Migrate butterflies in Mariposas, the next board game from the designer of Wingspan

Prepare your butterflies to go south for the winter in the latest board game from the creator behind Wingspan, Elizabeth Hargrave.

Mariposas is a game about migrating monarch butterflies, which is a species known for flying up to 3,000 miles in a mass pilgrimage from North America to California and Southern America whenever autumn rolls around. With such a large distance to cover it’s bound to be a perilous journey so some butterflies might not make the trip, however, it’s the players’ job to divy up whatever families remain.

A set collection game for two to five players, a session of Mariposas progresses over three seasons: spring, summer and autumn, with the butterflies’ behaviour changing as the weather gradually turns colder. At the end of each season there is a scoring round where players receive victory points attaining to how many families of butterflies they have in their collection.

Once autumn eventually nears its end players count their points for a final time and whomever has the highest total becomes the master lepidopterist (or collector of butterflies).

Mariposas is the latest game from Hargrave to be themed around animals, having released Wingspan last year, a board game about bird enthusiasts attempting to collect eggs and attract the largest amount of rare beaked animals to their chosen habitats.

Hargrave also created a print and play game as part of the GenCan’t contest about exchanging flowers called Tussie Mussie, which like the quick board game Sushi Go!, involves card-drafting and set collection. Tussie Mussie was eventually fully released via Button Shy in May 2019.

Mariposas is set to be published by Alderac Entertainment Group - the company behind Smash Up and The Captain is Dead (one of the best co-op board games around in our opinion)- later this year.