Fly-A-Way takes its cues from Wingspan as another board game about bird conservation
Birds of a feather.
Help various species of aviary-kind make their way south for the winter in Fly-A-Way, an upcoming board game about birds that continues the conservation message of Wingspan.
Fly-A-Way is a game that sees players assisting various bird species in their migration efforts, protecting them from a myriad of dangers and ensuring that their habitats remain in-tact. In Fly-A-Way, two to four players take the role of bird conservationists whose responsibility is to aid the migratory birds of Asia in their journey south.
As the weather gets colder, flocks of birds fly away from their nests in China and Korea towards the warmer climates of Indonesia and the Philippines. However, they may face a gauntlet of potential threats along the way, in the form of ‘Fowl Play’ cards containing events ranging from bird poachers to forest fires, and will need the help of charitable organisations and various governments to protect them against these dangers.
This is where the players come in, as their aim is to provide support for the migrating birds by playing ‘Wing It’ cards - which help to drum up the awareness and funds needed to counteract these negative events. Wing It cards can enable players to build links on a migratory route for the incoming birds, eventually allowing them to reach their destination safely and giving the player an additional bonus bird power to use.
In addition to the fowl play cards drawn every turn, the migrating birds might also suffer from a bird-trastrophe card. Bird-trastrophes don’t just affect the current player’s birds, they have negative connotations for every bird on the game board - resulting in events such as mass extinction or deforestation of certain nesting areas.
Whichever player has gathered the most points from the successful migration of their birds - alongside any points gained from certain after-game scoring cards - is named the winner.
Fly-A-Way is the debut game from designers Quek Oon Hong, Nguyen Huy Hung, Lynette Lee, Simon Vincent and Iris Tang, alongside the game’s publisher, Tuber Productions. The board game was also made with the assistance of BirdLife International - a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of birds and avian habits across the globe.
Another board game with a bird conservationist message is Wingspan, designer Elizabeth Hargrave’s acclaimed 2019 release that sees players attracting various bird species to their habitats and creating their very own avian ecosystems. As with Fly-A-Way, Wingspan seeks to inform its players about birdlife - including facts on each corresponding bird card, and the need to supply birds with their actual preferred food type in order to attract them.
The Kickstarter campaign for Fly-A-Way is live until December 14th, with a pledge of $55 (£31) getting backers a copy of the core game set to arrive next June.