out in summer, and return south in fall. The end of each season brings a scoring round, and at the end of fall, the player with the most successful family of butterflies — i.e., the most victory points — wins the game.

Mariposas game board


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4.0
Beautiful butterfly, or hairy caterpillar?
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ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #312654 30 Jul 2020 21:49
With all the game announcements, I can’t believe that the one that I’m most interested in is about butterflies. I might have to turn in my F:AT card and go play Agricola.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #312656 30 Jul 2020 22:22
We've all changed and mellowed over time. ;)
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #312657 30 Jul 2020 22:51
Mostly it’s a factor of the slim pickings of this year’s game announcement season.

What I’ve been hearing is that publishers shifted gears due to the pandemic. They’ve been putting the breaks on development of “gamer’s games” and big multiplayer games, and accelerating development on their family and 2-player games. So expect to see a lot of family and 2-player games announced this GenCon, and hitting the shelves in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021. Also expect release date delays on other types of games previously announced if they weren’t already in the production pipeline back in March.
Gary Sax's Avatar
Gary Sax replied the topic: #312658 30 Jul 2020 23:18
Yeah, I'm just fucking with you.

I haven't had much really I want this year either. Oath probably, maybe Empyreal Spells and Steam too.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #313846 08 Sep 2020 13:56
Well, I got this for Birthday and played it last night. It's good. A bit more crunchy than Wingspan. It feels like a pick-up and deliver, although technically in may not be. It is played over 3 "seasons," with each season having 2 or 3 ways to score points (chosen randomly so each game is a little different). Although all the objectives are essentially "get your butterflies to a certain area of the map." You start with one butterfly and over the course of the game spawn more. However at the end of each season you lose your oldest ones.

You always seem to have a "stick with the one-in-the-hand or risk going for the two-in-the-bush" situation. Do you move butterflies over to the the score zone as quickly as possible so they score at the end of the season, or risk moving a bit slower to be able to gather flowers (food) so you can spawn more butterflies. More butterflies in the score zone means more points, but if you dilly-dally too long, none of them will end up making it to the score zone in time.

This is gong to sound like an odd comparison, but it tickles the same bit of my brains that Merchant of Venus does.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #313960 10 Sep 2020 12:49
It's a good thing we don't use F:AT cards anymore ;)

It's on "limited time deal" on Amazon today. Finally ordered mine.

But seriously, we're going to come out of this and see each other's shelves and probably collectively say, "Yeah, we all really went through some shit, didn't we?"
Msample's Avatar
Msample replied the topic: #313962 10 Sep 2020 13:36
Interesting that the designer went with someone other than Stonemaier, who published Wingspan.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #313964 10 Sep 2020 13:47
@Josh

I was thinking exactly that as I looked over my birthday board game loot. However, Euros have come a long way from drab, procedural, cube squashers. Zoe played Quacks for the first time on Tuesday. As she put her hand in her bag for a critical draw she said, "OMG. My heart is pounding. Is this what gambling feels like?" I think any game that can get your heart rate up is a good game.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #313965 10 Sep 2020 13:50

Msample wrote: Interesting that the designer went with someone other than Stonemaier, who published Wingspan.


I'm guessing AEG could offer her more money/larger print run/wider distribution with no Kickstarter/distribution gamesmanship mucking about.
mc's Avatar
mc replied the topic: #313969 10 Sep 2020 16:29
She'll bring all the stonemeier crowd with her too, having built up a fanbase already.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #313972 10 Sep 2020 18:00
She and Jamey have both commented on this. Jamey thought it was a good game but not a good fit for the brand and that it deserves be left as it is.
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #313974 10 Sep 2020 19:32
AEG has been doing some innovative stuff lately, too; War Chest comes immediately to mind, so I think this game suits their approach.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #313977 10 Sep 2020 19:57
Yes, I think Mariposas fits nicely with War Chest. There is a tiny bit of luck, but it is mostly your brain vs the other player’s brains. The rules are deceptively simple. The challenge come from who you are playing against. It leans towards the abstract, despite all the pretty butterflies.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #314017 11 Sep 2020 23:29
Played again tonight. I think no one likes this game but me.
WadeMonnig's Avatar
WadeMonnig replied the topic: #314027 12 Sep 2020 12:59
I'm sure it will find its way into my hands at some point, it looks like something my wife would dig.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #314049 14 Sep 2020 08:18
Played it last night and I enjoyed it. What an incredibly fascinating game. I do not find it to be heavier than Wingspan, it's definitely a much lower bar to entry but to actually be any good at it is an entirely different situation. I also didn't find it to be mathy, but I also don't notice math as easily as others. I think that it may not have the same wide appeal as Wingspan, but I do think it's the more interesting game and there really isn't anything like it. You pick up vibes of other things, but never anything concrete. I think think it's terrific.
ubarose's Avatar
ubarose replied the topic: #314056 14 Sep 2020 11:03
@Josh

I agree with everything you said. It is very rules light and super easy to learn to play. It gets challenging and mathy when you get into “must best my highest score.” My brain immediately went to calculating the average points of movement per game, and the costs and promises of spawning a 4 butterfly in the south positioned so that is could get home and score at end game vs spawning them in the north for 3 points each and no hope of getting it home.

I agree that people who love Wingspan may be disappointed with Mariposas. On the other hand, folks that didn’t care for Wingspam may find Mariposas fascinating.

You may end up being the only one who wants to play it with me. Francie, Al and Zoe were all “meh” on it.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #314057 14 Sep 2020 11:37
Yeah, I haven't gotten to the high score stage yet, I'm still in the get any score at all stage.

I think it's going to be something that is very polarizing, and honestly, I love seeing that right now. I've been looking at posts about an upcoming KS game where there's this idea that games need to offer something for everyone. Like people make demands nowadays and I am so not on board with that. Even if I don't end up liking a game, I find it charming when a designers really commits to a weird, unique idea and and doesn't care about the game pleasing the widest audience as possible in order to make the game they wanted to make. That is clearly the case here and good on Elizabeth and AEG for going for it.
Msample's Avatar
Msample replied the topic: #314073 14 Sep 2020 20:07

Josh Look wrote: Like people make demands nowadays and I am so not on board with that.


This.

“If this game had ( insert whiney demand for shit like dedicated solo bot, minis, playmates, etc) I’d buy it”.

I like how Mark Herman tells people not to buy a game if he thinks they won’t like it, rather than dealing with their entitled whining after the fact.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #314093 15 Sep 2020 09:08
I once saw someone DEMANDING a solo mode for Fury of Dracula before 3E came out and in that moment I knew the hobby was completely fucked.
Msample's Avatar
Msample replied the topic: #314094 15 Sep 2020 09:37
The customer is NOT always right.
Josh Look's Avatar
Josh Look replied the topic: #314095 15 Sep 2020 10:06
I work in retail. The customer is never right.
Sagrilarus's Avatar
Sagrilarus replied the topic: #314099 15 Sep 2020 14:05
I work in sales. Give the customer what they want, not what they ask for.
RobertB's Avatar
RobertB replied the topic: #314100 15 Sep 2020 14:18
I work in development. I hate all y'all.
Jackwraith's Avatar
Jackwraith replied the topic: #314113 15 Sep 2020 20:26
The demands for solo mode have reached a screeching level on BGG. Every time a new game is posted, the soloers are there in force: "But will there be SOLO MODE?!!"

"It's a game about social interactions with other people."

"Oh, so now you're PREJUDICED against solo gamers! Guess I can ignore anything this company does for the rest of time!"

(Kickstarter from same company is announced.)

"But will there be SOLO MODE?!!"