What it is
Wingspan Pocket is a card game about birds for one to five players, designed by Elizabeth Hargrave like the big Wingspan. It keeps the core idea, putting together birds that work like an engine, but it’s a game of its own: leaner, in a small box, and its cards don’t mix with the original’s.
Every card has two sides, a bird on one and a type of food on the other. There are a few piles in the middle of the table, and when you take a card you’re already deciding what it will be, a bird for your row or the food to pay for one. Each bird has a power, and every turn, whatever you did, your row activates from left to right, bird by bird.
The game ends when someone plays their sixth bird. Points come from the birds themselves, from the eggs you’ve laid and from the cards tucked under your birds, so every spot in the row has to be worth the card you put there.
How it plays
Compared to the big game, you feel the difference right away. There’s one row instead of three, so it has to get going from the very first turn. And with six cards at most there’s no margin: they have to be the right ones, no mistakes allowed. Victory lies in balancing birds that produce with birds that will score points.
It also plays solo, against an automated opponent.
The nugget
The box you find in shops survived three days of criticism. In January, at Stonemaier’s company retreat, the first time all eight employees were in the same place, Jamey Stegmaier brought the prototype and his colleagues took it apart piece by piece. The game itself was fine, he says; what didn’t convince them was the product, which is exactly his job. Among the few rule changes was a final round of turns that dragged things out at bigger tables, and Elizabeth Hargrave approved the cut.
At our table
A great game: portable, quick, and good both for Wingspan fans and for anyone who’s never played it and just wants a nice card game.
How long does Wingspan Pocket take?
The box says 25–35 minutes. At our table: 35 minutes at four.
The box
What’s the game you’re looking forward to most this year?
The one already on your list that you still can’t find in shops.
