Another one I’m keen to highlight is the demo of Wingspan, a digital version of a popular bird-based board game. VidBud Matthew has a lovely time with it (depending on your interpretation of lovely). The aim is to build a better bird sanctuary than your rivals, being scored on the quality of your birds, resources and eggs. The video only shows a single round of the game, and Matthew describes it as “chill”, although he definitely loses his cool by the end…
It certainly feels very relaxing. The watercolour art, beautiful bird cards that become animated as you place them, and the lovely, gentle music throughout are enough to lull you into a false sense of security. At which point you get absolutely done by a duck in a jacket, clearly. It makes one wonder if real life avian conservation is like this - calm and gentle on the surface, and unbelievably cutthroat underneath. Wingspan does look complicated, and I don’t have much confidence in my ability to engage in high-level bird play without someone explaining all the rules to me. But it’s a popular board game for a reason, and after this video I 100% want to have a go. It’s also great hearing VidBud Matthew say things like “aw yes, the owl has collected another bird!” or “roll a worm for daddy!” or calling a swan “the mega-bird of legend.”
