Birdwatcher Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Birdwatcher, a set collection and card drafting game published by Renegade Games. In Birdwatcher, players are trying to collect bird cards by drafting them from their trees or an opponent's.

With Wingspan’s success, I anticipated other bird related games, so when Birdwatcher landed on my review table I was neither surprised or honestly that excited. However, this game holds its own. Birdwatcher is a fast-paced, competitive card drafting and set collecting game in which rival photographers attempt to assemble the best Photo Journal comprised of photographs of birds and publications in journals. 

The gameplay sticks to the theme and is relatively easy to understand once you start playing. You build your photo journal by taking photographs of birds from your tree or your rivals’ trees and by publishing your findings. Points are earned through set collection of the same birds, unique rare birds with their own point totals, optional exponential scoring birds called “The Twelve-wired Birds of Paradise” (used in a 5 player game and optional for 2-4 players), and end game scoring unique to each publication card. 

Cards enter the game/are played in 4 locations:

Each player has three actions to use on their turn:

The game ends when the first player reaches a set number of pages in their photo journal.

Much like the hobby itself, the Gameplay Overview I just wrote is a little dull, but the game itself is not. It plays very quickly as you call the birds you want to take photos of to your tree, take photos, startle birds, and score points. The publications can help focus your strategy as they reward you for complete sets, incomplete sets, birds with insect tokens, etc… This all results in a variety of successful