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Great Games Like Wingspan

Wondering if there are any great board games like Wingspan? We’ll give you our top recommendations for what to play next!

If you loved Wingspan, you may be looking for a new yet similar challenge. And if so, I’m so excited for you because there are so many amazing games like Wingspan.

Wingspan took the board game world by storm when it was released in 2019. Since then, it has been followed up by two highly successful expansions (European, Oceania)and has been enjoyed by millions of players in the process. (Read our review of the base game.)

With engaging game play, challenging strategy, and a beautiful and immersive theme, Wingspan has been responsible for welcoming many new gamers into the hobby. But with so many amazing games out there, you may find yourself wondering what you should play next.

Below we’ll give you our top picks for games like Wingspan. We’ll do this by giving a few suggestions within the various mechanisms or categories Wingspan contains.

Elements of Wingspan

Engine Building
Open Drafting
Fulfilling Contracts
Nature Theme
Beautiful Art

You may like some or all of these elements, so in our quest to help you find your next favorite game, we’ll suggest games that include some of these or similar elements within as well.

This post is part of our “What Should I Play Next?” Series. For more in this series, check out our posts on

Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Codenames.

If You Love the Engine Building of Wingspan

In Wingspan you play birds into your sanctuary that each have special abilities. Some abilities trigger once when the bird is played, others are triggered at various points throughout the game giving you a special ability or bonus to help increase your score.

This mechanic is called engine or tableau building. If you love this part of Wingspan, you may also like it in the following two games.

Gizmos

Gizmos is a textbook engine building game all themed around building engines! We love how wonderfully streamlined Gizmos is. Quickly learned and easily understood, Gizmos is able to be enjoyed by players young and old without skimping on strategy.

Read our full review of Gizmos.

Res Arcana

Players will become mages who will gather essences, craft artifacts, and use them to summon dragons, gain power, and earn points. This is a tight, immensely satisfying race to 10 points and ultimate victory. Similar to Wingspan you’ll have to select cards to play in front of you that you feel have the best chance of helping you achieve your next goal. Res Arcana begins slow then quickly snowballs into a fevered race to the end.

If You Love Drafting Cards

In Wingspan you’ll select birds through a process of open drafting. You have a selection of birds to choose from and must select the best from what’s available to meet your goals or, in some cases, stop your opponents from selecting those birds.

If you love the drafting mechanic in Wingspan, you may also like it in the following games.

It’s a Wonderful World

In it’s a Wonderful World you’re working to expand your empire by choosing cards you hope to build to develop your city. Each card you successfully build increases your production power, allowing you to build more powerful cards on future turns. Players will choose cards through a process of closed drafting; selecting a single card from their hand, then passing the remaining around to the next person, repeating this process until all players have selected 7 cards which they’ll use for the round.

It’s a Wonderful World combines both drafting and tableau building into a highly strategic game where you ability to plan ahead will be put to the test.

Azul

Azul is a beautiful tile drafting game that you can play with almost anyone. Players take turns drafting colored tiles from the center circles to their player board. You work to collect different sets of colored tiles to satisfy placement requirements to score points.

We love how welcoming and tactile Azul is to play. There are multiple versions of Azul to play, we break down the differences between them in this post.

If You Love Fulfilling Contracts and End of Game Bonuses

Throughout Wingspan you are trying to fulfill various forms of contracts or goals to earn rewards. Each round has its own goal players work to fulfill while players are also able to work towards secret objectives that can earn them points at the end of the game.

If you love this part of Wingspan, you may also like it in the following games.

Viticulture Essential Edition

Viticulture is our go-to date night game. This is a medium difficulty game all about running a vineyard. You’ll work to create a successful vineyard by planting grapes, harvesting, creating and aging wines, and then selling those wines to fulfill various contracts.

Read our full review here.

Carpe Diem

In Carpe Diem you’ll try to build a successful city that generates the goods or various building conditions to satisfy the available scoring options. Players who fulfill the contract first remove that contract option from other players selection. Carpe Diem requires some hefty advance planning as you’re building your city so that when it comes time to fulfill the scoring conditions, you won’t be left without options.

Read our full review here.

If You Love the Nature Theme of Wingspan

There are no shortage of wonderful nature themed board games. If you love this element of Wingspan, you may also like the following games:

Everdell

When it comes to nature games, Everdell is at the top of the list. Everdell has a lot of similar mechanisms to Wingspan and is all set in the whimsical world of a civilization of forest critters living below the boughs of trees. Win or lose, Everdell is a delight to play every time and offers a really interesting challenge to keep you coming back.

Use our code Kelsey104 to receive 20% off the Standard Edition or Collectors Edition of Everdell courtesy of our friends from Starling Games!

Cascadia

Featuring the habitats and wildlife of the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia is a new favorite nature themed game in our home. We love the beautiful patterns that are created as you place terrain tiles into your ever expanding map that becomes populated with wildlife. Cascadia has a large puzzle feel for players who love a more abstract challenge.

If You Love the Art in Wingspan.

It is impossible to not mention the art of wingspan when reflecting on how this game has captivated and gained popularity over the last three years.

If you are wanting more beautiful, serene art styles to fill your game shelves, the next games are for you.

Floriferous

I can’t say enough good things about the art in Floriferous. I could frame every single card in this game and fill my home with them. And it’s no surprise that the art is a hit for players of Wingspan since Beth Sobel is not only the artist for Floriferous, but she is one of the artists who worked on Wingspan as well!

Read our full review here.

Meadow

Meadow is similarly filled with card upon card of nature art you can get lost in. There are over 200 unique watercolor illustrations in this set collection game. You’ll win by collecting cards with the most valuable species, landscapes, and discoveries — just try not to get distracted by the beautiful cards you collect!