Finspan Sharks and Reefs Expansion Review
An enjoyable first expansion for Finspan. The added mechanics are good but don't add anything to the game that was missing or needed.
Finspan Sharks and Reefs: Quick Summary
Score:
7/10
Number of Players:
2-4
Time to Play:
30 minutes
An easy expansion to play; the real benefit here is the extra fish cards. As ever, they are beautifully designed and fascinating. The new coral mechanic isn't bad, but isn't necessary either and endangers the smooth flow of the original game.
What we loved:
Beautiful cards with weird and wonderful fish
All the fishy facts are, as ever, amazing
The quality is what you would expect from Stonemaier Games
The expansion is fun to play overall
Everything fits into the original Finspan box - which is awesome!
What could be improved:
Finspan is a slimmed-down version of Wingspan; if more mechanics are added, it will lose its beginner appeal
The coral element didn't really feel like it was necessary. The game is already fun; just add more fish types.
Stunning Cards and Cute Corals
Finspan: Sharks and Reefs is the first expansion for the sister game to Wingspan, Finspan. The original game contained 152 cards, gorgeous player mats and eggs, young fish and schools and the aim was to create the best fish portfolio to score the most points.
We love the base game and gave it a great score in our review; we loved how fast it played and how easy it was for anyone to pick up. So we were very excited to get the latest expansion and add to our fish collection.
So did it live up to our expectations, or did it have swim bladder issues? Well, sort of both....
Sharks and Reefs adds 80 new fish cards to the base game's already awesome deck. The species chosen are a mix of weird deep-sea monsters, sharks and rays, and each is beautifully designed; the artwork is fantastic, with fascinating facts on the bottom. The expansion also comes with 5 overlay mats that sit over the twilight zone, a new organiser tray and 90 wooden coral tokens.
The expansion adds a new scoring mechanic to gameplay, players must now collect coral, either by discarding resources (cards, eggs and young), or through fish actions triggered when diving on the reef. Collecting coral adds additional points at the end of the game and also allows additional actions to occur on certain fish cards. This is combined with new end-of-round objectives and game-end bonuses, providing new ways for players to win.
Does Sharks and Reefs add more to Finspan?
The difficulties when adding expansions to a great game
Expansions are always a tricky thing to get right. They need to be good value for money, refresh the appeal of the base game, and give it longevity. The danger with going too hard with additions is that the game becomes baggy and the fun becomes complicated.
The evolution of Wingspan is a good example of this. The base game was very good and became a smash hit. The European expansion added more cards, eggs and bonus cards, which meant you got more of the same, which was a very good thing. The Oceania expansion added even more birds and introduced new rules around nectar, which actually improved getting birds onto the board, and was therefore a good thing. The latest Americas expansion has expanded on nectar rules and added hummingbirds, as an additional board and new rules - that just about work without being too cumbersome.
That leaves Wingspan Asia. This expansion fell totally flat for us, we never use any of the rules from it and just took the bird cards and added them to our existing deck. It's a good example of a step too far.
It's still fun, but keep Finspan simple
Stonemaier Games, on the whole, are excellent at walking the fine line between extra gameplay and a woolly playing experience. With Sharks and Reefs, Finspan stays just the right side of being fun, without being too difficult for new players to pick up. The beauty of Finspan is how sleek, quick and simple it is, especially compared to other games in the Wingspaniverse.
The main feeling we had playing it remained fun; it is still fun to play, but the coral collecting can be quite forgettable and doesn't add any jeopardy or additional interaction between players; it's just an additional thing to do/remember. You could play without the coral, and apart from ignoring a few additional fish bonuses, the game wouldn't feel any different. Which then begs the question - why add it at all?
Wingspan Oceania added nectar, and this allowed players to change strategies and find new ways to win. We now ALWAYS play with nectar because it's so much fun and can create a great advantage. But coral? It's very much take it or leave it.
Does this make Sharks and Reefs a bad expansion?
Well, no, actually it's just enough to make it a good one. The fish are great, the components are very well made, and there has been real thought in packing the game into one box. It's also not massively expensive. In our (many) playthroughs, half the table found the coral brilliant, and the other half didn't see the point. But everyone loved the fish cards.
