Wingspan (2nd Edition) – Award-Winning Birdwatching Engine-Building Board Game

Build your own wildlife sanctuary and discover hundreds of fascinating birds in Wingspan (2nd Edition), the award-winning engine-building board game from Stonemaier Games.

As bird enthusiasts, researchers, birdwatchers, ornithologists and collectors, you'll compete to attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird you add strengthens your habitats, creating increasingly powerful combinations as you gain food, lay eggs and attract more birds.

Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and beautifully illustrated by Natalia Rojas and Ana María Martínez Jaramillo, Wingspan combines approachable gameplay with satisfying strategic depth. The 2nd Edition is the current edition and includes the Swift Start Pack, making it easier for new players to learn the game.

What Is Wingspan?

Wingspan is a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven engine-building board game for 1–5 players.

Each player develops three habitats representing different environments:

• Forest – Focus on gaining food.

• Grassland – Focus on laying eggs.

• Wetland – Focus on drawing and playing bird cards.

Every bird you play can introduce a new ability, resource or scoring opportunity. As you fill your habitats, those abilities begin to work together, allowing you to create increasingly effective combinations.

The game is played over four rounds, with players scoring points for birds, eggs, bonus cards, round goals and other achievements. The player with the most points at the end wins.

How to Play Wingspan

On your turn, you choose one of four actions:

Gain Food
Use the birdfeeder dice tower to collect the food needed to attract new birds.

Lay Eggs
Place colourful egg miniatures on your birds. Eggs are useful for playing additional birds and can also contribute to your final score.

Draw Bird Cards
Choose from the available bird cards and build a hand of potential additions to your habitats.

Play a Bird
Spend the required food and eggs to place a bird in the appropriate habitat, then activate its ability.

As your habitats become populated, you'll have more opportunities to trigger bird powers and create combinations. The challenge is deciding which birds to play, when to activate your habitats and how to balance your short-term needs with your long-term scoring strategy.

After four rounds, the player with the most victory points wins.

Why You’ll Love Wingspan

• Hundreds of unique bird cards – Discover beautifully illustrated birds with real-world information.

• Satisfying engine building – Watch your wildlife sanctuary become increasingly efficient.

• Easy to learn, difficult to master – Straightforward actions lead to plenty of strategic decisions.

• Beautiful production – Custom wooden components, colourful eggs and the iconic birdfeeder dice tower.

• Excellent solo mode – The included Automa system provides a dedicated solo experience.

• 1–5 players – Works for solo play, couples, families and larger groups.

• Highly replayable – Different birds, bonus cards and goals create new strategic possibilities.

• Award-winning design – Wingspan won the prestigious 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres award.

Who Is Wingspan For?

Wingspan is ideal for players who enjoy:

• Engine-building board games

• Wildlife and nature themes

• Card-driven strategy

• Tableau building

• Resource management

• Solo board games

• Games with beautiful artwork and components

• Medium-weight strategy games

• Games that reward planning without relying on direct player conflict

It's particularly appealing if you enjoy watching a small collection of cards develop into a powerful engine over the course of a game.

Build Your Wildlife Sanctuary

Each player begins with a personal wildlife preserve divided into three habitats.

Your forest helps you gather food, your grassland provides opportunities to lay eggs and your wetland allows you to draw and play more bird cards.

The clever part is that every habitat becomes more powerful as you fill it.

A bird played earlier in the game can provide an ability that makes later actions more effective. As your sanctuary develops, you can create chains of abilities that generate food, eggs, cards and other benefits.

The result is an engine that feels noticeably different from one game to the next.

Discover Hundreds of Birds

One of Wingspan's biggest attractions is its collection of beautifully illustrated bird cards.

The current base game contains 170 unique bird cards, each representing a real bird species. The cards include bird information alongside their gameplay abilities, making the game as much about discovering wildlife as it is about strategic development.

From tiny songbirds to impressive birds of prey, every addition gives you another potential combination to explore.

Food, Eggs & Bird Powers

Wingspan's resource system is deliberately simple but creates plenty of interesting decisions.

You'll collect food using five custom wooden dice in the birdfeeder, then spend that food to attract birds.

Birds also require eggs to be played, while eggs themselves can become an important scoring resource. Managing the balance between food, eggs, cards and bird abilities is central to developing an efficient engine.

The more birds you add, the more powerful your habitats become — but with limited actions each round, you'll need to decide which opportunities are worth pursuing.

Main Mechanics

Engine Building
Develop increasingly powerful combinations of bird abilities as your sanctuary grows.

