Finspan: The Review
As sleek as a sailfish, Finspan is a streamlined version of the incredibly popular Wingspan. This time, the focus is on fish and their oceanic associates. This game is fun, without any of the bloated rules from the later Wingspan expansions. Finspan is a brilliant gateway game and should be an essential addition to your collection.
Finspan: Quick Summary
Score:
9/10
Number of Players:
2-4
Time to Play:
30 minutes
We absolutely love Finspan! A lovely playing experience that can easily end up in a binge of repeated games. The artwork and designs are exceptional, as you would expect from Stonemaier Games and Finspan also makes it fun to learn about fish!
What we loved:
It's really easy to learn how to play Finspan and teach to others
Really replayable, a binge board game in fact
The detail, facts and variety of fish is brilliant
The game mechanics are rapid and fun
Scoring is easy
It's as streamlined as a barracuda and as vibrant as a clownfish
What could be improved:
As with many games in the Wingspan family, there is little interaction between players
Not much else!
Finspan: Here fishy fishy fishy!
In Finspan, players take the role of marine researchers trying to accumulate the best collection (eco friendly that is) of fish. Each turn, divers plumb the depths, activating fishy bonuses, new fish appear across three different habitats and schools of young fish are born. Players must combine the right blend of fish in sunlight, twilight and midnight zones to score the most points before the end of the game. As with its mother game, Wingspan, there are bonus objectives to achieve, and fish interact with each other in very specific ways.
How to play Finspan:
Finspan is simpler and smoother to play than Wingspan. Each round, players can use their divers to either play fish, dive to gain cards, dive to lay eggs or dive to hatch eggs into schools of baby fish. As with Wingspan, fish have different bonus abilities that are activated when divers encounter them and are worth a set number of points. Also similar to Wingspan, fish have a cost that requires the spending of eggs, fish or fry before they can be played. The higher the cost, the better the bonus or the more valuable the score. The objective is to have the most points by the end of the game.
Finspan differs from Wingspan because there are fewer moving parts to each round. There isn't a dice mechanic to generate food; instead, it is accumulated through gaining cards, eggs and hatchlings. Bigger fish can be placed on smaller fish without needing to be a predator, making it easier to place cards when spaces become tight. The bonuses are easier to understand and less varied, meaning you can concentrate on playing the game rather than working out what all the icons mean. Finspan doesn't feel shallow (pun intended) or wishy washy, instead it feels lean, sleek and extremely easy to play. Winning and scoring lots of points still feels like an achievement and something to pursue, it's just more accessible. Finspan is, therefore, a fantastic game for new players.
It's all about the bass
The real stars of Finspan are the fish. There is a sizeable deck of cards in the box, which means it will take several play-throughs (without shuffling discard decks back in) before you run out of new fish to read about and enjoy. The artwork is as good as you would expect from Stonemaier Games, accurate, detailed and reminiscent of the artistic plates of early wildlife pioneers such as Audubon, which has been carried across from Wingspan.
The real joy in both Finspan and Wingspan is, of course, learning all about the different species of fish and reading facts out from each card as you play them. In this regard, Finspan is delightful, with a broad mix of fishy favourites, unusual species and downright bonkers deep-sea fish. Each fact has been carefully curated, and the artwork reflects how alien our underwater planet is. Finspan is the perfect game for expansion, but hopefully Stonemaier will realise that the game is great as it is; we just want more decks of fish! We haven't even explored the crustaceans, molluscs, bivalves, cetaceans, or reptiles yet, so there is a vast opportunity for add-on booster packs.
The pros and cons in detail
What we loved:
When Wingspan was first released, it gained a solid reputation as a great gateway game for new gamers. In its original form, it still is, but as the number of expansions has increased, the game has become a little baggy and can be more intimidating than it used to be. By streamlining the rules, the mechanics per turn and the objectives, Finspan has usurped its mother game as one of the best gateway games we've ever come across. Most new gamers will love the theme and detail, will understand the objective and how to play within thirty minutes, and because Finspan is so replayable, they will come back to it time and again. It's such an easy game to teach, that it's perfect for both game nights with your normal crowd, or to break out after dinner with friends who don't play board games. Stonemaier Games has designed a very, very good game.
Replayability is a really big draw for Finspan, we rarely play just once in a session, in fact, it's rare that we only play twice. The variety of fish, the ease of gameplay, and ultimately, how fun the game is, mean this is often on the table and gets multiple plays every time. We've mentioned the fishy factoids already, and this also feeds into the enjoyment and wanting to discover more every time. It's a fast game too, which makes it a good game post-dinner or one to bring out as part of a board gaming weekend. It means you can play a few rounds and then move onto another game for variety. It's also not huge, so easy to store and pack away tidily.
What we would improve:
An issue with the whole Wingspaniverse (is this a thing, Wingspalaxy... The Multispan?) is the insular nature of the game; you play your rounds, take your actions, and then the next player does the same. We get our main interactions by reading fishy facts to each other and then talking about what we're doing, but actual interplayer mechanics are very limited, more so than other games in the Wingspanosmos (nope, still not there). Most of the time, this isn't a drawback and doesn't reduce enjoyment of the game, but occasionally, if you have a crowd of extroverts who want to outmanoeuvre each other, you might find Finspan falls flat. It's yet to happen to us!
Finspan: A summary
We 100% recommend Finspan for almost all board game collections, it's well designed, with beautiful artwork, slick mechanics and above all, it's a lot of fun. It will see plenty of visits to the gaming table, and may even be a binge board game for you, too.
Expansions and Related Games
Expansions
Stonemaier Games has listed expansions on it's release roadmap, but as yet there are no expansions available.
Related Games
Finspan is part of the Wingspan range of games which include the Wingspansions for Europe and Asia, plus the standalone game Wyrmspan which is a fantasy setting. Stonemaier Games are also extremely well known for amazing games such as Scythe, Viticulture and Tapestry.
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Finspan: Frequently Asked Questions
Is Finspan worth its cost?
We think Finspan is excellent value for money. It has a long shelf life, brilliant replayability and the quality of the design and production is premium. We think it is an excellent price for a game that will be used again and again.
What age is Finspan for?
The age recommendation on the box says 10+, but that's probably because the diver pieces are quite small. In terms of rules, 8+ children will probably enjoy it. If they like wildlife and have an inquisitive mind, then it's worth a go. And if they don't like it, well, you will!
Can you upgrade the pieces in Finspan?
As with many popular board games, there are a number of third-party producers who have lovingly crafted 3d components to make Finspan feel more immersive. Retailers such as Zatu have options for upgrading your games.
Transparency Notice
This review contains affiliate links to Amazon, Zatu Games, and Chaos Cards. When you purchase through these links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps support our independent reviews while keeping our content free. We only recommend games we genuinely believe in.