It’s been a couple years since I wrote about Elizabeth Hargrave’s Wingspan card game, in which you collect the best birds for your aviary before the competing bird enthusiasts at your table can. I still highly recommend buying it too, but if you don’t need another complex physical object in your life, the iOS version of the game is there to satisfy your fictive birding needs.

Like the real-world board game, the iPad and iPhone adaptation has 1–5 players each seeking to fill out their respective network of wildlife preserves (three per player) with the best birds through a series of strategic card resource plays, à la Magic: The Gathering. Every bird you attract to your preserve has its own ability for things like gathering more resources, laying eggs, or drawing cards.

While the physical game is a thing of beauty in its own right, the mobile game fleshes (feathers?) things out with charming animations, authentic bird recordings and other sound effects, voice narrations, a variety of pleasant play backgrounds, and the ability to play against AI if you don’t feel like playing against people.

(Of course, you can always hop onto an online multiplayer game if you like.)

You can buy the iOS edition of Wingspan for $10 on the App Store. An Android version is also available, as well as versions for Nintendo Switch, Xbox, and Steam (although the latter three are $20 rather than only $10).

Posted By Chris Gonzales