Tableau Building
Build your personal wildlife preserve across three different habitats.

Card Management
Choose which birds to keep, play and combine with your existing engine.

Resource Management
Collect and spend food and eggs efficiently while managing your available actions.

Set Collection
Collect birds and pursue bonus cards and objectives for additional points.

Variable Objectives
Round-end goals and bonus cards provide different scoring opportunities from game to game.

Solo Play
The included Automa system allows Wingspan to be played as a dedicated solo experience.

Wingspan 2nd Edition

The 2nd Edition is the current version of Wingspan and includes the Swift Start Pack.

The Swift Start content is designed to help new players learn the game through guided introductory setups. This makes the 2nd Edition particularly useful for players who are discovering Wingspan for the first time.

The current edition remains compatible with the Wingspan expansion range, allowing you to add birds and new gameplay options from expansions such as the European, Oceania and Asia releases.

Games Like Wingspan

If you enjoy Wingspan, you may also like:

• Wyrmspan – Dragon-themed engine building with caves, resources and a more tactical feel.

• Finspan – Underwater engine building featuring fish, eggs and schools.

• Earth – Large-scale ecosystem engine building with a huge variety of cards.

• Everdell – Woodland-themed tableau building with animals and resource management.

• Cascadia – Nature-themed tile placement and wildlife collection.

• Viticulture: Essential Edition – Strategic engine building and resource management from Stonemaier Games.

• Apiary – Heavier Stonemaier strategy combining worker placement and engine building.

Game Information

	Details
Game	Wingspan (2nd Edition)
Publisher	Stonemaier Games
Designer	Elizabeth Hargrave
Artists	Natalia Rojas & Ana María Martínez Jaramillo
Players	1–5
Playing Time	Approx. 40–70 minutes
Age	14+
Game Type	Strategy / Engine Building / Card Game
Mechanics	Engine Building / Tableau Building / Card Management / Set Collection / Resource Management
Theme	Birds / Wildlife / Nature
Release	2024 2nd Edition
UK RRP	£59.99
SKU	STM910
Barcode	644216627721
Language	English

Current UK distributor information lists Wingspan (2nd Edition) at £59.99 RRP, with SKU STM910, barcode 644216627721, 1–5 players and age 14+.

What's Included?

The current Wingspan base game includes:

• 170 unique bird cards

• 26 bonus cards

• 16 Automa cards

• 103 food tokens

• 75 egg miniatures

• 5 custom wooden dice

• 5 player mats

• 1 birdfeeder dice tower

• 1 two-piece Game Trayz custom tray

• 1 goal mat

• 8 goal tiles

• 1 first-player token

• 40 action cubes

• 1 scorepad

• 3 rulebooks covering the core game, Automa and appendix

The current edition also includes the Swift Start Pack, providing guided introductory content for new players.

Wingspan FAQ

How many people can play Wingspan?

Wingspan supports 1–5 players, with a dedicated solo mode.

How long does Wingspan take to play?

The current Stonemaier listing gives a play time of approximately 40–90 minutes, while UK retailers commonly list around 40–70 minutes depending on player count.

What age is Wingspan suitable for?

The recommended age is 14+.

Is Wingspan difficult to learn?

Wingspan is a medium-weight strategy game. The four available actions are straightforward to understand, while the deeper challenge comes from combining bird abilities and planning your engine.

Does Wingspan have a solo mode?

Yes. The base game includes the Automa system, allowing you to play Wingspan solo.

Is Wingspan 2nd Edition compatible with the expansions?

Yes. The current Wingspan edition is the base game for the wider Wingspan expansion range, including European, Oceania and Asia.

What is new in Wingspan 2nd Edition?

The current 2nd Edition includes the Swift Start Pack, with guided introductory content intended to make learning the game easier.

Did Wingspan win an award?

Yes. Wingspan won the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres award in 2019.

Is Wingspan part of the same series as Wyrmspan and Finspan?

Yes. Wyrmspan and Finspan are part of the wider World of Wingspan, although each is a standalone game with its own mechanics and theme.

Buy Wingspan 2nd Edition from Roll The Dice Cornwall

Discover hundreds of beautiful birds and build your own thriving wildlife sanctuary with Wingspan (2nd Edition).

With elegant engine building, gorgeous components, real-world bird information and an excellent solo mode, Wingspan offers a rewarding strategy experience that works just as well for experienced gamers as it does for players discovering modern board games.

Attract the birds. Build your engine. Create the perfect wildlife sanctuary.