Wingspan – Best Board Game 2019

As the holiday season is fast approaching and kids are busy making their wish list of toys to have this Christmas. One of the best board game to include in the list is Wingspan. It is one of the best engine building board game to gift a board game lover. In an engine building game each player starts with some resources and abilities and as the game progresses their resources and abilities become more powerful.

( Disclosure : This post contains affiliate links, meaning, at no cost to you, I earn commission if you click through and make a purchase )

Wingspan is designed by Elizabeth Hargrave, a feminist and nature geek who has true passion for playing board games. She is an avid hiker and got the idea for this board game after her several hikes in nature. Wingspan is currently based on birds from North America. Elizabeth Hargrave has plans to expand it to include birds from other continents. 

Wingspan, integrates birds habitats into a fun board game. It’s a strategy game that involves 170 gorgeously illustrated bird cards, each with unique powers. As each bird is added to your preserve, you can perform more actions and be more powerful with each turn. The game board is divided into 3 habitats wetlands, grassland and forest. The game comes with game board, action cubes, bird cards, food tokens, food dice, bird feeder and two bonus cards.

Gameplay

• You play the game over 4 rounds.
• On each turn, players will choose and perform one of the four actions:
  1. Play a bird card – Pay the cost of the bird and then place it in one of the habitats.
  2. Gain food –  You use food tokens to pay for the cost to place a bird in the forest. In return it activates the power of the birds.
  3. Lay eggs – Get the eggs from the supply and place them onto any bird of your choice as well as score points at the end of the game, and then activate birds in the grassland habitat.
  4. Draw bird card – It gives you an option on which birds you will play and then activate birds in the wetland habitat.
• At the end of each round, you rank players based on their progress against the end-of-round scoring goal.

You score based on the number of:

1. Birds in a specific habitat
2. Birds with a specific nest type
3. Eggs your birds laid in a specific habitat
4. Eggs laid by birds of a specific nest type
5. Sets of eggs (a set equals one egg in each of wetland, grassland, and forest)
6. Total number of birds played

• Recommended Age : 10+
• Playing Duration : 60 – 90 mins
• Winner : In the end, player who has built an effective wildlife preserve with the most points accumulated from birds, bonus cards, end-of-round goals, eggs, cached food, and tucked birds wins the game.

Since, there are 170 bird cards and one can not play all of them in one game it keeps you motivated and excited to keep playing again and again. The game makes every play a fun and learning experience as you also learn about beautiful Horned Lark and many more birds and their habitats. It is a perfect game to play with family and bring the nature inside the house during the cold holiday season.

Looking for more strategy board games, check out our family favorites here

While you are here, may be you would like these posts

• How to build a Straw Bridge – STEM Activity
• Nim Game
• Multiplication Buzz
• Target Number- Order of Operations- Math Card Game
• Red Cabbage Science experiment – pH indicator