#IYKYK and you can skip this bit, but if you’re thinking, ‘What the Jiminy?’ then keep reading and also the 1800’s called and want their expressions back.
What are you on about?
In 2019 Stonemaier Games published Wingspan and the world went crazy for the avian artwork and great game play. The designer, Elizabeth Hargrave, had pitched the idea a few years earlier and the combination of beautiful cards, thematic representation and interesting mechanics got it snapped up by Stonemaier pretty sharpish and ended up winning a load of awards.
Since then a series of expansions have been added to the Wingspan world and two new games have been produced that have been developed from the original. Wyrmspan raised the complexity and changed the focus from birds to dragons and then, even more recently, Finspan moved from the skies to the oceans and swam into their ever growing world of ‘span’ by reducing the complexity and highlighting the fish of the world.
So, without further ado, let’s get our binoculars out and take a look at our feathered friends.
Birds of a feather flock together
So, the game that started all this hype… what’s it all about?
Wingspan is a wonderful blend of mechanics. You’re gaining resources (food and eggs and cards) to put those beautiful bird cards into your three habitats (forest, prairie and wetlands). To do this you activate the different habitats, one per turn, and the more birds you have in a habitat then the more powerful your actions become. Points mean prizes but it’s difficult to tell during the game who is in the lead.
The eye-catching part of Wingspan is clearly the stunning artwork in the game, namely the beautiful birds on the vast array of cards. Those out there who love birds (or ‘birders’ as they are known) really appreciate the extra details that have been added into the game that closely tie-in with real info about our little feathered friends, the little factoids on the bottom of the cards are awesome, the habitat, diet and also special powers they bring to their habitats also represent the birds surprisingly well. There is even a measurement for the span of their wings which is also used in the game mechanics cleverly too. A wingspan if you will.
Also eggs. Have you seen the awesome eggs?
If you’re a birder then you should get the app Wingsong, it’s amazing, just download it and try it. We’re not gonna say anymore about that except it’s so cool.
The base game goes from 1 player to 5 players and it is about 20 to 30 minutes per player once you know the game, if you love collecting something beautiful and dislike a lot of player interaction then this series of games is for you and Wingspan is the original so a reasonable place to start.
Here be…. DRAGONS!
In 2024 after a number of expansions for Wingspan had come out, mythical beasts took flight and Wyrmspan was hatched.
Many were vocal for a new kind of creature and also a more complex game based around the original, Stonemaier Games decided to keep to the skies but move away from birds and instead aim clearly at the fantasy lovers and made a new version for dragons.
The artwork is just as stunning and their attention to suggestions from their fanbase is admirable. They have made the game as accessible as possible by making sure those with colour blindness and low-vision are not excluded.
The game itself removes the random element of the dice from the original game and adds a guild mechanic as well as the need to excavate caves for the dragons to live in. Another change from the original is the ability to get extra actions in the game. In the original you had a specific number of turns per round and here you have tokens that you spend for your actions and the rare but powerful ability to get extra tokens for extra actions. All in all slightly more mechanisms but the layout is very similar to the original and not too far removed from it, just a little more involved.
Eggs you say? Well… Dragon eggs are even more awesome than bird eggs…
If you’re a gamer looking for a more intense experience with bigger combos and a slower build-up than the original then this is the game for you, it’s still 1 to 5 players and lengthens the game slightly from the original so lets say about 25 to 35 minutes per player. As before interactions between players are on the low side, that’s just the way it is in the Span-iverse.
Plenty of fish in the sea
Most recently (at time of publication) Wingspan has taken a dive (see what we did there?), wings have been replaced by fins and now our aquatic friends get the spotlight in Finspan.
This time Stonemaier Games have paid attention to a different part of their audience and streamlined (get it, fish? streamlined? lol) their clearly winning mechanisms to create a more casual game with some really interesting spins on the original mechanisms.
Habitats are now replaced with a mixture of zones of depths and differing dive sites. This adds a spatial element to the game so instead of just static eggs, young fish are now hatched from the eggs and can be moved around to form schools for bigger point gains at the end of the game. They are represented by cardboard tokens in the base game but there is a stunning upgrade pack that replaces the eggs, young and school tokens that die-hard Span-fans will surely love.
Instead we have divers for each player colour, cute!
The huge variety of fish in the ocean is covered here extremely well and aspects of the stranger fish are handled beautifully… They have tags in the game for bioluminescence, electrolocation and venomous, among others.
It’s a fish eat fish world and we must say the addition of a personal discard pile which you can sometimes get cards back from is wonderful. It’s still got enough game in it to challenge gamers but it’s intuitive enough for a starter audience and we would recommend it as your first foray into the Span-iverse. It’s still a 1-5 player extravanaga and brings the play time down to 10 to 15 minutes each once you know the game.
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So, wherever you choose to start your spanning, Stonemaier Games has got you covered, I’m sure they have more expansions and new spins on this tried and tested excellent formula to come and you know where you’ll find them, on our shelves in our cafes so see you there.