Finspan Sharks and Reefs: Pros and Cons in Detail
What we loved:
The fish cards are absolutely the best thing about Sharks and Reefs, there is always so much care put into choosing the species, getting the artwork just right and adding facts that are unique to every card. That attention to detail goes such a long way to creating an immersive experience. Every fish has a reason to be played onto the board, making strategy and selection one of the most fun and challenging aspects of the game.
The artists are Ana Maria Martinez, Catalina Martinez and Mesa Schumacher - and they have created a wonderful portfolio of cards that are as fun to collect as they are to play with.
There are so many species we'd never heard of (and one half of TGT is a naturalist!), adding more just adds more fun, more value and more deep enjoyment of the game.
Everything in Sharks and Reefs is produced at the highest level. The storage for the cards, the wooden coral counters, and the production quality of the cards. Stonemaier Games never holds back on high-quality execution, and Sharks and Reefs doesn't disappoint.
One excellent surprise, which doesn't happen often with expansions: everything fits into the original Finspan box! Sharks and Reefs has a new card tray, which holds all the new cards and pieces and sits alongside the original Finspan tray in the box. We were so ridiculously pleased with this; trying to find new cubbyholes to stash expansion boxes is becoming trickier and trickier. So something this neat and tidy must be celebrated!
Despite our concerns about baggy gameplay, Sharks and Reefs stays just on the right side of smooth. It's not a cumbersome game to play; it's still smooth compared to Wingspan, and it will still be easy for (most) new board gamers to pick up and play. The crucial word here, though, is just...
What could be improved:
Whenever you find a game that really lands, and becomes a massive gaming group favourite, there is always the concern that it will be overdone, over-egged and pushed to the point where you have to bring in house rules to slim it down again. We hope that this isn't going to be the case with Finspan.
Wingspan Asia taught us to be wary of one expansion too many, and Finspan runs so lean that this could quickly happen with the next expansion if new rules are added to pad the box out. It's the type of game that could be expanded with just more fish decks, priced at around a tenner for 80 cards, breathing new life into the game without adding new rules. An extra deck of beautiful and weird fish, packed with new facts - we will say yes to that every time!
Finspan Sharks and Reefs: A Summary
Sharks and Reefs is packed full of gorgeous artwork and fascinating facts and is a fun addition to Finspan. The production quality is excellent, and gameplay stays just about smooth enough that new players will play this game with ease.
Expansions and Related Games
Expansions
Sharks and Reefs is the only expansion currently available for Finspan.
Related Games
There is a whole universe of games related to Finspan and Sharks and Reefs. Wingspan was the original, the great mother that launched a dynasty. It's still incredibly popular, fun and comes with (mostly) great expansions that are packed full of delightful birds.
Stonemaier Games then branched out (pun intended) into Wyrms and Dragons with Wyrmspan - and this has also been extremely popular.
And then the Finspan base game. Brilliant, and one of our favourites. All Wingspaniverse games are great for new gamers and old crones like us.
Other Games You May Like
Wingspan
Wingspan is the original smash hit and is immensely fun to play. Collect birds and play them in their habitats, then take actions and unlock bonuses. The winner will be the player with the most points after four rounds. Beautiful and lots of fun!
If you're not sure which game is the right one for you, then check out our Wingspan vs Finspan guide.
Finspan Sharks and Reefs: Frequently Asked Questions
Does Sharks and Reefs make Finspan harder to play?
No, Sharks and Reefs is an easy add-on to the base game. It does add more things to think about, but they are simple and forgetting them doesn't mean you will lose. Adding more rules always makes a game slightly harder, but Finspan is still a slick game to play overall.
Is Finspan better than Wingspan?
Well, yes and no! Finspan is an easier game to play; it's stripped back of some of the mechanics that make Wingspan a deeper experience, but that doesn't make it better. Check out our Wingspan vs Finspan guide for a full answer!
Will there be more expansions for Finspan?
Stonemaier Games publishes its timetable of releases every month, and they don't currently name a definite expansion. However, they have a codename, "bone", landing in Q4 2026, which could mean bony fish? Or Deep in Q1 2027 - which might be bottom-dwelling fish? It's a well-invested and popular franchise, so there will likely be other expansions on the way.
Transparency Notice
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