Right now, board games are my way of escaping from real life. I’m sure I’m not alone in this – the immense political, economic, and technological change on our front doorsteps is at an overwhelming peak right now, so survival involves a hefty dose of self-care and social media breaks. What I might be alone in is my very specific way of coping, which is playing Wingspan. Over and over again.
It’s tough to look an Abbott’s Booby in the eye and feel worried about the world. Wingspan’s art is as soft as a dove’s feathers. Its mid-complexity engine builder is engrossing without inciting headache-inducing analysis paralysis – it’s one of the few strategy board games that I’d dare call soothing.
In the last three months, I’ve become a bit obsessed. I’ve clocked in 79 hours on the PC version of Wingspan (more than my colleague Matt Bassil has spent playing Baldur’s Gate 3) in a desperate quest for peace. The ‘meep’ of the American Woodcock now haunts my dreams. I’m 27, but I might be having a mid-life crisis.
Anyway, I was offered an interview with Elizabeth Hargrave recently.
Wingspan’s creator has just come back from a stint as PAX Unplugged’s special guest. Her latest mushroom-themed board game, Undergrove, is now reaching its Kickstarter backers. I imagine that the last thing on her mind is existential dread, so I don’t let it consume too much of our email interview time. However, the topic of change inevitably makes its way into our conversation.
The challenges of a new Wingspan expansion
Elizabeth Hargrave is a board game designer who’s very comfortable with change. Wingspan, for example, has changed several times thanks to the regular release of Wingspan expansions. And things are due to shift again: “I’m wrapping up playtesting on the fourth expansion now”, Hargrave tells Wargamer.
When asked about the challenges of updating one of the best board games in recent memory, she adds that “the challenges fall into two main categories”. “I feel like almost half the process is just compiling all the information I need and coming up with the list of birds”, she explains. “I spend months researching, and then weeks trying to wrangle a list that makes sense and is balanced.”
“I could maybe outsource some of this, but that research process also feeds directly into the design itself”, Hargrave says. Unsurprisingly, the actual mechanics are her second-biggest challenge. “The challenge on the design end, of course, is trying to make something that feels like it adds something fresh to the game without overloading it.”
“The research can kind of be done by brute force, but the design takes inspiration, which is a lot harder to force”, she adds. “But I’m excited with what I came up with for this next expansion!”
How Wyrmspan changed the game
The formula changed again in 2024 when Stonemaier released Wyrmspan, a dragon-y spinoff of the original avian title. Another designer, Connie Vogelmann, was in the captain’s chair this time.
Hargrave says she hasn’t spent much time dwelling on reviews or ratings, but “I get the sense that Wyrmspan has found the people we were trying to target – folks who were ready for another notch up in complexity”. “And folks who just love dragons”, she adds.
Hargrave originally created Wingspan because she wanted to fill a niche that was often overlooked in board game themes. Despite Wyrmspan returning to an inside-the-box fantasy identity, Hargrave is pleased that it still feels like Wingspan.
“I like that Stonemaier found an artist who made the dragons feel light and airy in a Wingspan-adjacent kinda way”, she says. “It’s less of a nod to old-school D&D and MTG than you might expect if you just heard it was a board game about dragons.”
“Who killed all the women who should be here?”
Hargrave is invested in changing more than just the board games themselves. She regularly highlights the lack of diversity in board game production, from the overwhelming number of white men in the top ranks on BoardGameGeek to the fractional number of women nominated for Spiel des Jahres awards.
When asked how the tabletop space has changed for marginalized designers in recent years, Hargrave says: “slowly but surely we’re seeing things move in the right direction”. “I think it’s shifted more for women than for non-white gamers, but we’re seeing progress there too.”
“It’s hard to explain to people who aren’t in one of those marginalized groups what a difference it makes to get to some sort of a critical mass at events”, Hargrave adds. “In the 2010s, I’d sometimes have a physical reaction walking into a room of gamers that felt like my body was saying “who killed all the women who should be here?”” Hargrave says she’s rarely the only woman present when she meets with gamers or game designers these days.
Despite a shift in the right direction, Hargrave says the industry still has work to do when it comes to industry and designer roles. “There’s just so much ground to make up”, she says.
“There’s a slide I’ve used a lot that shows that in the top 400 games on Board Game Geek in 2020, there were 583 designer credits – and 540 of them were white men.” “There have been some additions since then — including Connie Vogelmann for both Apiary and Wyrmspan, Sydney Engelstein for Ares Expedition, and Shei Santos for The White Castle. That’s barely enough to move the needle, but it’s moving.”
“This game is making people change their behavior in the real world”
According to Hargrave, board games themselves can do a lot to change people’s minds – and they could probably do more to facilitate real change. “I do think games have the potential to make actual differences in opinions and behavior”, she says. “I have heard so many people say they have become birders because of Wingspan.”
“This game is making people change their behavior in the real world”, she continues. “Birds are great, but I don’t think there’s anything so inherently different about them that games about other things can’t be changing our minds and our behavior as well.” “I think designers should be thinking a lot harder about this. What are we putting out into the world? If people spend hours engaging with it, how might they be changed?”
Beyond politics, play also has the power to alter community bonds, adds Hargrave. “As we get more and more separate in our online worlds, I think it’s really important that we don’t have to have anything in common, really, to have fun playing a game together.”
“And then how we play can be impactful as well – if you’re just playing with your existing friend group or family, great, you’re strengthening those connections, and we all need that right now”, she explains. “If we create opportunities to open that up, to game in public at libraries and stores and food courts, then we are building connections in larger communities and I think that could be even more important for social change.”
Time to take a break
Relationships seem to play a significant role in Hargrave’s design process. She mentions that a new board game she’s currently working on was inspired by her father, who suggested she design a game about collecting seashells on a beach. Hargrave’s Substack explains that this is a beloved pastime of her family (and that the game’s working title is Sanibel).
She also says “time with friends and family” is her number one way to de-stress when the world gets too anxiety-inducing. “And I’m a fiend for the New York Times crossword puzzle and a bunch of more logic-based puzzles like Nonograms and the bespoke Sudoku puzzles at Cracking the Cryptic”, she adds. “It definitely soothes my brain to have to work hard at something and not be able to think about anything else.”
Oh, and we can’t forget nature – time outside is a big de-stresser for Hargrave. One fun fact she shares is that “there have been studies showing that just looking at pictures of nature is very soothing to people and even has health benefits”. Perhaps that’s why I’ve turned to Wingspan so often in these uncertain times.
For more on the best board games for adults, here’s one that we’d recommend bringing out during the festive season – its main draw for non-board gamers is the fact that it’s barely a board game at all. Or, if you like festive presents, check out our winter Modiphius board game giveaway.
Source: Wargamer
