Product image supplied by the brand
In this guide
Wingspan is a competitive, card-driven engine builder from designer Elizabeth Hargrave and publisher Stonemaier Games. Each player attracts birds to a network of wildlife preserves; every bird extends a chain of combinations in one of three habitats, and the player with the most points after four rounds wins. It won the 2019 Kennerspiel des Jahres.
This piece covers the base game only. Stonemaier's European store, which ships to the UK from a UK fulfilment centre, shows £65.00 as the regular price and £45.00 including VAT as the current price. Zatu sells it at £50.90 against a £59.99 RRP, and John Lewis lists it at £59.99 but was out of stock online when checked. The smaller Wingspan Pocket card game costs £18.00 on the European store, which sets the price of getting the theme without the full box.
Our verdict
Wingspan is worth its £65 list price for a household that likes quiet, puzzle-like play and will table it a few times; the £45 mark is a bonus. One box covers group nights and solo evenings.
- A good fit for
- Groups of two to four adults or teens who enjoy building a small engine over four rounds, solo players wanting an automated opponent, and gift buyers wanting a shelf-worthy game that gets played.
- We would skip it if
- You want a loud, fast party game, you mostly play with five short-attention-span people, or you only want the theme and would be happy with the £18 Wingspan Pocket card game.
Reasons to consider it
- Component count is generous for the price: 170 unique bird cards, 75 egg miniatures, 103 food tokens, custom wooden dice and a birdfeeder dice tower are all in the base box
- Stonemaier's Purchase Promise covers free replacement parts through an online form, plus a 20-day price guarantee and rules help in its forums
- Plays from one to five with the Automa deck included, so the solo mode is not an add-on
The compromises
- The European store lists 40 to 70 minutes in its spec block and 40 to 90 in the description; a first game with new players lands at the long end
- English-language product only when bought direct from Stonemaier; other languages go through separate localisation partners
- The store ships from a UK fulfilment centre within 10 days and the refund policy is a single line about order errors, so it suits planned purchases better than last-minute gifts
What we have not verified: The European store page does not print a recommended minimum age, so the age figure is not established here from the publisher. Interaction between players is light, which some groups read as relaxing and others as solitaire.
The things in this guide
A closer look at the products, who they may suit, and what to check before buying.
Wingspan (base game, current printing with swift-start pack)
The European store carries the current printing with the swift-start pack, sells at a £65.00 regular price (marked £45.00 including VAT when checked), and backs the copy with its free replacement parts form. If the £45.00 mark ends, Zatu at £50.90 (RRP £59.99) is likely the cheaper route, and it suits buyers who want a UK board game retailer's checkout; John Lewis was out of stock online.
Before you buy: Normal orders ship within 10 days for a flat £8, and refunds are limited to orders placed in error, so it is not a same-week gift solution.
Price checked 16 October 2026. Retailer prices can change.What is in the box
The European store itemises the contents: 170 unique bird cards, 26 bonus cards and 16 Automa cards for solo play, 103 food tokens, 75 egg miniatures, five custom wooden dice, five player mats, one birdfeeder dice tower, a goal mat with eight goal tiles, a first-player token, 40 action cubes (eight per player), a 50-sheet scorepad and three rulebooks covering the core rules, the Automa and an appendix. The publisher's game page adds that the swift-start teaching guide brings ten more unique bird cards.
One inconsistency is worth flagging. The store page lists a two-piece Game Trayz custom tray, while the game page lists two eco-friendly food and egg trays. Both describe the same product, so the insert appears to have changed between printings and your copy may differ. The publisher gives the box as 30 by 30 by 7 cm and 2.4 kg, which is a full-size square box, not a compact one.
How it plays and how long it takes
The store page describes the loop in three strokes: gain food from custom dice in a birdfeeder dice tower, lay eggs with egg miniatures, and draw from hundreds of unique bird cards and play them. Each bird extends a chain of combinations in one of your habitats, and the winner is whoever has the most points after four rounds. Stonemaier rates the game as medium weight, and Zatu lists it as 1 to 5 players.
The spec block gives 40 to 70 minutes and a 5-minute setup, while the description on the same page says 40 to 90 minutes. The longer figure is the one to budget for with newcomers, who will be reading card powers as they go. The swift-start pack included in this printing is the publisher's answer to that learning curve; the store page does not describe how the guide runs, so how much it shortens a first game is not established here.
Player count and the solo mode
The 16-card Automa deck and its own rulebook are part of the base box, not an expansion. For a player who lives alone or has a partner who is not interested, that is what separates a game that gets played from one that waits for guests. The store pages say nothing about how the Automa plays turn to turn, so it is fair to treat it as a competent solo option on the strength of the publisher's inclusion, not on a described ruleset.
The game is listed for one to five. The box holds five player mats and 40 action cubes at eight per player, so a full table is supported, but the pages offer no downtime figure and the stated game length does not change with player count. Two to four is the safer planning range if your group is new to the game.
Buying in the UK, shipping and replacement parts
Stonemaier's US store sends UK customers to its European store. That store prices in pounds including VAT, ships from a UK fulfilment centre, adds no further taxes on delivery in the UK, and charges a flat £8 for shipping, waived on orders over £105 (£84 for members of its paid Champion programme, who also save 20 percent on every order). Orders go out within 10 days unless the header says otherwise, and the quantity selector runs from one to four. At the £45.00 mark plus £8, a single copy comes to £53.00; at the £65.00 regular price it is £73.00, and neither total reaches the free-shipping line.
The Purchase Promise printed beside the price has three parts: a 20-day price guarantee, free replacement parts and rules help in the publisher's forums. The replacement-parts page sends owners of English-language copies to an online form and asks you to empty every inner bag first; a dented box is treated as a whole-game swap. Direct spare-part shipping is excluded for Mexico, South America, the Middle East and Africa, and the UK is not on that list. The refund policy is one line about orders placed in error, so casual returns are not part of this store's model.
When to skip it
Skip Wingspan if your group wants direct conflict or table talk. The publisher compares it to Terraforming Mars and Gizmos, so engine builders are the audience; players who want trading and blocking may find a game of bird cards and personal engines quiet to the point of feeling solitary. It also suits a table badly that needs a game under 30 minutes, since the stated floor is 40.
Two smaller reasons to hold off: language and space. The product is English-language, and other languages go through localisation partners, so a household reading mainly in another language should buy from the partner. The 30 by 30 cm box, five mats, a goal mat and a dice tower need a dining table, not a coffee table. If the appeal is mainly the theme, Wingspan Pocket is £18.00 on the European store, though the store sells it as a lighter, shorter card game (25 to 35 minutes, light weight), not as the same experience.
How we put this together
Built from the product pages and listings below, without test scores or results we have not measured. Specifications and prices change, so check the original page for the exact model, current price, delivery, and returns.
- Stonemaier Games (Europe): Wingspan product page (opens in a new tab)
- Stonemaier Games (Europe): Shipping Information (opens in a new tab)
- Stonemaier Games (Europe): Refund policy (opens in a new tab)
- Stonemaier Games: Wingspan game page (opens in a new tab)
- Stonemaier Games: Replacement Parts (opens in a new tab)
- Zatu Games: Wingspan (opens in a new tab)
- John Lewis: Asmodee Wingspan Game (opens in a new tab)
