Mariposas Review

boardgamequest.com:

We review Mariposas, a set collection board game published by AEG. In Mariposas, players are breeding and migrating butterflies in the hopes of earning the most points.

With the migration of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly making news in my house this fall, as it was discussed in both my sons’ third-grade science and seventh-grade geography classes, Mariposas (Spanish for butterfly) seemed like the perfect game to review at this time. Elizabeth Hargrave apparently loves creatures that fly as she has followed up her remarkable debut game Wingspan with Mariposas, a game that covers the entire migration of the Eastern Monarch Butterfly.

Mariposas is a game of movement and set collection with baby-making thrown in for fun (as it tends to be) for 2-5 players that takes 45-75 minutes depending on player count and experience with the game. I have played it most often with 3-4 players.

The game is played over 3 seasons (Spring, Summer, and Fall). Each player has 4 turns to move their butterflies in Spring, 5 turns in Summer, and 6 turns in Fall. Each season has goals that are scored at the end of the season or instantly during the season. Final round scoring has both the Fall goals and scoring based on how many fourth-generation butterflies make the return trip to Michoacán for winter.

The gameplay is relatively straightforward, on your turn you:

Play one movement card and move your butterfly(s) accordingly and collect the flower tokens or waystation tokens depicted on the spaces.

Reproduce if you land on a milkweed symbol and if you have the required flower tokens.

Author’s note: Yes it is weird that you don’t need two butterflies, but I digress.

Draw back up to two cards

If one of your butterflies lands on a city tile you get a