A Step-by-Step Guide to Wingspan
Wingspan is a beautifully designed, engine-building board game where players compete to attract birds to their wildlife preserves. If you’ve just unboxed it and are wondering how to get started, don’t worry—I’ve got you covered. Let’s break it down step by step so you can get playing without flipping through the rulebook a hundred times. Here is how to Play Wingspan
Setting Up Wingspan
Before you start, make sure everyone has the following:
- A player mat (each person gets one)
- Eight action cubes (your way of taking turns)
- Five bird cards (drawn randomly)
- Two bonus cards (pick one, discard the other)
- Five food tokens (chosen from the available supply)
- One goal board (place in the centre)
- Four round goal tokens (randomly drawn and placed on the goal board)
- The bird feeder dice tower and all food dice
- A stack of face-down bird cards (place near the board)
- The face-up bird tray (draw three birds from the deck to place here)
To finish setup, everyone discards bird cards equal to the number of food tokens they keep. This balances early-game choices between food and birds. So if you keep 3 birds you can only keep 2 food, if you keep 1 bird you can keep 4 food. Birds and food should add up to 5.
Game Flow: How a Wingspan Turn Works
Each turn, you get one action using your action cubes. You can choose from four options:
1. Play a Bird Card
- Place a bird in the forest, grasslands, or wetlands (matching its habitat).
- Pay the required food cost.
- Place the bird on the leftmost empty slot in that row.
- Some birds have immediate “when played” effects—resolve them now.
2. Gain Food (Forest Row)
- Take the number of food dice shown in your leftmost empty forest slot.
- Choose food from the bird feeder dice.
- Any birds with an activated “gain food” effect in this row now trigger.
3. Lay Eggs (Grasslands Row)
- Gain eggs equal to your leftmost empty grasslands slot.
- Place eggs on any bird (up to its limit).
- Activate any bird powers in this row.
4. Draw Bird Cards (Wetlands Row)
- Draw bird cards from either the face-up tray or the deck.
- The number you can take depends on your leftmost empty slot.
- Activate any “draw card” bird powers in this row.
Once you’ve completed your action, move your cube to the “Used Actions” section of your mat. Play moves clockwise.
End of Round Scoring
After everyone has placed all their action cubes, the round ends. Here’s what happens:
- Check the Goal Board:
- Compare your progress with the current round’s goal (e.g., most eggs in cavity nests).
- Score based on position (some play with a competitive ranking system, others with a simple “yes/no” achievement style—check your game’s goal board for which one applies).
- Reset for the Next Round:
- Discard all birds from the face-up tray and replace them.
- Re-roll the food dice in the bird feeder.
- Remove used action cubes from your player mat.
- Move to the next round’s goal.
The game has four rounds in total.
End of Game and Final Scoring
After round four, it’s time to count up points:
- Birds played: Each bird is worth its printed points.
- Bonus cards: Check if you’ve met the conditions on your personal bonus card.
- End-of-round goals: Add up your goal board scores.
- Eggs: Each egg is worth one point.
- Cached food (on birds): Each piece of stored food is worth one point.
- Tucked cards (under birds): Each tucked card is worth one point.
The player with the most points wins! In the case of a tie, whoever has the most food tokens left wins. Still tied? The victory is shared.
A Few Quick Tips for Wingspan Beginners
- Don’t ignore your bonus card. It can swing the game in your favour if planned early.
- Eggs are a great source of points. Don’t forget to lay them!
- Use your bird powers wisely. Some trigger often, some are one-time bonuses—choose carefully.
- Pay attention to what others are doing. You don’t want to lose a key bird to an opponent who’s been eyeing the same card.
- The food dice reset when all of one type are taken. Keep this in mind to get the food you need.
Ready to Take Flight?
That’s the gist of it! Wingspan is a game that’s easy to learn but has loads of strategic depth once you get the hang of it. Whether you’re playing casually or getting competitive, it’s a fantastic experience every time. Now, shuffle those bird cards and get playing!