Wingspan — The Best Board Game Ever
Introduction
Based on the publisher Stonemaier Games, Wingspan is a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and features over 170 birds illustrated by Beth Sobel, Natalia Rojas, and Ana Maria Martinez.
How to play?
You are bird enthusiasts — researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors — seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). These habitats focus on several key aspects of growth:
- Gain food tokens via custom dice in a birdfeeder dice tower
- Lay eggs using egg miniatures in a variety of colors
- Draw from hundreds of unique bird cards and play them
The winner is the player with the most points after 4 rounds.
Where to play?
You can play Wingspan physically or online. The game application is available on iOS and Android, and you can download it to PC, tablet, and phone devices.
User Interaface
A brief story of how I got into this game — I was introduced to this game by a friend. When I visited my friend’s place, we, a group of five, played Wingspan physical board game. It took us approx. one hour to finish the game including onboarding, and I just couldn’t get enough of it. I immediately purchased and downloaded the game to my iPhone 11. This is the first paid game app I have ever paid for. I started to play with online players. I felt the screen was too small to read the words on the cards, so I soon moved to my iPad 2018. The app store is linked, so I can download the game and sync up my data. And today, I would like to discuss further the UI of the Wingspan app on the tablet device.
Eight steps to intuitive UI
1. discoverability
There is no walk-through when you enter the game the first time. Not every instruction is very straightforward, and completing an action might require more than one click. For example, if you want to draw cards in your round, you have to press the water habitat (blue icon on the left), select the egg to exchange for an extra drawing if applicable, press the arrow on the right corner to confirm, and then you can draw cards. A lot of actions in the game require multiple clicks to complete, and there’s no instruction.
However, the game interface simulates the board game, so if you are an O2O (offline-to-online) player, it is very fast for you to pick up how to operate the games. Some features only pop up when it’s needed, such as the 2nd and 3rd actions marked in the above image. Thus, the players can find the features they are looking for within a limited time.
2. affordance
In general, the design is consistent between offline and online, so my friends and I did not feel any unfamiliarity while switching between online and offline. The visual design of active and inactive buttons is not common, but it is easy to understand.
3. comprehensibility
Each bird has different functions, and you can easily read it by tapping the cards. When you tap the card on your hand, the card will float up and be highlighted.
When you go to the player board by pressing the bird profile photo on the top center of the screen, you can view other players’ card sets too. You can tap any of the bird cards to flip all the cards over and see the functions and tap again to learn more about the bird species.
Card overview -tap once-> Card function -tap again-> Species intro -tap again-> Card overview
4. responsive feedback
The game makes amazing use of sound for providing feedback. When you draw a bird card, there will be that bird species’ chirping sound; when you roll the dice, there will be the sound of dice hitting the box.
5. predictability
You can always check everyone’s current score by pressing the card set on the right top corner, so you can change your strategy accordingly.
6. efficiency
I spend a similar time on the online version compared to the offline one. I think the interaction is very easy to follow and there’s no repetitive process. The only possibility to slow down the pace is only when your competitor is not staying online all the time. The game gives each player a maximum time of 10 minutes to complete one turn, so the player can leave and take a break anytime. However, the other player on the table might end up waiting longer.
7. forgiveness
The game will ask you to click a confirm arrow each time you play your time, preventing errors. However, if you have played your turn, there’s no turning around, which is reasonable.
8. explorability
For new players, there is a computer mode where you can practice with a computer without being afraid of losing. There are AI and Automa in the computer mode. The Automa is designed with formulas that react in response to the card, independent of the available bird cards and round goals, whereas AI mimics an actual player. This design allows the solo player to select the components based on personal preference.
I personally think the UI of this game is intuitive for an O2O player like me, but it will be better to provide a walk-through tutorial for new players.
User feedback
Just wanted to say: I adore this game! I am a birder and a huge fan of all things birds! My family and I spend a few hours each week playing this. I also play this game on steam regularly. I love the tactile aspects like rolling food dice, laying eggs and moving around food. I love the art, color choices for eggs & tokens, and even the game mat art. I am just so happy and grateful that this game was created.
- Kale
The app version of Wingspan is very well done though. (…) The cool thing about the game is that you start off with a certain number of actions, but at the end of each round, one of your actions goes on the “end-of-round” scoring area, so you lose it. Thus, you will be getting fewer actions each turn, but that should be offset by the birds you have in your tableau making each action stronger.
Love the game. Is there any way to get cards with larger fonts? Even with glasses some family members can’t make out the details easily. Yes it would likely mean a large board and cards which we’d be happy to pay for.
I think the game has received good feedback, and the only concern pointed out is the information architecture and accessibility. I look forward to seeing how Wingspan makes the information easier to read and understand by those who can’t read the small fonts or read slowly.
Conclusion
I am never a big fan of birds, but I started to recognize birds in the wild after playing this game. For me, this game is very fun and also educational.
If you fancy strategically thinking, then this game is for you.
