While I love the original Wingspan, it is a lot of game in terms of table space, components and time required to play relative to its weight, meaning it doesn’t make it to the table all that often these days.  So when it was announced that Stonemaier Games were launching Wingspan Pocket I was very excited to see whether it would successfully make the game more accessible, while retaining all the magic of the original.

Keep scrolling to read my full review, or click to jump to the part you’re really intreseted in!

How to play

Wingspan Pocket does away with food tokens and dice, and instead uses double sided cards as both birds and food.  Each player starts with a hand of 6 cards and chooses 2 to keep as birds in their reserve. The rest are your starting food supply. 

There are just 3 possible actions to take each turn:

• Add a bird from your reserve to your flock, paying the food and egg cost
• Draw any 2 cards from the supply
• Lay 3 eggs, on 3 different birds or your nest

Once you’ve taken your action, activate any brown powers in your flock (green powers give you ongoing abilities). You get to do this every turn! Then it’s onto the next player.

It’s that simple. The game ends when the first person adds a 6th bird to their flock, with players taking a final turn if required so that everyone has had the same number of turns. 

You’ll score points for birds, tucked cards, eggs and goals to determine the winner.  

Goals

Goals, which are used in the ‘advanced’ mode, are – like many elements of the game – a simplified version of the original.  

Rather than competing for majorities, simply score one point for every egg on a card that meets one of the two goal conditions. If an egg is on a card that meets both conditions, it scores twice.

This is on top of scoring one point for every egg, so 3 eggs laid on a bird that doesn’t meet either goal is still worth 3 points. 

How to play: Solo mode

In the solo mode you’re playing against the Automa. Those familiar with the original will be pleased to hear that Pocket keeps all of the simplicity of the solo experience with very light touch rules and automa upkeep. 

Before starting, tailor the automa deck to your preferred difficulty, then set one card from the deck aside.

After every turn you take, flip a card for the automa which will see it do 3 things:

• Draw food and bird cards. Food cards go into the automa’s supply, bird cards immediately get tucked under its nest card. 
• Add a bird from the display to its flock, if it has the required number of food cards (food type doesn’t matter). The automa will mostly prioritise birds that achieve goals. 
• Lay the number of eggs shown on the card

That’s it. The automa scores slightly differently but this is clearly set out, and has so far given some really balanced results. 

My thoughts

🐦 The rules are very simple to grasp, especially if you’ve played Wingspan before.

🐦 You get to activate brown powers every turn which is really satisfying but means the emphasis on building an effective engine and playing cards that synergise well is possibly even stronger as there’s no room for deadwood here!. 

🐦 Goals are used in the ‘advanced’ game so you can leave them out for a more accessible variant for beginners or an even lighter game. 

🐦 The goals put a lot of emphasis on laying eggs. No eggs = no points from goals. It’s no good adding 6 birds to your flock that meet all goal criteria if you have no way to lay eggs, so you’ll need to find a balance in your strategy that may mean picking a bird that doesn’t meet a goal if it helps your engine, or scores big points on its own.

🐦 The egg laying action does mitigate against not having anything in your engine that lays eggs, but the game is so tight I’ve only wanted to use this a couple of times so far – much better to build this into your engine if you can.

🐦 While this is a lighter version of Wingspan, that by no means means your moves require any less careful thought and consideration. In fact with a max of just 6 birds in your flock you can argue that every turn matters that much more.

🐦 That said, it IS a lighter version, not just the same game in a smaller box. Don’t expect the same strategic depth or for this to scratch exactly the same itch as the original. It does however scratch a different itch very well indeed.

💡 PRO TIP: I recommend scoring goal cards before everything else, as checking tucked cards will have you moving around eggs and it’s quite easy to forget where they were

Solo thoughts

🐦 I can definitely see this getting a lot of solo playtime. It’s about 30 minutes to setup, play, score and pack away so falls really nicely into the category of games I can reach for as a “filler” between regular daily activities. 

🐦 I was a bit daunted by the Automa having it’s own dedicated rulebook at first, but unnecessarily so. Once you have a handle on the card iconography it’s a breeze and you can run the automa’s turn in a matter of seconds. 

🐦 There’s no flowchart for working out which cards Automa draws. Just pick from the decks indicated on the Automa card. Similarly, when paying food to add a bird to the flock, it’s the quantity not type of food that matters. 

🐦 The exception to the above is that when adding a bird to the flock, the Automa will generally prioritise birds that meet goal criteria. Goal cards are mandatory in the solo game, so you keep this element of competition that you would have in a multiplayer game. 

🐦 They’ve done a great job of keeping the Automa as simple as possible while still giving an experience that mimics playing against a real opponent.

TL;DR

Wingspan Pocket does exactly what it sets out to achieve in distilling all of the key elements of Wingspan into a smaller package which will make it more accessible and enjoyable for many people who – for whatever reason – don’t play or enjoy the original.

What it’s not is a direct replacement for Wingspan. It is very much a lighter version, not just the same game in a smaller box, so don’t expect the same strategic depth or tension. It is however still tight and thinky, like the original, so every turn matters just as much

Is it better than the original? For me personally (and it is a personal thing!), no it’s not better. But will I reach for it more? Absolutely. 

In terms of the solo mode, the original is fantastic and one of my favourite automas to play with. Pocket retains all of that simplicity for a streamlined solo experience with no fuss or frills. 

Disclaimer: Wingspan Pocket was kindly gifted to me by the publisher for review purposes, but all thoughts are my own.