Finspan Review
Advert: this game was gifted by Stonemaier Games, this has not affected our opinion.
I don’t think I was the only one that thought something fishy was going on when Finspan was announced by Stonemaier Games. Many board gamers checked the date to see if it was April Fool’s Day or as the French celebrate it, Poisson d’Avril! It wasn’t.
Wingspan has been an evergreen title residing in the Board Game Geek Top 100, pretty much since it was released. Expansions have followed and in 2024 Wyrmspan hit stores, a slightly more strategic reimagination of the much loved classic. This was met with a barrage of ‘span’ memes, ditto when Finspan was announced earlier this year. So is Finspan just cashing in on a name? Or is it a decent board game in its own right? Read on to find out!
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Setup
Each player requires a board which is unfolded in front of them and a set of divers in their chosen player colour. They will each also receive two starter fish cards and three further cards from the main deck as well. Cards are always public knowledge, so can be placed face up beside the player board. Finally, everyone will need to place egg and fish tokens on the relevant spaces on their board.
The achievement board is placed in view of all players and after your first play you will want to randomise the objectives with the tiles that are provided. Place all resources in easy reach and you have setup Finspan!
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Gameplay
In Finspan, you can only do one of two things on your turn. Firstly, you can play a card onto your board by paying any costs, such as other cards, eggs or baby fish. Some cards require you to consume a smaller fish already on your board, but you can optionally choose to do this when playing a card that is bigger than the one below too.
Alternatively on your turn, you can dive down one of the three dive sites to gain the bonuses. The bonuses are more cards, more eggs, or to hatch and move fish around your board to make schools. Generally, the more fish you have the more benefits you will have access to. Similar to Wingspan you will activate cards as you dive, and pick up additional bonuses printed on the board too.
Once you have used all your divers, you then score the end of week bonus, once you have played four of these weeks the game finishes and the end game scoring can commence.
You will score the value of each fish card, some fish cards have additional end game scoring objectives too. You will get one point for each consumed fish. Eggs and young are also worth a point. Finally, schools are worth six points. Total all this together with the three end of week goals and you can declare your winner. That’s the person with the most points just to be clear!
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What it’s like
Finspan is noticeably streamlined from its predecessors. There is a smoothness introduced from the lack of resources of the other two iterations. While eggs and young are required to play some fish in your tableau, cards seem to be the main ‘cost’ and I enjoy the tension that this creates. You need to consider which cards to spend and which to keep. Some fish allow you to regain fish from your personal discard pile and that adds interesting decisions too.
I like the gameplay, and it certainly offers a lighter option than both Wingspan and Wyrmspan. Yet Finspan still misses being an entry level game for me. It is refined and the lighter weight doesn’t mean it is devoid of decisions or strategy. It’s just easier to do all the things you want to. Ultimately it is just not as restrictive as the others.
With an abundance of cards included in the box there is plenty of replayability. Because cards are a cost you cycle through these much quicker than in the other versions which also helps with strategizing. I would quite like more end of season goals to mix things up. Perhaps they will come with a future expansion.
Speaking of expansions, I would love to see some freshwater fish included too. The rulebook does hint towards an expansion and I wonder what this can bring that doesn’t overcomplicate or bloat the existing game.
Play does go round fairly quickly but you will be watching other players dive and get all their benefits before it is your turn. If you have decided you are just playing a fish on your turn, then that emphasises the wait as it goes round again.
At AireCon I witnessed five seasoned board gamers, all of whom had played Wingspan, but were all new to Finspan spend nearly three hours getting through a game. I certainly won’t be rushing to play it at higher player counts, but at two, three and four it is generally fine.
I will also just mention that I am unsure of the age rating of ten plus, I think the average ten year old may struggle, but ten year olds that are familiar with board games should be fine. My only concern is that at higher player counts, most ten year old’s concentration levels may not be up to it. Perhaps AttentionSpan will be the next game in the series!
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Table Presence
Finspan sprawls across the table with vertical individual player boards taking up a fair bit of space. The cards are adorned with great depictions of fish, and if you like the subject, you’ll like the artwork and the overall presentation, I used to keep tropical fish so I am a fan!
The cards are nice quality but do jiggle around on the board as eggs get laid and hatched and the fish move around. If you like to keep your cards nice and neat, you will be challenged in Finspan!
The punchboard components for the eggs, small fish and shoals are okay albeit a little lacklustre. Their strong-outlined appearance jolts a little with the rest of the artwork. I am itching to improve them with the optional upgrade pack I must say. The small fish are printed the opposite way to those on the board which upsets my brain too.
The rulebook was clear and concise. While iconography is good, I struggled with one particular card, The Cownose Ray, as I couldn’t find what the iconography meant. A quick Google and it was exemplified on the Stonemaier Games website, but I would’ve liked it to be in the rulebook.
Everything packs away into the box fine too. The cards were wrapped in paper instead of shrink-wrap and I love the little steps Stonemaier Games makes towards making board games more environmentally friendly.
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Final thoughts on Finspan
There is no disputing Finspan is a good game and if somehow you could not draw comparables with the others in this family of games, it would be a really good game. The trouble is, it is really tricky to not compare Finspan to both Wingspan and Wyrmspan.
I think the biggest difference I have found with Finspan is that it is easier to do the things you want to do. Because the cards are also resources in essence, the luck of the draw is quite mitigated. The cards also grant more abilities that benefit all players. So unlike the other two, you can pretty much play the game you want to play. Some people, my eldest son included, like that completionist control over their strategy. I prefer the slight randomness and the decisions that the other two offer. I have always admired games where I have lots of good options, but not enough turns to do them all.
There is a lot to like, the theme and the streamlined nature of the gameplay appeals. I like that there is more interaction with players gaining benefits more often from others. Now I have a copy, I can see me playing it as often as I do Wingspan and Wyrmspan. However, if I played someone else’s copy first (and wasn’t kindly gifted this board game to review), I think I would’ve struggled to justify the purchase. Equally, the tweaks and improvements to the rules are enjoyable.
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Key Facts
Number of players: 2 to 5
Board Game Review Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher’s Recommended Age: 10+
Playing Time: 80 minutes
Setting Up and Take Down Time: 2 minutes
Designers: David Gordon and Michael O’Connell
Publisher: Stonemaier Games
RRP: £49.99
Summary
Despite this being a good game, I am really struggling to work out where Finspan sits, it’s not quite family weight or entry level, so although easier and a good board game, it doesn’t fulfil that niche. The question I am left with is, did I (or others) need a streamlined fish version of Wingspan? It’s certainly different from Wingspan and Wyrmspan, but I think it is difficult to justify purchasing if you already own one of those and enjoy them. I’m sure others won’t feel that way, which is why Ticket to Ride, in its various guises sells so many copies.
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Artwork and Components
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Complexity
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Instructions
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Interaction
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Value for Money
Overall
Pros
- Streamlined gameplay
- Fish/diving theme
- Easier to complete your own strategy
- Familiar yet different from other ‘span’ games
- Easier to gather resources
Cons
- Not as good at higher player counts
- Easier, but still not entry level
- Resource tokens a little lacklustre
- Table hog
Need more games?
If you already own Finspan and enjoy it, or are looking for other inspiration, you might also like these similar games:
- Wingspan
- Santa Monica
- Deep Blue
- Wyrmspan
Buy Finspan
If you want to buy Finspan after reading our review click on one of our affiliate links below (note there has been no affiliate links until this point)
Reviewer’s Note
For clarity: we don’t get paid for our reviews. However, we were kindly gifted this game by Stonemaier Games. We have tried not to let this affect our review in any way.
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