Is Wingspan a heavy game?

Wingspan is a popular and award-winning board game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games in 2019. It is a card-driven, engine-building game where players compete to attract birds to their wildlife preserves. Wingspan has beautiful illustrations and engaging gameplay but some players wonder if it is too complex for casual game nights. Let’s take a closer look at Wingspan’s weight and accessibility.

Gameplay Overview

In Wingspan, players take turns playing bird cards to their individual player boards which represent their bird habitats. Birds provide different benefits like allowing players to gain food, lay eggs, draw more cards, or tuck cards under for victory points. Players use these benefits to acquire more birds and build their engine. The game takes place over 4 rounds and has end of round goals that award bonus points. After the last round, players tally their points to see who has attracted the most valuable collection of birds.

Weight Dimensions in Board Games

Board games are often ranked on various “weight” scales that aim to measure their complexity and accessibility for players. Some key dimensions by which weight is judged include:

Rules Overhead

How long and difficult is it to teach new players? How much are players referencing the rulebook during gameplay? Games with simpler rules are lighter while heavy rulebooks lead to heavier games.

Decision Space Complexity

How many options and strategies do players have to consider each turn? Games with more scope for creative decision-making and optimization tend to have higher weight.

Required Time Investment

How long do turns, rounds, and full gameplay take? Shorter games tend to be light while heavy games require setting aside a whole evening.

Required Brain Burn

How mentally demanding is the game process in terms of memory, planning, strategizing, calculating, etc? The more brainpower required, the heavier the game.

So Is Wingspan a Heavy Game?

Now that we have defined what makes a game’s weight light versus heavy, let’s analyze where Wingspan falls on the spectrum:

Rules Overhead

Wingspan has medium rules overhead. The basics can be taught in under 10 minutes but there are many small exceptions and card synergies that add complexity over time. This makes it moderately heavy on the rules front.

Decision Space Complexity

Each turn of Wingspan presents players with many options of which birds to acquire, where to place them, when to use card powers, etc. Balancing short term point gains versus long term investments provides challenging decision space. This strategic freedom contributes to higher weight.

Required Time Investment

A full game takes around 40-70 minutes depending on player count. This puts Wingspan on the lighter end of the scale for time investment. Individual turns are also not too long which keeps the game moving.

Required Brain Burn

There are some tough optimization choices and card synergies to consider in Wingspan. Players need to think ahead about how to build their engine effectively. There’s enough mental challenge to push it slightly heavier.

Weight Recommendations

Board game info sites tend to rate Wingspan as medium or medium-heavy weight. Here are some sample recommendations:

So most experts agree Wingspan is in the medium-heavy range, though not extremely heavy.

Is Wingspan Accessible for Casual Players?

Though rated medium-heavy, Wingspan remains quite accessible and enjoyable for more casual gamers for a few key reasons:

– Attractive theme & artwork immediately pulls players in
– Turns are quick paced once you know the options
– Basic rules are easy to grasp
– No direct conflict so less stressful
– Can use simple strategies to start & optimize later

Wingspan’s weight comes more from the potential depth and optimization for experienced gamers. But it isn’t the most complex engine builder or competitive Eurogame. This gives it fairly wide appeal across novice to advanced players.

Tips for Keeping Wingspan Accessible

Here are some tips if you want to keep Wingspan fun and accessible for more casual players new to the game:

– Have players watch a quick how-to-play video so they grasp the flow first.
– Help new players the first game by offering strategy tips and reminding them of options.
– Allow undoing moves while they are learning.
– Recommend focusing on completing end of round goals at first.
– Play open-handed, talking through moves to spread knowledge.
– Don’t emphasize optimization too much early on.

Conclusion

At its heart, Wingspan offers interactive, multi-faceted gameplay rich in opportunities for strategy without being the brain-burning beast that some heavy Eurogames can be. It may take a play or two to feel comfortable maneuvering its various engines but the beautiful theming and quick turns make it easier than most games of its weight class for new players to get into. With a few supportive strategies, Wingspan can be kept accessible for casual gamers wanting to try out a fresher, meatier game. The nuanced depth will continue to reward skill development over many satisfying plays.