Wingspan review: "One of the greats"

If you can hold off from eating the tasty egg tokens for just a moment, you'll see that Wingspan can be a rich and well-rounded experience. It's one of those gorgeously illustrated, nature-themed economics board games that have become a staple of the genre, and its execution is so close to being perfect.

If you're asking yourself whether Wingspan is really worth it, and if it's really one of the best board games, you'll be surprised at the breadth of play styles this game affords as an asymmetric game. With each player's individual spread taking on a life of its own as a unique avian machine, there's enough strategic variety for your mind to become caught in an updraft.

Let's take a gander, shall we?

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Features & design

• Your goal is to attract birds to your wildlife reserve
• Collect birds to earn resources that allow you to collect even more birds
• Work toward shared goals on your own personal board

In Wingspan, players take on the role of avian enthusiasts whose goal is to collect birds, growing their habitats to gain the most points. The standard goal board makes for a less competitive game, while the green goal board increases direct conflict. There's also a solo mode.

In multiplayer, players work toward their own personal bonus, as well as shared, per-round goals that are visible to everyone. Whoever gets the highest score will win.

Unsurprisingly, birds are a big part of that equation. You attract them to their preferred habitat with the right food and egg cost listed on their card, and these feathered friends often have special abilities that earn you more resources when activated. After collecting a selection of birds in each habitat, you'll be able to chain powers in a domino effect.

This is where the magic happens. During your turn, you move down your row of birds from right to left, activating any powers on cards placed there. There are a few powerful combinations, with some even being passively activated by other players.

The art is every bit as strong. Wingspan is famously pretty; the watercolor bird paintings are beautiful, while the boards and components are a pastel rainbow. Tiny plastic eggs you'll use in-game are a highlight, as is a cardboard dicetower made to look like a birdfeeder.

That tower is something of a pain to put away (it doesn't fit neatly into the box unless you take it apart), but everything else about the game's storage solutions is top-notch. Numerous plastic containers are on-hand to help you keep things neat and tidy in-between sessions.

Gameplay

• Steadily increasing tension keeps every stage exciting
• Opportunity for powerful and satisfying ability combos
• Phenomenal replayability

The game is paced well, gently but steadily increasing tension as players forfeit an action cube per round to indicate their current score from shared goals. Not only does this give everyone an idea of how close the final score will be, ramping up the competitive action, it also means earlier rounds are more forgiving of mistakes, while the lack of actions in the late game make it feel more tense as you work more carefully toward your goals. This reduction also negates the extra length of later turns.

Still, there's a certain momentum to Wingspan that keeps everything rolling along. You never feel entirely blocked in as you might in the best family board games like Catan, for example. There's no end to the strategies you can form, and while you might end up relying on randomness for one to play out, failure never leads to an inability to move. You may just have to deal with making the less efficient move.

Efficiency is important to economics gamers, and it can be disheartening to have your plays thwarted by randomness. Wingspan combats this feeling with heaps of player agency. You are in complete control of your own board and plays. There's also less direct conflict and more indirect cooperation thanks to passive (between turns) bird powers inadvertently helping but never hindering.

There's also something to be said about the incredible replayability. Thanks to the incredible number of bird cards, and power chaining potential, no two games are ever the same and you'll be left wanting to come back and test new strategies every time. It does mean that people who prefer to stick to a strict strategy every game will have to adapt. But, of course, in a game about ecology adaptation is king.

The main drawback for me is the convoluted scoring in competitive mode, in that when players tie they must "add the values of the tied and next places and divide by number of players, rounded down." The math checks out, but it does feel like an unnecessarily complex layer to an otherwise simple scoring system.

Otherwise, it's clear that the community agrees five players is too many for a game with this much going on. Rounds can already take up to half an hour with four players, and since four already reduces replayability and momentum a lot, five really feels like a stretch.

Should you buy Wingspan?

If you want a deeper strategy game that you can still enjoy as a family, Wingspan fits the bill (sorry). It's more complex than other family-friendly games like Carcassonne, but it'll keep you so much more engaged once you've got the hang of it.

The downside is that you'll need to spend some time learning its ins and outs. Wingspan isn't the kind of game you can explain in 60 seconds, nor is it something you can dive into without any thought. Think that may be too much of a barrier to entry? Don't worry, there are alternatives. For those who want something easy-going, Photosynthesis is more straightforward yet shares a lot of the same DNA. Similarly, Wingspan's spiritual successor Finspan uses many of the same mechanics but is pitched as an accessible entry-point to the franchise. We've been hands-on with it so can confirm that it's far easier to get your head around. Buying for families who don't play lots of board games? I'd recommend getting Finspan instead.

Those who are patient enough to learn Wingspan's ways won't regret it, though. This is truly one of the greats.

Ratings

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

How we tested Wingspan

We played Wingspan numerous times with different player counts over a course of weeks to get the most complete overview of its gameplay and longevity. Our reviewer also examined the game in context now that it is a few years old.

For a more in-depth look at our process, see this guide on how we test board games. You can also find out more via GamesRadar+ reviews policy.

If you'd like something else to try this games night, why not look at the best card games? It's also worth dropping in on our guide to the best 2-player board games.