Underwater Wingspan?

Most 🐠 Finspan reviews I’ve seen compare it to 🦅 Wingspan, calling it a simpler version. 🤔 I guess my own thoughts won’t be surprisingly different either, but I wouldn’t call it much less complex. For me they are at a pretty similar level, but Finspan streamlines certain things. 🤿 Let’s dive in! (pun intended)

Gameplay will feel familiar. 🧐 You have a player board, though now it is vertical to symbolize the depth of the ocean. Each turn you’ll spend diver meeples either to play a card to your board, or to activate 1 of the 3 columns gaining bonuses accordingly. You get 6 divers, meaning 6 turns per round and you play for 4 rounds. Again, rounds are followed by a quick scoring, then at game end you get points for your fish cards, eggs, young and school of fish tokens. 

The most notable difference is resource management and card costs 💰. Instead of drafting resources based on dice, you just pay by discarding other cards, eggs or young tokens. Laid eggs can hatch into young fish, which can then form schools for extra points - provided three end up in the same space. Some cards require eating (covering up) smaller fish, making finspan values relevant.

Like Wingspan, your board has three regions, but they’re more distinct. Fish are picky about real estate, so you’ll need to consider depth zones - Sunlight 🌅, Twilight 🌄, and Midnight 🌙 - along with three column colors. 

Card effects are also familiar: some trigger when played, some when activated by a diver, and some provide end-game bonuses. A small but welcome tweak is that your "hand" isn’t actually in your hands - it’s displayed to the left of your board. This gives open information to opponents but feels more convenient. Discarded cards can sometimes be regained, so the perfect combo piece isn’t necessarily lost forever. 😉

💬Do you need this game? I believe it all comes down to your preference. If you are fascinated by fish, and birds are just pigeons with different wing sizes to you 😄, then you might enjoy Finspan more than Wingspan. Otherwise the differences are pretty miniscule, and the games ultimately feel similar.