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Description
Birdwatcher is a fast, competitive game in which players are rival wildlife photographers on a hunt to snap photos of the elusive and illustrious birds of paradise.
Each player has three actions on their turn, with which they can call birds to their tree from the central clearing and jungle, snap photos of birds in their tree, or run into the jungle to flush new birds to the clearing. Players can also use their actions to set up a zoom lens to capture a bird from another player's tree, or to publish a paper. Photos and publications are assembled from left to right in a player's photo journal where they will score points at game's end.
Year Published
2022
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Review
Birdwatcher Review!
Transcript Analysis
Browse transcript mentions, sentiments, pros/cons, mechanics, topics, quotes, and references.
Total mentions: 1
This page: 1
Sentiment:
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Video XkXubo3faJE
Ryan and Bethany board game reviews review at 0:07 sentiment: positive
video_pk 62307 · mention_pk 154811
Click to watch at 0:07 · YouTube ↗
Overall sentiment (raw)
positive
Pros
- Easy to learn and teach, aided by clear theming
- Beautiful artwork and evocative subject matter (Birds of Paradise)
- Engaging anti-blocking dynamic via hate drafting
- Multiple scoring avenues (sets, publications, tokens) add depth
Cons
- Bugs token mechanic feels secondary and easy to overlook or forget to use
- Some token interactions require careful attention and may be underutilized by players
Thematic elements
- Array
- Bird watching in a nature-themed environment with three locations (Academy, Jungle, Clearing)
- Informative and enthusiastic with educational notes about birds
Comparison games
none
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- card drafting — Players draw bird cards from the available pool to populate their options and determine scoring potential.
- Card drawing — Players draw bird cards from the available pool to populate their options and determine scoring potential.
- end game bonuses — End-game points come from multiple sources, including sets, publications, and tokens/symbols collected on cards.
- End-game scoring via publications and tokens — End-game points come from multiple sources, including sets, publications, and tokens/symbols collected on cards.
- set collection — Players aim to collect sets of birds to place in their photo journal and score points for completed sets.
- take that / interaction — Players can call birds over from other players' trees, which can lead to competitive, sometimes disruptive, interactions (hate drafting).
Video topics + discussion points
No key topics recorded for this video.
Quotes (from this video)
- I thought this game was really easy to learn and really easy to teach.
- The card art is evocative... these birds of paradise are just so wild.
- It’s a really fun mechanism that you can do... hate drafting.
- This might be a game you can introduce to new people or to new Gamers because of that.
- If you're not playing mean you're missing out a little bit of fun and probably some points too.
References (from this video)
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Transcript Navigation
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