On March 8, Stonemaier Games will release Wingspan, a board game of competitive bird collecting.

In Wingspan, the players are bird enthusiasts seeking to attract a variety of birds to their aviary.  As they do so, the players gain abilities based on the birds that they have collected, and combining these abilities into an “engine” is critical to the game’s strategy.  In order to attract birds to their aviary, players must first collect food that is attractive to that type of bird and encourage the birds already in their aviary to lay eggs.  After four rounds of play, the player with the most points wins the game, but random goal tokens can change the way victory points are awarded from game to game.

Wingspan was designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and features 170 bird cards, each with a unique illustration created by Natalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, and Beth Sobel (Between Two Cities).  The game includes 212 cards, 103 food tokens, 75 egg miniatures, 5 custom wooden dice, 5 player mats, a birdfeeder-shaped dice tower, 2 game component trays, 1 goal mat, 8 goal tiles, 1 first player token, 40 action cubes, and 1 scorepad.  The game also comes with an appendix that explains the effects of all bird cards and an “Automa” guide that offers a way to play the game solitaire.

Intended for 1 to 5 players, ages 10 and up, Wingspan takes about an hour to play.  MSRP is $55.00.

Stonemaier released its crossover game Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig in October (see “The Building Bonanza of Mad King Ludwig Continues”).