Game review: Wingspan

What is Wingspan?

Wingspan is nothing short of a beautiful game which will draw you in with its fantastic design and tactile nature of its playing pieces. You play as a bird enthusiast looking to attract the best birds to the different habitats of your nature reserve. The game is played over 4 rounds with round one having 8 turns per player and decreasing to 5 for the final round. You therefore must quickly learn tactical play as the difficulty of playing birds increases as you pass through the rounds. The win is via the highest points scored, based on factors such as the number of birds collected, bonus cards, eggs and with 170 birds in the deck, each game is unique.

Is it Fun?

Not only is the game fun it is highly addictive! The more you play, the more you learn and identify factors which can increase your point score and you want to have another game (especially if you narrowly lost last time to a colleague!) The enjoyment of playing is also enhanced by the quirky features such as the birdfeeder dice tower and the egg miniatures provided in 5 different colours. This is a sneaky geeky game which would be enjoyed by scientists just as much as non-scientists and draw the attention of true gamers as well as those who only play a board game at Christmas.

Is it Educational?

Every bird card contains a wealth of information alongside an illustration and includes the common name, Latin name, habitat, food, nest type, egg limit and of course, wingspan. Each card also shows the location it inhabits and an interesting factoid – did you know that between 1966 and 2015 the Cerulean warbler lost 74% of its population? That the oldest Canada Goose was at least 33 years old or that almost every movie uses the red-tailed hawk's call for any raptor? These are prime pub quiz questions! All information is taken from reputable sources such as the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and not only do you learn information about individual birds and your common knowledge now includes information on various nest types, but you begin to learn the interactions between species and the habitats they occupy.

Conclusion

A great game to play with both family and friends as well as having potential for a learning environment. If you haven’t already done so – go look up the call of the red-tailed hawk for you and everyone around you to say ‘oh yeah!’ as you recognise that familiar call. Turns out you don’t know what a bald eagle sounds like at all… you’ll look that up now too…

Dr Louise Robinson is Lecturer in Forensic Biology and Dr Ian Turner an Associate Professor in Learning and Teaching, both at the University of Derby.