Hmm, maybe I should have looked at this video before I started playing Wingspan in the first place …
Holy crap. Does this game seem needlessly complicated to anyone else on first blush? Or is the cleverness of the design only apparent after playing several times with the rule book at hand for reference? My non-gamer family members would all pick this up in the store with excitement (“Cool! A game with birds! 
“) and then go looking for the receipt after reading halfway through the rule book.
Stick with it, and maybe chalk up some of the growing pains to the way the app presents the info. You essentially only have 4 actions - play birds, get food, get eggs, draw cards. The objectives may have you wanting to do more than you’re able to do in one turn, but just focus on what might maximize your points.
I think the game is on the lighter end of the whole engine building subgenre but I will also admit that although I own and have played the the tabletop game, the way the info is presented in the app makes it harder for me to know what I want to do. It isn’t that the UI is bad, just that I’m not getting all the info I want in a quick glance and for whatever reason it is changing the way I make some decisions, if that makes sense.
2 Likes
Yes, the overview button is helping me a lot so far.
In playing the AI and trying to learn the game, I focused on trying to complete the missions for that round and plan ahead for the next mission rounds. If I just kept focused on those, it gave me a starting direction.
I will echo what @Mirefox and @kennfusion said, and perhaps take it one step further…
Ultimately, you need to place birds and lay eggs - roughly in that order of importance. Getting more birds allows you choice in placing birds, getting food allows you to place birds. And, in fact, placing birds inevitably requires eggs, so you can reduce your focus even further!
Everything else that gets you points is based on specific requirements (round scoring, bonus cards) or through special abilities of birds (tucking cards, storing food, etc.) - but getting those points comes back to placing birds and laying eggs too!
I’m oversimplifying on purpose here - the confusion comes in with all the ways that doing those two things can be affected or get you more or fewer points. Like any game with decent replayability, that just takes time to become familiar with.
Hopefully that helps @doublebullout and others - focus on placing birds first, then getting eggs, then consider round objectives and other variables as you get more accustomed to the game. The beauty of learning through an app is that you can’t mess up the rules, so you can save the reading for later and just play with the core mechanics and learn as you go!
Eventually, you can start to do the math on cost for points, etc. but like every other game in the Decathlon, that’s taking you to the higher levels of strategy which is useful for a tournament but not “necessary” for the enjoyment of the game!
3 Likes
Hi everyone! I can’t believe we actually did it! We completed 9 games in 9 months and we are ready to finish off the Decathlon!
Our tenth game is a relative fledgling, but has taken flight since it’s 2019 release (those puns are for the birds! 
) and it is currently ranked #21 overall on BGG and #1 in the Family category! It should be a great way to end the 2021 Decathlon with its 2.43 / 5.00 Complexity rating…
Wingspan! Link to the App Store
The first person at each table will please start a Custom Game with the tiered Goal Mat (marked “2/1/3”) and random Order (criss-crossing arrows.)
Please capture and post a screenshot of all final scoring details as they will be used to break any ties.
Good luck and happy gaming!
Here are the tables, in standing order:
| Player | Score | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| Table 1 | ||
| @feederofgoats | 37 | 6 |
| @Hardco | 35 | 5 |
| @KYakerDude | 31 | 5 |
| Table 2 | ||
| @geigerm | 31 | 4 |
| @JMH.75 | 31 | 4 |
| @Baelnor | 31 | 4 |
| Table 3 | ||
| @kennfusion | 29 | 5 |
| @jason1002 | 29 | 3 |
| @JammaTal | 29 | 2 |
| Table 4 | ||
| @Schlotzky | 27 | 3 |
| @SpiceTheCat | 27 | 3 |
| @irishdomer08 | 27 | 2 |
| Table 5 | ||
| @doublebullout | 27 | 1 |
| @JHTaube | 25 | 3 |
| @JaneHatke | 25 | 2 |
| Table 6 | ||
| @Codington | 23 | 3 |
| @whovian223 | 23 | 3 |
| @johnl | 23 | 2 |
| Table 7 | ||
| @js619 | 21 | 1 |
| @HostileApostle | 19 | 1 |
| @Mirefox | 17 | 1 |
Note that there are a number of possible ties in the final standings after this last game, including a potential tie for 1st place.
To reiterate, the first tie breaker will be number of wins.
If there is still a tie, then I will review all the games for a head-to-head comparison of tied participants.
If there is still a tie, I may go as far as looking at total score across all games but hopefully I won’t have to! 
1 Like
@whovian223 - it looks like you have the same username, but please confirm.
@johnl - please let me know your name for Wingspan and I’ll set up the game.
Are those posted scores kind of like golf scores?
2 Likes
I actually have both because you can’t use the same one on a different device.
Please use whovian223 for me, though.
1 Like
I might have just setup a game with @JammaTal and @jason1002, or I might not. Like everything else with this horrible app, I just don’t know, because it just has a ? where the other players I think I invited might be.
(yes, I am still harping on this app. I have been a very cantankerous old man recently. So you all get the hell of my lawn!)
3 Likes
@Codington I have an invite but it just has you. No third player.
Steam invites can be weird. Maybe it would be better to use my iOS ID?
it’s just whovian
you have, and perfectly well 
1 Like
@JHTaube, I’m having trouble finding your handle in Wingspan. We’re friends in GC, but that name doesn’t come up.
john1325 in game
1 Like
At my cousin’s wedding for the weekend, will send invites for the consolation table when I’m back home tomorrow PM @HostileApostle @Mirefox
1 Like
FYI, there have been a few bug reports on the Wingspan Discord channel about issues with timing out in online games.
Please try to check at least every other day so you don’t timeout and hopefully we won’t have any problems!
Oops. Got confused by your posts. Sent an invite to whovian223 and john1325. Hopefully that works!
Still nothing.
Let’s just use my iOS one (whovian).
Sorry about that.
Ok, invite sent to “whovian” (@whovian223) and “john1325” (@johnl)
Fingers crossed! (Dorsal guiding feathers crossed? )