BIRDWATCHER (2022)

PLAYERS	TIME	DESIGNER	PUBLISHER
1-5	25-60 mins	Zakir Jafry	Oni Games

BIRDWATCHER will immediately be compared to that ‘other bird game’, but it’s a totally different kettle of . . . birds?

Players head to the rainforest to photograph and document exotic birds. No dirty pigeons, or graceful swans. These are fancy birds; beautifully illustrated royal members of the avian family.

BIRDWATCHER is a set collection game. The twist here is that cards are placed in draft order, which means your perfect sets come to a halt if the right cards don’t show up.

Players have a few actions to spend each turn to manipulate bird cards around the four main locations.

The Jungle Board is where birds start. The Clearing Board is where they sort of hang out. Your personal Tree Board holds up to six birds. And your journal is where cards go once they are yours.

This is the tricky part, because the order is very important. And not just for bird sets. You can also draw Publication cards to give you End game bonuses, and these can often be position dependent.

I enjoy the puzzle of this game. Picking and planning what to take and when. Completing a set feels like an accomplishment.

However, I don’t enjoy the movement of the birds between the jungle, the clearing, and the trees. It’s too busy. I feel it would work better as a SUSHI GO! draft and pass type game.

Having birds go between several locations means you spend most of your turn moving cards around just to photograph one. It’s like a tight, resource thirsty Euro. Except it’s not really.

I also don’t find the insect tokens necessary. You’re already collecting sets, and here’s more sets within the cards. More often than not, they are a little bonus, not your main target so tactics rarely involve them.

Overall BIRDWATCHER looks beautiful across its production. It feels like there’s a simpler game underneath the complication of several unnecessary boards. While it won’t challenge WINGSPAN for the bird game crown, it still works well for people who like the theme.